Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: J.B. Hunt, Schwab, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, Uber & more

Published Wed, Apr 13 20228:34 AM EDTUpdated Wed, Apr 13 202211:38 AM EDT

Here are Wednesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Deutsche Bank upgrades J.B. Hunt to buy from hold Deutsche said in its upgrade of the transportation and shipping company that investors should buy the dip. "We also believe the recent sell-off offers a buying opportunity in shares of J.B. Hunt (JBHT), which we are upgrading to Buy from Hold with this note." Read more about this call here. RBC reiterates Meta as outperform RBC kept its outperform rating on social media giant but said it's expecting a "rocky" quarter when the Facebook parent reports earnings later this month. The firm lowered its price target to $240 per share from $245. "Another round of SMB ad agency channel checks raises our conviction that FB is likely to see another rocky quarter upcoming prompting lower estimates and PT to $240. Morgan Stanley names Charles Schwab a top pick Morgan Stanley said in a note on Wednesday that the financial services company will be a "key beneficiary of rising rates." "Compelling entry point in SCHW with the shares down -5% YTD. The stark underperformance is a surprise and disconnect from fundamentals as SCHW is among the most rate sensitive stocks that should benefit from the surge in rate expectations YTD." Read more about this call here. Bank of America initiates Warner Bros. Discovery as buy Bank of America said in its initiation of Warner Bros. Discovery that the merger of the two media companies creates a "powerhouse." "In our view, the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery creates a global media powerhouse that offers a compelling growth and deleveraging profile including 14%+ 2022E-2025E EBITDA CAGR driving net leverage from 4.5x to ~1x by 2025." Read more about this call here. New Street upgrades Nvidia to buy from neutral New Street said that it no longer sees crypto as a reason not to own shares of Nvidia. "On balance we no longer see crypto as a reason not to own the stock, and upgrade Nvidia to Buy. A weakness driven by crypto would be limited, short-lived and only an opportunity to add to positions. One-year target price $280; 36x FY25 EPS of ~$7.8 and 2.2x the SOXX." DA Davidson initiates Winnebago as buy DA Davidson said Winnebago is the stock to own in the RV space. "Our investment thesis is driven by the belief WGO can outperform recently reset investor expectations on earnings, margins and retail sales." UBS upgrades Humana to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the health-care company that it sees a "favorable" risk-reward balance. "We are upgrading our rating of Humana Inc. t o Buy from Neutral predicated on our belief that HUM can return to above industry growth levels for individual MA (Medicare Advantage) and show margin expansion." Stifel downgrades Reynolds to hold from buy Stifel downgraded the consumer goods products company mainly due to "gross margin pressures." "We downgrade shares of Reynolds Consumer Products to Hold from Buy and reduce our estimates below consensus given greater anticipated gross margin pressure from heightened input costs, especially aluminum and resin." KeyBanc reiterates Apple as overweight KeyBanc said that demand remains strong for Apple's iPhone 13. "Our checks indicate customer demand for iPhone 13 in March remained healthy with sell-through largely in line with store expectations, aided by: 1) better supply; 2) tax refunds; and 3) the release of the green iPhone, which is tracking slightly above store expectations." Morgan Stanley initiates nCino as overweight Morgan Stanley said the fintech company is a "vertical SaaS (software-as-a-service) player driving efficiency across the banking continuum." "Premium valuation, despite pending profitability, reflects superior top- line growth and SAM expansion cadence. Initiate OW with $60 PT." Baird reiterates Amazon as outperform Baird said the e-commerce giant continues to remain in a "strong relative competitive position." "We are adjusting our AMZN estimates to reflect the impact from the stronger USD and higher fuel prices, a Q3 Prime Day (a best guess) and higher costs associated with AWS capacity growth. We are now modestly below consensus for Q1/Q2, but still believe Amazon remains in a strong relative competitive position in e-commerce, with accelerating Online Retail growth through the year." Barclays reiterates Netflix as equal weight Barclays lowered its price target to $380 per share from $425 on the streaming giant, noting it's concerned about weak subscriber additions heading into earnings later this month. "Based on the average predicted value across various short and long term models, Netflix appears to be on a path to ~4mm subs, better than company guidance, but still weak in the absolute for a Q1." Oppenheimer reiterates Chipotle as top pick Oppenheimer said that it's bullish heading into the Mexican chain restaurant's earnings later this month. "We reinforce CMG' s top-pick status ahead of earnings season and reiterate our $1,925 target. Into the 1Q22 print, we forecast SSS above consensus owing to post-omicron traffic improvements and robust pricing power." Jefferies reiterates Dave & Buster's as buy Jefferies said it sees an "attractive" buying opportunity for the entertainment-themed restaurant company after it announced last week that it's buying competitor Main Event. " PLAY is buying complementary assets in a similar restaurant/entertainment complex, but focused more on families with kids (think birthday parties and group events) and has a compelling model that appears to average more than $7mm/unit in sales with unit-level margins approaching mid-20% range." JPMorgan downgrades CarMax to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said that the stock is "likely close to a near-term peak at current levels." "We are moving to Neutral from Overweight on KMX shares as we believe FY23 estimates need to be reset materially and building conviction on an inflection in growth next year is challenging amidst the worsening affordability backdrop, suggesting the stock is likely close to a near-term peak at current levels with potential downside to $75 in the near term." Truist initiates Edwards Lifesciences as buy Truist said in its initiation of the med tech company that it's a leader in the "structural heart valve replacement/repair markets." "We expect EW to continue dominating this market especially as new indications, and increased awareness drive increased penetration into a +1M US severe Aortic Stenosis population < 10% penetrated currently. JPMorgan reiterates Uber and Lyft as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on both ride-sharing companies on Wednesday but said it prefers Uber over Lyft. "We remain OW both Uber and Lyft shares, but have preference for Uber given overall business and geographic diversification, cross-platform advantages via the new Uber One subscription offering, new low-cost rideshare alternatives and relative share price underperformance." Evercore ISI reiterates Alphabet as outperform Evercore ISI said in a note on Tuesday night that it came away more bullish on the stock after a Google Day Symposium. "Overall, we came away incrementally more constructive on the growth outlook for Google Search, in part due to its ongoing product innovation and in part due to its very strong value proposition to both users and to marketers." Bernstein names Las Vegas Sands as a top pick Bernstein named the casino company as a top pick, noting it sees a compelling investment opportunity. " LVS and Sands China are our Bernstein Best Idea for the second quarter of 2022. We rate both stocks Outperform with a target price of US$56.00 and HK$30.75 (Sands China). Both stocks have underperformed since the start of Covid, punished by concerns around Macau regulatory environment, concession uncertainty and Covid-related travel restrictions." Bank of America reiterates Home Depot and Lowe's as buys Bank of America said that the home-improvement retailers are not immune from downturns, but that the risks are overblown. "The concern of a significant drop in home-improvement retailers' profits appear to be more than priced in to the stocks, in our view, as shares of HD have declined 26% YTD and LOW shares have dropped 21% YTD."

Tractor trailers sit parked at a J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. facility in Columbus, Ohio.

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Here are Wednesday's biggest calls on Wall Street:

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