Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls of the day: McDonald's, Zoom, Coinbase, IMAX & more

Published Wed, Feb 23 20228:37 AM ESTUpdated Wed, Feb 23 202211:48 AM EST

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Morgan Stanley names Moderna as a catalyst-driven idea Morgan Stanley named the biotech company as a catalyst-driven idea and said it's optimistic for Moderna's flu vaccine data. The firm reiterated its equal weight rating on the stock. "Results of the head-to-head Ph2 flu vaccine study of mRNA- 1010 vs. approved standard dose vaccine is expected in early 2022." Read more about this call here . Raymond James upgrades Intel to market perform from underperform Raymond James upgraded Intel mainly on valuation and said its thesis has largely played out. "Nonetheless, with the stock now down 30% since our downgrade in early 2021 (vs. a 4% rise in the SOX), and with the bar on cash flow having been reset, we're not confident that the stock would meaningfully underperform further, particularly in an industry downturn scenario." Piper Sandler upgrades Marathon Oil to overweight from neutral Piper said in its upgrade of Marathon Oil that it's bullish on the company returning cash to shareholders. "While the company's return framework entailed the company returning more than 40% of CFO [cash flow from operations] to shareholders in a $60/bbl+ environment, the company went above and beyond in 4Q21 returning in excess of 70% of CFO to shareholders." Read more about this call here . KeyBanc reiterates Block as overweight KeyBanc said in a note to clients that it's cautious heading into earnings on Thursday. Block is the payments company formerly known as Square. "The report overall could be viewed as mixed, in our view, as we see Block in the early stages of a third major company evolution toward connecting the consumer and merchant ecosystems across offline and online channels on a global basis." Roth initiates coverage of Rocket Lab as buy Roth said the rocket company is well positioned to be a top beneficiary of the "emerging space economy." "According to Wall Street Research, the space economy is projected to grow from $350B today to $1.4T by 2030. We believe that RKLB is targeting an end-to-end vendor position in this emerging space-economy opportunity." JPMorgan reiterates Coinbase as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on shares of Coinbase ahead of earnings on Thursday, but the firm said it's cautious as crypto values fall. "We are marking our Coinbase model to crypto-market ahead of 4Q21 earnings, accounting for higher crypto prices and better volumes/volatility than previously modeled. We are also adjusting our 2022 estimates to account for what has been a bigger sell-off in crypto than forecast so far in 2022." Baird reiterates Zoom as outperform Baird kept its outperform rating on shares of the teleconferencing company ahead of earnings next week and said it likes the long-term risk/reward. "When ZM reports next Monday all eyes will be on initial F23 guidance given continued tough upcoming comps. We like the long term risk/reward and believe enterprise traction could allay some growth concerns, but also point out that consensus EPS, above our estimate, could be too high. That's a mild near-term concern." JPMorgan reiterates Exxon Mobil as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on shares of Exxon and said it's bullish heading into investor day on March 2. "In summary, we think that investors are looking for additional underlying details on the multiyear financial framework, following the high level color provided on the 4Q CC (conference call), particularly the targeted $35/bbl Brent breakeven." Loop reiterates McDonald's as buy Loop kept its buy rating on the fast-food chain and said its checks show same-store sales tracking ahead of consensus. "We completed our latest round of checks with U.S. franchisees for McDonald's . Per our contacts, same-store sales were up 5%-6% to date in 1Q22 and are therefore tracking significantly ahead of our full-1Q estimate for 2% growth and consensus at up 3.1%." JPMorgan upgrades Palo Alto Networks to neutral from underweight JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees a more balanced risk/reward. " PANW is one of the cybersecurity companies that is well positioned to compete for the cloud-security opportunity. After the recent pullback, the risk reward set up in the stock now appears more balanced, and so we are upgrading to a Neutral rating." Evercore ISI downgrades Altice USA to in line from outperform Evercore said in its downgrade of the cable company that it's concerned about a lack of free cash flow. "Given the long-term nature of the company's investments, and the lack of certainty about the returns they will generate, we are moving to the sidelines, and downgrading ATUS to In Line." Wells Fargo reiterates IMAX as a top pick Wells Fargo kept IMAX as one of its top picks and said it's bullish heading into earnings on Wednesday. "Overall, we remain bullish on IMAX's box office and installs prospects, and view the stock as our favorite SMID Cap growth stock for 2022." UBS downgrades Quest Diagnostics to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the stock that higher costs will "complicate the growth trajectory." "We downgrade DGX from Buy to Neutral as we see risk to meeting management's target of $8.50 in FY23. We exit 4Q believing 2022 will be incrementally pressured by growth investments; it is unclear whether these will comprise a permanent portion of opex." Read more about this call here. Deutsche Bank reiterates Salesforce as buy Deutsche Bank kept its buy rating on the stock ahead of earnings next week and said the firm needs to see margin progression to get more positive on the stock. "We believe better results can very well get CRM back on track given F4Q represents about a third of FY bookings and would therefore be a meaningful proof point to assuage some of the aforementioned concerns. That said, we do believe confidence around margin progression is required for the stock to perform well from here."

The logo for McDonald's is seen on a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, January 27, 2022.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: