Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Walmart, Apple, Tesla, Goldman Sachs & more

Published Fri, Jan 28 20228:45 AM ESTUpdated Fri, Jan 28 20229:41 AM EST

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as a top pick Morgan Stanley kept its overweight rating on the tech giant after its robust earnings report on Thursday and said the "ecosystem strength shines bright." "A clean December Q beat and a stronger than expected March guide highlights the strength, and stickiness, of Apple's ecosystem of 1.1B iPhones, which is a clear differentiator in a challenging market environment." Read more about this call here. RBC initiates coverage of Walmart as outperform RBC said the big-box retailer is one of the best stocks to mitigate the impact of inflation. "While margins will without a doubt be choppy near term as inflationary pressures have impacted the entire supply chain, we feel Walmart 's size and scale make it one of the best positioned in the space to mitigate these impacts." RBC initiates coverage of Target as outperform RBC named Target a top pick and said the company has momentum that goes beyond the pandemic. "Over the next few quarters, we think it will become increasingly clear that TGT 's recent momentum goes beyond the pandemic-related demand surge, which should result in a narrowing of its valuation gap vs. high-performing retail peers." Read more about this call here. Deutsche Bank names Rocket Lab as a top 2022 pick Deutsche Bank said in a note to clients on Friday that the aerospace manufacturer is the best way to gain exposure to the space market. " Rocket Lab continues to be our Top Pick in the Space sector and we view the large pullback in the stock as an opportunity for investors to gain long-term exposure to growth in the 'New Space' economy." Credit Suisse reiterates Alphabet as outperform Credit Suisse reiterated its outperform rating on Google parent Alphabet and said it sees upside potential heading into earnings next week. "We maintain our Outperform rating based on the following: 1) ongoing monetization improvements in Search advertising through product/AI driven updates, 2) greater-than-expected revenue contribution from non-Search businesses." JPMorgan upgrades ChargePoint to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the electric vehicle charging company that it has more confidence in the stock and investors should buy the pullback. "Given the stock's recent pullback, we see a good opportunity for investors and we upgrade CHPT to overweight." Read more about this call here . Deutsche Bank opens a catalyst call buy idea on Goldman Sachs Deutsche Bank reiterated its hold rating on the investment banking giant but added a short-term buy idea on the stock. The firm said Goldman's stock is not fully appreciated by the market. "However, we think GS is a bit misunderstood/underappreciated. For example, while costs disappointed in 4Q (and FY21), expense mgmt has been very strong over the past two years on robust revenues. We also feel the market hasn't fully appreciated the massive share gains in IB and trading." Susquehanna upgrades Corning to positive from neutral Susquehanna said in its upgrade of the glass company that it sees improving fundamentals for Corning . "We also see resumption of the buyback as a sign of management confidence in fundamentals. A weak TV demand environment like the one we are observing typically results in excess glass inventory that needs to be worked down post the holiday season." RBC upgrades Williams-Sonoma to outperform from sector perform RBC said in its upgrade of Williams-Sonoma that the home-furnishings stock is underappreciated. "The current 11x P/E multiple is what initially piqued our interest, but after a thorough review of the company's fundamentals, we believe investors are underappreciating the name's top-line potential." Credit Suisse reiterates Amazon as outperform Credit Suisse kept its outperform rating ahead of Amazon' s earnings next week. The firm said it's bullish on the company's opportunity for faster delivery services. "We maintain our Outperform rating, with the thesis based on the following: 1) e-commerce segment operating margin expansion as it grows into its larger infrastructure, 2) optionality for faster-than- expected FCF growth vis-a-vis its advertising segment." Goldman Sachs initiates coverage of Grab Holdings as buy Goldman said the Singapore-based technology company is a top 2022 reopening beneficiary. "We see Grab as the beneficiary of the growing Southeast Asia internet economy, where increased urbanization, rising mobile/internet penetration, digitization of services and consumption, and a large under-banked population form a US$160bn TAM (total addressable market)." Bank of America reiterates Meta Platforms as buy Bank of America reiterated its buy rating ahead of the company's earnings report next week. The firm said the Facebook parent company has an "attractive core valuation." "We continue to see a difficult 1H set up for e-commerce and online media stocks, and prefer travel group for 2Q rebound. Meta has potential for unusual volatility around metaverse transition, reopening, IDFA pressure and Reels promotion, but we like Meta's relative valuation." Stifel downgrades Teradyne to hold from buy Stifel downgraded the test equipment design and manufacturer after its earnings report. The firm said it's a better stock for the second half of the year than the first. "We are not throwing in the towel and continue to back Teradyne's dual growth strategy in test and industrial automation. That said, we acknowledge that following the more severe dip in revenue this year the path to achieve the estimates that we based our valuation upon will be steeper." Citi upgrades Tapestry to buy from neutral Citi upgraded the owner of Kate Spade and Coach. The firm said Tapestry is an attractive free cash flow story that's been "over penalized." "We are upgrading TPR from Neutral to Buy. We believe this is an attractive, strong FCF story that has been over penalized during the recent fall of many (retail) stocks." Citi downgrades Kroger to sell from neutral Citi downgraded the supermarket chain's stock due to inflationary pressures. "As 1 of only 4 stocks up YTD (out of 46 in our universe), KR has been viewed as a defensive name within retail. However, we don't believe this reflects the risks KR faces in F22 and beyond." Read more about this call here . Seaport upgrades Columbia Sportswear to buy from neutral Seaport said it sees several positive catalysts and more visibility for the apparel company in 2022. "The upgrade primarily reflects our more bullish view on the company's CY22 setup. In our initiation last Tuesday, we were positive on the long-term growth potential for Columbia in apparel and footwear and for SOREL in fashion boots and spring/summer product. But what gave us pause was warm December weather. We now believe COLM is better positioned for 2H22 than we had originally thought." Citi upgrades Tractor Supply to buy from neutral Citi upgraded the stock after its earnings report and said the stock is compelling. "We came away from TSCO' s enhanced earnings event more constructive on the top-line growth opportunity and believe the new, higher-margin profile is much more compelling to justify valuation akin to blue-chip retail peers." Credit Suisse initiates coverage of Sealed Air as outperform Credit Suisse said in its initiation of Sealed Air that it sees packaging fundamentals as strong in 2022. "We believe 2022 will be a solid year of Outperformance in the packaging sector owing to defensive/secular growth profiles, attractive relative valuation, increased capital return potential, positive price vs cost spread, and easier post-Covid comparisons for most companies." Deutsche Bank downgrades LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics to hold from buy Deutsche downgraded several diagnostic lab companies on Friday and said it's concerned about inflation. "We are downgrading DGX to Hold with a $129 price target and downgrading LH to Hold with a $294 price target. We are concerned that core lab margins are declining due to labor inflation and reagent inflation, which has been impossible to see due to the COVID tail winds." JPMorgan reiterates Pfizer as neutral JPMorgan kept its neutral rating on Pfizer. The firm said it's bullish on the company's Covid drug, Paxlovid. "And while we remain Neutral on Pfizer (as we see limited upside from the company's core business), we would not be surprised to see shares rally/recover from the recent selloff as COVID forecasts move higher with 2022 guidance and as additional Paxlovid contracts are announced." Mizuho reiterates Tesla and Rivian as top 2022 picks Mizuho said in a note to clients on Friday that Rivian is "well positioned for the electric revolution." The firm also said Tesla would remain a "leader" in the electric vehicle market. "As an early mover in the EV trucks/SUV market with > 70k pre-orders consuming all 2022 capacity and into 2023, and the vote of confidence from Amazon for up to 100k electric delivery vans, Rivian is well positioned in the EV revolution. Tesla (TSLA) Buy $1300. We see TSLA remaining a leader in the EV market with improving battery technology, a strong ADAS/AD (autonomous driving) road map, and an emerging player in energy storage." D.A. Davidson upgraded Affirm Holdings to buy from neutral D.A. Davidson said in its upgrade of the "buy now, pay later" company that it sees a compelling risk/reward after the sell-off. "After a brutal sell-off, we see a much-improved risk/reward in shares of AFRM, especially given our bullish views into results. Industry data suggests US BNPL usage more than doubled this holiday season and combined with Affirm' s own amazing retail traction plus Amazon, we see material upside into results." Morgan Stanley reiterated Netflix as equal weight Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients on Friday that it still likes the streaming giant. The firm also said the stock is fully valued after the company's earnings report last week. "We estimate that in aggregate, Disney, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount Plus and Discovery Plus will ramp content spending dramatically and absorb over $10bn in streaming losses in '22 to compete with Netflix. " Argus upgrades Gilead Sciences to buy from hold Argus upgraded the biopharmaceutical company and said it's bullish on the company's antiviral treatment for Covid. "We are raising our rating on Gilead Sciences to Buy from Hold following expanded approvals for Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral treatment for Covid-19. The treatment was first approved by the FDA for the treatment of hospitalized patients with Covid in October 2020, and has now been either approved or authorized for temporary use in approximately 50 countries."

An EV600 all-electric light commercial vehicle purpose-built for the delivery of goods and services, built by GM's electric commercial vehicle business, BrightDrop, is seen in Detroit, Michigan, in this undated photograph.

Brightdrop | Handout | via Reuters

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