Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: IBM, Delta, Twitter, UPS, Netflix, Nike & more

Published Thu, Apr 14 20228:28 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Apr 14 202211:45 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Morgan Stanley upgrades IBM to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees improving consumer sentiment. "We upgrade IBM to OW, $150 PT, as we view it as a defensive play amid growing macro risks, given its negative correlation to PMIs and historical late-cycle outperformance." Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI adds a tactical underperform on Meta Platforms Evercore said the setup is attractive heading into Facebook parent Meta's earnings later this month but added that estimates are overly aggressive. "Our FB TAP Underperform is based on our view that Street H1 Revenue estimates are overly aggressive, based on FX headwinds, potential brand ad spend pullback in Europe, limited-to-date Reels monetization, Street Q2 estimates that appear intrinsically aggressive given a very tough comp, and a lengthy timetable until a post-privacy ad attribution model is fully deployed." Evercore ISI adds a tactical outperform on Lyft Evercore added a tactical outperform on the ride-sharing company ahead of earnings later this quarter and said Street estimates are too conservative. "Our LYFT TAP Outperform is based on our view that the Street's Q1/Q2 Revenue estimates are overly conservative based on a large batch of positive recovery [factors], incl. NYC/Chicago Rideshare data, UBER's early-March business update, Apple/Google mobility trends, TSA Throughput data, and SensorTower App traffic trends." Stephens initiates SolarEdge and Enphase as overweight Stephens initiated coverage of Enphase with a price target of $280 per share and said the company has "technology leadership." The firm also initiated coverage of SolarEdge with a $490 per share price target and says the company will continue its rapid growth. "Initiating OW with a $280 price target. Technology leadership + strategic installer targeting drives market share capture. ... Initiating OW with a $490 price target Top global inverter supplier (No. 1 by revenue since 2018) Solar storage offering set to grow rapidly, supported by in-house cell manufacturing." Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on Honeywell Deutsche added a catalyst call buy on shares of Honeywell and says investors are entering the "sweet spot" to buy the stock. "We continue to believe the company should benefit from its late-cycle end-market exposures including Aerospace, Oil & Gas and Non-Residential Construction." Benchmark initiates GoDaddy as buy Benchmark said in its initiation of the website company that it sees a "compelling" buying opportunity. "While GDDY needs to prove it can deliver on much greater scale demands of SMID businesses, we believe it has the core tech stack in place, and management foresight and capital, to effectively exploit its hosting moat." Barclays upgrades Delta to overweight from equal weight Barclays upgraded the airline following earnings earlier this week and says the "long-awaited recovery is here." " Delta' s focus on brand, premium products and prudent balance sheet management has favorably positioned the carrier to meaningfully profit from the current strong rebound in U.S. travel demand." Read more about this call here. Susquehanna downgrades Western Digital to neutral from positive Susquehanna said in its downgrade of the stock that cloud deceleration spending is not yet priced in. " WDC is also down ~28% YTD, but up 5% since STX 's guide revision. Nonetheless, we argue the extent of deceleration in Cloud capex spend by YE22 and into 2023, and its impact, is still not dialed into expectations and certainly not in the current consensus." Morgan Stanley reiterates Netflix as equal weight Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock to $425 from $450 ahead of earnings next week. "Long term, we believe Netflix will deliver compelling revenue and margin growth. Near term, we see risk to consensus net adds expectations. Valuation is not stretched here, but we think it is unlikely shares can outperform with falling net adds estimates." KeyBanc reiterates Chipotle as overweight KeyBanc said the Mexican chain restaurant was still its top idea in 2022 and added it sees a "compelling entry point." " Chipotle possesses industry-leading digital capabilities, underappreciated unit growth prospects, a robust innovation pipeline and significant pricing power, with favorable customer demographics that should help protect margins from rising costs." UBS reiterates Neflix as buy UBS said it sees upside in shares of Netflix heading into earnings next week. "We continue to believe in Netflix's LT growth opportunity as int'l penetration upside and pricing power drive higher margins & FCF/sh." Loop upgrades UPS to buy from hold Loop upgraded UPS mainly on valuation. "The combination of the stock pulling back from $232 to $189 in recent months and January's big dividend hike means the dividend yield has shot up to 3.2% — by far the highest among the large cap transports." Bank of America upgrades Gartner to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the tech research and consulting firm that it sees a "more positive take on margins." "We think shares are not fully valuing Gartner's (IT) robust free cash flow and potential for sales/EPS upside." UBS reiterates Nike as buy UBS said in a note on Thursday that Nike continues to be "effectively navigating an uncertain macro environment" and that it's "very bullish." "We believe North America demand remains very strong, particularly in digital channels, and Nike's inventory levels are lean." Telsey downgrades Bed Bath & Beyond to underperform from market perform Telsey said in its downgrade of the stock that its valuation is too high. "We are downgrading our rating on BBBY to Underperform from Market Perform, as we view the stock's valuation as too high for a company with weakening financial performance as it faces a more challenging U.S. consumer backdrop and ongoing supply chain challenges in 2022." Cowen reiterates Alphabet as outperform Cowen said in a note on Thursday that it's bullish on the tech and search giant heading into earnings later this month. "We slightly raised our 1Q Google Search ad estimates following our bullish Digital ad expert check call on 4/5, which suggested Search is seeing strong demand (despite tough comps and 1Q decel), led by Google Shopping; Search is also likely benefiting from iOS privacy changes." Morgan Stanley reiterates Amazon as overweight Morgan Stanley said in a note on Thursday that Amazon' s announcement of a fuel surcharge on fulfillment fees paid by sellers will be a key to revenue acceleration. "Once again, we see this stickiness (merchant availability and consumer demand) as being key to driving revenue acceleration and margin expansion through the remainder of the year and into '23." CFRA downgrades Twitter to hold from buy CFRA said in its downgrade of Twitter that at current levels the firm's thesis has largely played out and that it thinks Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter will be enticing for shareholders. "We think the offer price should be viewed as enticing to shareholders (near our $55 target price) and will be difficult to reject. If rejected, we fear Musk could walk away rather than raise his offer (we take him for his word), which would likely drive shares considerably lower."

People walk past a store of the sporting goods retailer Nike Inc. at a shopping complex in Beijing, China March 25, 2021.

Florence Lo | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: