Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Amazon, Lyft, Uber, Delta Air Lines, Nvidia & more

Published Fri, Jan 7 20228:41 AM EST

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Citi downgrades Texas Instruments to neutral from buy Citi downgraded the stock due to concerns about declining margins. "We just downgraded Texas Instruments from Buy to Neutral as we believe its margins will decline due to increasing depreciation and the acquisition of a fab." Wells Fargo upgrades AT & T to equal weight from underweight Wells said in its upgrade of AT & T that the bear case has "largely played out." "With shares down -11.9% in 2021 (vs. S & P of +27.0%), we think downside risks are more limited, particularly with our expectation for sustained strength in its core wireless business that should deliver industry-leading service revenue growth in 2022." Morgan Stanley downgrades Medtronic to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of Medtronic that it's concerned about pipeline delays. "While we're positive on many ongoing shifts in dynamics across and within the business, including improving management of pipeline reinvestment and an increasing prioritization of R & D, we increasingly view drivers of more material upside as limited near term." Raymond James names Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet top 2022 picks Raymond James said in a note to clients on Friday that Facebook and Alphabet have attractive valuations. The firm also said it likes Amazon and expects "easing" e-commerce comps in the second half. "We continue to have positive outlooks for Google, Facebook, and Amazon for 2022. Google was the largest outperformer in 2021, driven by solid recovery in search and YouTube as well as GCP improvement and solid operating leverage. Google also did not face material IDFA headwinds that impacted Facebook/Snap." Baird names Yum! Brands and Chipotle as top 2022 picks Baird named Yum and Chipotle as top ideas for 2022 and said it likes stocks that have "clear" top-line growth. "Based on a fundamental backdrop that seems likely to include good demand characteristics (although perhaps not as robust as in 2H21) and elevated cost inflation, we would favor shares of companies that have clear top-line growth drivers and/or franchised business models." Mizuho downgrades Visa to neutral from buy Mizuho said in its downgrade of Visa that it has concerns that growth may begin to slow. "Downgrading Visa to Neutral from Buy. What's changed? In our view, COVID has dramatically and likely permanently shortened the cash-to-card conversion runway, which has driven ~45% of Visa's revenue growth and has historically been the single most important driver of revenue growth." Citi names Micron Technology as a top pick in 2022 Citi named Micron a top pick in 2022 and said it has more upside than any other stock. "While Micron remains our top pick as we believe it will have more EPS upside than any other stock, we are moving ON to second favorite followed by GlobalFoundries." Evercore ISI named Dick's Sporting Goods and Foot Locker as top picks in 2022 Evercore said in a note to clients on Friday that Dick's Sporting Goods and Foot Locker were among the firm's top value picks for 2022. "Given our view that both sales and margins will remain strong through 2022, we think there's a good chance that the lower multiple stocks with much greater skepticism surrounding them could outperform those best-in-class high valuation growth stocks that were also COVID winners. Accordingly, we are shifting our model portfolio more towards the value-oriented names that we cover. Our top value picks: CPRI, DKS, FL , LEVI, M, RL, TPR, VSCO." UBS downgrades Kohl's to sell from neutral UBS said in its downgrade of Kohl's that it's concerned the retailer could miss earnings expectations. "We anticipate macro forces cause Kohl's to miss Street earnings expectations, catalyzing a down move." Read more about this call here. RBC names Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike as top 2022 picks RBC named Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike as top ideas for 2022 and said it sees growth stock outperformance. "While 2021 saw high volatility, our view of the underlying fundamentals remains positive as we think quality growth with FCF support and/or value software could lead the way for growth stock outperformance in the 2H/22 as the flight to the highest quality will likely commence throughout 2022. As such, our top picks for 2022 include NOW, PANW, CRWD , TWLO, VEEV, COUR." UBS downgrades Abercrombie & Fitch and Canada Goose to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the stocks that it sees a slower recovery. "For ANF , we think macro forces result in slowing growth, making it hard for the stock to re-rate. For GOOS , we have lowered our growth forecast due to uncertainty in China and the Omicron variant likely delaying the company's margin recovery." Mizuho names Amazon, Facebook and Uber as top 2022 picks Mizuho named Amazon, Facebook and Uber as some of its favorite stocks for 2022. The firm said it continues to be bullish on the internet sector overall and that the reopening theme will continue. "We believe that US valuation levels are attractive due to the pullback since mid-year on concerns over supply chains, labor shortage and ad privacy. Heading into FY22, we expect both revenue and cost headwinds for the ecommerce sector to subside, the continued re-opening theme, and potential regulatory relief to be favorable for the gig economy sector, and disruptions from iOS privacy policy for the advertising segment to stabilize." Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on Nvidia Citi said in a note to clients that it sees several positive catalysts for Nvidia in 2022. "We are adding NVDA to Citi's catalyst watch list post CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Management commented strong holiday gaming season, solid data center demand trends, and gaming/networking foundry supply to improve in 2H this year." Piper Sandler downgrades Chewy to neutral from overweight Piper Sandler said in its downgrade of the pet supply retailer that it sees sales and margin headwinds. "We are downgrading shares of CHWY to Neutral, and lowering our PT as the 2022 outlook appears to have headwinds from both a sales and margin standpoint." Credit Suisse downgrades Clover Health to underperform from neutral Credit Suisse said in its downgrade of the health care company it has concerns about cash burn. "We are downgrading CLOV to an Underperform rating with a $3.50 PT. Our view is predicated on the company continuing to need to raise capital moving forward, a lack of clarity on significantly improving their medical loss ratio (MLR) to reduce cash burn, and an overall re-rating across the tech-enabled MCO sector." RBC downgrades Starbucks to sector perform from outperform RBC said in its downgrade of Starbucks that it sees a more compelling risk/reward. "As we still view SBUX as a compelling long-term growth opportunity, we will continue to watch for potential signs of margin improvement beyond our current expectations." Read more about this call here. Jefferies downgrades Lyft to hold from buy Jefferies said in its downgrade of the ride-sharing company that it prefers Uber over Lyft . "Strong #2 in the U.S. duopoly for ride-hailing. Pure-play, N.A. focused, on-demand transportation platform that is levered to post COVID recovery." Wells Fargo names MGM Resorts and Caesars top 2022 picks Wells Fargo said in a note to clients that it likes stocks that are well positioned for a Las Vegas Strip recovery. "We like MGM for having the most exposure in our coverage to the LV Strip (~60%+ of EBITDAR), a market still not fully recovered. .. . We like CZR as it offers exposure to the LV Strip recovery." Piper Sandler names Lowe's as a top 2022 pick Piper named Lowe's a top pick for 2022 and said it likes the company's valuation. "Brings a unique combination in large cap land of strong multi-year fundamentals and reasonable valuation. We note cash-out refi data is running at record levels, despite higher interest rates." Oppenheimer downgrades Starbucks to perform from outperform, and upgrades Chipotle to outperform from perform Oppenheimer said in its downgrade of the Starbucks that it lacks "upside levers." The firm also upgraded Chipotle and said investors should buy the dip. "We pounce on a buying opportunity following CMG's 17% decline from last year's highs. We see a clear catalyst path as: management's smart use of pricing provides us the margin visibility required to buy into the model's EPS power transformation. .... . We are most attracted to SBUX when we're early to identify an earnings revision cycle." Read more about this call here. Bank of America upgrades Delta Air Lines to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of Delta that it sees the company as a key beneficiary to corporate travel. "As omicron fears fade, we believe investors will focus on the return of corporate travel, and we upgrade DAL to Buy from Neutral." Read more about this call here. Bank of America upgrades Discovery to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of Discovery that it sees an attractive risk/reward. "We see several areas for potential rev. and cost synergies and are bullish on the potential of a combined HBO Max/discovery+ DTC service." Needham names Uber as a top 2022 pick Needham added the ride-sharing company to its top picks list and said it thinks this year will be "different" for Uber. " UBER is our top pick for '22E and we are adding it to the Needham conviction list. Last year UBER was down -18%, versus a 29% increase in the S & P 500. We think this year will be different given the outlook for adj. EBITDA, and focus on figuring out grocery despite the mobility uncertainty." Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients that it sees "upside to Apple Services revenue." "Nevertheless, with QTD App Store results entering Dec well ahead of our forecast, we expect upside to Apple Services revenue in C4Q21." UBS upgrades Honeywell to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of Honeywell that it sees an "attractive" entry point. "We upgrade to Buy w/ PT of $237 (~12% upside) as we expect growth into '22 & '23 to surprise to the upside and model EPS ~4% ahead of consensus." RBC names Chipotle and Domino's as top 2022 picks RBC named its favorite restaurant picks in a note to clients and said it likes "highly franchised models" like Domino's and company-owned names like Chipotle. "And while total domestic industry unit count remained roughly stable in 2021, we see potential for further downside to overall restaurant capacity amid the current challenging operating environment—a potential ongoing LT tailwind for the large/scale brands, including our coverage. In the very near-term, we favor highly franchised models, with DPZ our favorite name from that group; among the company-owned models, CMG remains our favorite name."

Lyft President John Zimmer and CEO Logan Green and the Lyft Board of Directors speak as Lyft lists on the Nasdaq at an IPO event in Los Angeles March 29, 2019.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: