Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Tesla, Tupperware, Hostess, Levi's, Uber & more

Published Thu, May 5 20228:43 AM EDTUpdated Thu, May 5 202211:54 AM EDT

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Citi downgrades Tupperware to neutral from buy Citi said that the company is having too much trouble turning the business around. "Though TUP has continued to make progress on many of its operational initiatives since then, yesterday's 1Q22 earnings underscore the difficulty that this company is having in really turning its business around." Read more about this call here. MKM initiates Winnebago as buy MKM called the recreational vehicle company that it's a "unicorn of sorts." " WGO has undergone a significant transformation that started with the October 2016 acquisition of Grand Design RV (the fastest growing player in the towable space) that not only helped to diversify away from the legacy motorized operations but also acted as a benchmark by which the rest of the company would be measured." Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI downgrades Brinker to in line from outperform Evercore said the upside for the Chili's parent company has been "delayed." "Even with a solid on-premise sales recovery and upcoming pricing, we now see restaurant margin for FY23 remaining below pre-Covid level and Brinker's stock as likely 'dead money' in the near term." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley reiterates Uber as overweight Morgan Stanley said Uber has the scale and innovation to drive shares higher. " UBER EPS shows its scale and cross product edge for drivers/riders/FCF. We raise ests. & see consistent FCF beats delivering revisions/multiple expansion for OW Uber." JPMorgan reiterates Hostess Brands as overweight JPMorgan said it sees more upside in shares of the maker of Twinkie's after the company's blowout earnings report on Wednesday. "We remain highly confident in the TWNK stock's upside, especially given the still-appealing valuation and extraordinary strong consumer demand." JPMorgan downgrades Murphy Oil to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said in its downgrade of Murphy Oil that the company's cash return yields are below peers. "Downgrade to Neutral on Diminished Cash Return Potential Amid Contingent Payments. ... Despite this attractive backdrop, we anticipate more in-line performance as the company's cash return yields are below its peers as the company focuses on further deleveraging its balance sheet." Bank of America reiterates Levi Strauss as buy Bank of America said in a note after meeting with Levi's management that it's a "compelling" direct-to-consumer story. "We continue to view LEVI as an attractive and underappreciated growth story with the stock trading at 7.4x EV/EBITDA." UBS reiterates Albemarle as buy UBS said it sees more "upside potential" for shares of Albemarle after the specialty chemical and lithium company's earnings report on Wednesday. "Given the shift in contract approach, if lithium prices hold near current levels, there could be even further upside potential in our view (~20% of lithium sales on spot pricing). And we believe the updated guide leaves a buffer in case of lithium price correction back to start-of-year levels." UBS reiterates Home Depot and Lowe's as buy UBS said that Home Depot and and Lowe's are well positioned in the years ahead. "As we see it, the Home Improvement (HI) Retail sector should generate modest growth over the next few years after coming off a period of robust strength." Bank of America downgrades Sprouts to underperform from buy Bank of America double downgraded the organic and natural foods grocer, noting that increasing prices will not be enough to drive earnings per share upside. "We have an Underperform rating on SFM as we believe accelerating price increases are not likely to drive material EPS upside given SFM's more narrow assortment of higher price point (vs. conventional grocers and discount stores) specialty items." Morgan Stanley reiterates Fisker as overweight Morgan Stanley said after the electric vehicle's earnings report that it's sticking by the stock but sees "increasing risk." " FSR 1Q results were in line with forecasts with no change to the FY opex/capex guide. The company has enough cash to launch the Ocean, but in our view will need significantly more to ramp while insuring against execution and supply chain volatility." Mizuho upgrades Fortinet to buy from neutral Mizuho said it sees more clarity for the remainder of 2022 after Fortinet's earnings report on Wednesday. " FTNT reported another very good upside quarter, led by bookings growth of 50% Y/Y and product revenue growth of 54% Y/Y." Bank of America reiterates Costco as buy Bank of America said that it sees more upside after the company reported strong April sales on Wednesday. "We maintain our Buy rating as we see COST as well positioned given continued sales momentum (incl. impressive traffic comps), strong price positioning in a highly inflationary environment, and strong membership trends." Argus downgrades Teladoc to hold from buy Argus said the telehealth company is "too uncertain" of an investment right now. "We had upgraded the stock to BUY in March based on our view that the company had a clear path to profitability. However, Teladoc's disappointing 1Q22 results, with slower-than-expected revenue growth and declining margins, suggest that profitability is still far off. ... . Beyond that, we believe that the company's prospects are too uncertain to make TDOC a sound investment." Wedbush reiterates Tesla as outperform Wedbush said that it liked Elon Musk's move to get financial backing in his bid to acquire Twitter as it removes a Tesla "overhang." "This was a smart financial and strategic move by Musk that will be well received across the board and also shows the Twitter deal is now on a glide path to get done by the end of this year which should close the arb spread in the name." Oppenheimer downgrades Sally to perform from outperform Oppenheimer downgraded the beauty-supply company after earnings on Thursday, citing slowing comp growth. "Following a below-expectation Q2 delivery from SBH this morning and an FY22 guidance reduction, we are downgrading shares to Perform from Outperform."

Hostess Twinkies and CupCakes are displayed on a store shelf on May 17, 2021 in San Anselmo, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: