Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Nike, Apple, Exxon, Southwest Airlines & more

Published Thu, Dec 9 20218:39 AM ESTUpdated Thu, Dec 9 202111:04 AM EST

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Bank of America reiterates General Electric as buy Bank of America reiterated its buy rating on shares of GE and said investors are undervaluing the company's aviation division. "We reiterate our Buy rating and $140 price objective. Investors undervalue GE Aviation, in our view, as it has higher margins vs. peers typically used by investors." Morgan Stanley names Deere a top 2022 pick Morgan Stanley named Deere a top pick for 2022 and said it's the firm's preferred play on agricultural equipment. "With a multi-year runway for growth even after a ~20-25% Y/Y recovery in '21, Ag Equipment remains our most favored end market for 2022, with DE (OW) and AGCO (OW) our favored plays on this theme." Morgan Stanley names Apple a top 2022 pick Morgan Stanley called Apple a top pick for 2022 in a note to clients on Thursday and said the stock is "well positioned" for a re-rating. "The combination of a strong, loyal customer base and the upcoming launch of AR/VR products positions AAPL for a re-rating in 2022, and our $200 PT reflects conservative contribution from new products in FY26 when compared to early penetration of iPad." Read more about this call here. Atlantic Equities upgrades Yum! Brands to overweight from neutral Atlantic Equities said in its upgrade of the owner of KFC and Taco Bell that the stock is poised for a re-rating. "The company offers mid-to-high single digit global system growth, balanced between new units and comps, which with cost control and share buybacks becomes HSD/LDD (high single digits/low double digits) EPS growth. With FY22 set to be a more normalized growth year, the case for YUM should come to fore after its defensive qualities, which had seen EPS in fact grow in FY20, resulted in lagging growth in FY21." JPMorgan initiates coverage of EVgo as overweight JPMorgan said that it sees a "compelling use case" for fast electric charging. " EVgo is a leading pure-play owner/operator of public direct current fast charging (DCFC) services in the US, deploying charging infrastructure and energy that are critical to widespread EV adoption. We anticipate the company driving outsized revenue growth on rapidly increasing fleet adoption and higher utilization." Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo initiates coverage of Pfizer as overweight Wells Fargo said it sees "near-term upside and a durable" coronavirus business for Pfizer. "COVID booster shots could be an annual occurrence for high-risk individuals at least, opening a $5B+ revenue tail for the vaccine (base case). This could get to $11-12B if all adults are vaccinated annually." Read more about this call here. Barclays upgrades Twilio to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees an attractive entry point. "We are upgrading Twilio to OW as we like the FY22 set-up on easier compares. Twilio shares have approached a more reasonable valuation vs. faster-growth peers since 3Q21 earnings, and we believe investor concerns on its 4Q21 are overly represented in shares." Guggenheim reiterates RH as a best idea Guggenheim reiterated the home furnishings company as a best idea after its earnings report on Wednesday. The firm said the "catalyst path remains intact." "Not only did RH's 3Q 2021 operating results come in ahead of our expectations, broadly but management reiterated the 2022 catalyst path—a) the introduction of RH Contemporary, b) new RH Interiors and RH Modern collections, c) the opening of RH England, d) the opening of the first RH Guesthouse, e) the unveiling of The World of RH digital portal, and f) the expansion of RH In-Your-Home." Cowen names Freshpet a top 2022 idea Cowen said in a note to clients on Thursday that the pet food company was a "compelling value proposition" as a top pick in 2022. "A choppy, transitional FY21 has no impact on our long term view of the opportunity for Freshpet. We see FY22-FY23 as potentially eye opening in regards to the company's trajectory and size of the prize, supported by our analysis of the relationship between media and consumption (strong), behavior of early & more recent adopters (sticky), and the competitive landscape." JPMorgan downgrades Altice USA to neutral from overweight JPMorgan downgraded the cable company due to weak subscriber growth. "While Altice management is rightly stepping up network and service investments, the guide down in broadband subscriber growth underscores what may be a multi-quarter lag before investments yield improving subscriber KPIs (key performance indicators)." Morgan Stanley downgrades Charter to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of the cable company that it sees a more balanced risk/reward. "Downgrading CHTR t o EW, as our below-consensus expectations for net adds and FCF create a more balanced risk/reward." JPMorgan initiates coverage of fuboTV as overweight JPMorgan began coverage of the streaming television company with an overweight rating and said it sees an "attractive entry point" for fuboTV. "While we see some risks to the business model longer-term, we initiate with an Overweight rating as we believe shares present an attractive entry point given the ~40% decline since Q3 earnings on 11/9." UBS reiterates Nike as buy UBS reiterated its buy rating on shares of Nike and said it's staying bullish heading into the company's earnings report later this month. "Our conversations with investors reveal many remain bullish on the fundamentals and few think Nike will guide down again after its big and rare guide down last quarter." Credit Suisse reiterates Coca-Cola as a top pick Credit Suisse reiterated Coca-Cola as its top pick and said the company is on track for a period of growth. "With the pandemic's worst likely passed, we think Coke is now poised for a period of mid-single, maybe even double-digit topline growth and high-single digit bottom line growth (ahead of guidance). " Morgan Stanley names Alcoa a top 2022 pick Morgan Stanley named Alcoa a top pick for 2022 and says it should benefit from the shift in the aluminum market. "AA remains our Top Pick in North America as we expect the company to benefit from a structural shift in the aluminum market, led by China's decarbonization policies (~5% of the country's carbon emissions) and the 45Mt capacity cap, causing demand to outpace supply post 2023." Jefferies downgrades Southwest Airlines to hold from buy Jefferies said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees limited margin expansion. "We are cutting estimates and downgrading LUV to Hold from Buy: 1) LUV's LCC (low cost carrier) model seems to be more exposed to inflationary pressures, given a distributed network and fewer new efficiencies; 2) lower normalized pricing power vs. pre-COVID; and 3) Capex curtailing NT (near term) FCF." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan names Sunrun and Sunnova as a top picks in 2022 JPMorgan named the two solar companies as top picks for next year and said it sees many positive catalysts for Sunrun and Sunnova. "In addition to company-specific catalysts, we believe investors are keenly focused on potential positive catalysts for the overall industry, primarily from government regulation/incentives, that could make strong secular tailwinds even better." JPMorgan names Exxon a top pick in 2022 JPMorgan said in a note to clients that refiners like Exxon will "shine again" in 2022. "Like any sector, energy runs the spectrum of historical valuation multiples across different companies. Three companies that have typically garnered the highest multiples in their respective coverage groups are SU in Canadian majors, XOM in US majors and PSX in US refining." JPMorgan upgrades Occidental Petroleum to neutral from underweight JPMorgan upgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "Near-term focus primarily still on de-leveraging, valuation now largely reflective. OXY has shown solid execution throughout the COVID-19 downturn, managing a fairly stable production profile at minimal levels of capex." Jefferies reiterates GameStop as hold Jefferies lowered its price target on shares of GameStop to $180 per share from $190 on the gaming retailer after its earnings report on Wednesday. The firm said a "degree of change" is clearly underway. "We recognize that management is speaking to both a sophisticated institutional investor base AND individual shareholder enthusiasts, providing just enough strategic visibility but yet leaving room for both dreamers and discounters."

A man walks past shelves of Coca-Cola bottles and cans at a shopping mall in Lagos, Nigeria November 5, 2019.

Temilade Adelaja | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: