Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Lowe's, Microsoft, Amazon, Uber & more

Published Thu, Jan 6 20228:39 AM EST

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Wells Fargo upgrades Cigna and Humana to overweight from equal weight Wells Fargo said in its upgrade of Cigna that the stock is cheap. The firm also upgraded Humana following "material underperformance." "We are upgrading CI to Overweight and increasing our PT to $278. We had resisted making a valuation call without clear catalysts to drive re-rating, but we now view the stock as cheap enough that more consistent results should be enough for the stock to outperform. We are also upgrading HUM to Overweight and increasing our PT to $529 following material underperformance in 2021." RBC names Amazon and Uber top 2022 picks RBC named Amazon and Uber top picks for 2022. The firm said it likes Amazon's capacity investments and Uber's mobility rebound. "We look to three core characteristics that instruct our thinking and favorite ideas in AMZN, UBER, BKNG, and CARG: 1) a product/cycle story over and above the respective end-market's underlying secular thesis: AMZN 's capacity investments starting to bear fruit moving through '22, UBER's mobility rebound and profitability potentially inflecting at the same time." Goldman Sachs names JPMorgan and Bank of America top 2022 picks Goldman said JPMorgan and Bank of America have capital market platforms that are best positioned for normalization. "We also see their capital markets platforms as well-positioned for normalization: BAC' s is more skewed to corporates than to institutional investors, and JPM' s has continued to take share from European peers and to beneﬁt from years of investment." Evercore ISI upgrades Lowe's to outperform from in line Evercore said in its upgrade of Lowe's that the stock is setting up as a "compounder trading at a discount." "We are upgrading Lowe's to Outperform, adding LOW to our long list of Outperform rated Home related companies. Lowe's turnaround was in place pre-COVID, and with Nesting trends cementing themselves, Lowe's is setting up as a compounder trading at a discount." JPMorgan reiterates Netflix as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on Netflix but lowered its price target to $725 from $750. The firm said it sees lighter fourth-quarter download data. "Our overall positive view on NFLX certainly doesn't change on a few million subs across 2 quarters, but our 2022 Net Adds revert to 21.5M—almost exactly where we had them 3 months ago—and below current Bloomberg consensus of 24.6M, which stubbornly has not come down much over the past several months." Barclays names TJX Companies a top 2022 pick Barclays called the discount retailer "best-in-class." "We believe TJX is the quintessential sales leverage play as a best-in-class Off Pricer. With inventory rebuilding, fast turns, and the dominant position to attract premium brands, we believe TJX will accelerate share gains in 2022 and beyond." Bank of America names Rivian and Lucid top 2022 picks Bank of America named the two electric vehicle companies as top picks and said they are "more viable" start-ups. "Our top stock picks for 2022 are as follows: RIVN (More viable start-up EV OEM focused on truck/SUV/van segment in early commercialization), LCID (More viable start-up EV OEM focused on luxury segment in early commercialization)." UBS names Disney a top 2022 pick UBS named Disney as a top pick and said it sees further direct-to-consumer upside. " Disney is our preferred Media name as we believe DTC sub growth has bottomed and expect new market launches and a fuller content slate to drive improved DTC net adds and investor sentiment over the next 12 months." Jefferies names Microsoft as a top 2022 pick Jefferies named the stock as a top pick and said its "valuation provides downside protection." "We continue to see the potential within MSFT as valuation provides downside protection, however rev. deceleration is likely after a phenomenal 22% yoy rev growth in F1Q22." Bank of America upgrades Coinbase to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees revenue diversification. "We are upgrading COIN to Buy from Neutral. The main fundamental reason for the rating change is we have been observing increasing signs of revenue diversification beyond retail crypto trading, a trend we think could accelerate in '22 and beyond." Read more about this call here . Needham names Etsy a top 2022 pick Needham named Etsy a top pick for 2022 and said it sees an attractive entry point. "We expect frequency/retention initiatives to help support double-digit growth in GMS/buyer (gross margin sales) at the core Etsy brand for the foreseeable future." Wells Fargo initiates coverage of CrowdStrike as overweight Wells Fargo said the cybersecurity company is well positioned to take market share. "We believe CrowdStrike is well positioned to continue taking share from both legacy and next-gen vendors. The company offers one of the most comprehensive platforms in the industry, comprised of 21 modules, which can address a $67B market opportunity." Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley upgrades Allbirds to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees an attractive entry point. " BIRD is a distinctive, ESG-driven brand & one of few +DD growth stories in retail. While valuation has kept us EW, the stock pullback yields an attractive entry point, particularly as we see an opportunity for BIRD to accelerate revenue growth in 2022." Read more about this call here . Wells Fargo downgrades Target to equal weight from overweight Wells Fargo said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees margin risk. " TGT 's epic performance during COVID creates a difficult 2022 set-up, in our view. The company's differentiated model was in the right place at the right time during the pandemic, but lapping the equivalent of 10 years of growth generated in 2020/21 is accompanied by a degree of risk that makes recommending the stock difficult to justify." Read more about this call here . Wells Fargo initiates coverage of Okta as overweight Wells Fargo said the company has one of the best identity security systems in the market. "We believe Okta has assembled the most comprehensive identity security platform in the market which which should enable growth to remain at or above 35% for the foreseeable future." Wells Fargo initiates coverage of Palo Alto Networks as overweight Wells Fargo said the cybersecurity company continues to gain market share. "We believe Palo Alto has assembled the most comprehensive Zero Trust platform, composed of three best-in-class components (Network Security, Prisma Cloud, and Security Operations)." Morgan Stanley downgrades Gilead Sciences to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded Gilead mainly on valuation. "Downgrading to EW with a PT of $74 on a more balanced-risk reward. Stock has performed well for the past year compared to the broader biopharma sector." Bank of America downgrades Goldman Sachs to neutral from buy Bank of America said in its downgrade of Goldman Sachs that it sees "limited potential for upside surprises." "We downgrade our rating on Goldman Sachs- GS to Neutral as we see limited potential for upside surprises in a moderating capital markets backdrop." Read more about this call here . Credit Suisse names Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs top 2022 picks Credit Suisse named Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs as top picks for this year. The firm said they are well positioned for a recovery. "Top Picks are WFC and GS : well positioned for recovery and beyond, with execution and strategic transformation supporting ~20% total return." Bank of America names Citi and Wells Fargo top 2022 picks Bank of America named Citi and Wells Fargo as top picks for 2022. The bank said it likes Wells Fargo's improving efficiency and Citi's shareholder-friendly vision. "We highlight Wells Fargo-WFC as our top pick. EPS boost from asset sensitivity and lending rebound combined with mgmt focus on improving efficiency, right-sizing capital and addressing regulatory issues should boost the ROE (return on equity)." Credit Suisse names MGM Resorts and SeaWorld as top 2022 picks Credit Suisse named MGM and SeaWorld as top picks and said the two stocks will be key reopening beneficiaries. "As we look to 2022, we want to highlight our four best ideas: MGM, HGV, IGT and SEAS . These are our highest conviction ideas, and stocks that we think had momentum prior to the sell-off and thus should have adoption as the market recovers. We think that overall sentiment in recent weeks has soured, but for our best ideas we don't think company-specific drivers have changed."

A Lowe's hardware store in Philadelphia.

Mark Makela | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: