Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, HP, SoFi, Bed Bath & Beyond, Meta, Disney & more

Published Fri, Aug 19 20228:38 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Aug 19 20228:40 AM EDT

Here are Friday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Meta to $225 per share from $280, citing headwinds for the company's short-format video product, Reels. "While META faces execution uncertainty, we think it is more than reflected in the price at current levels as our new $225 PT implies paying ~10X our '23 EBITDA…a ~17% discount to META's long-term average." Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo names Palo Alto as a top pick into earnings Wells said the cybersecurity company is a top idea heading earnings next week. "Within our off-calendar coverage universe, we have the most confidence in Palo Alto reporting strong F4Q results, based on the strong results in our 2Q22(Jul) Reseller survey (+23% net)." Atlantic Equities downgrades Nasdaq to neutral from overweight Atlantic Equities downgraded Nasdaq mainly on valuation. "Following mixed 2Q22 earnings across the US Exchanges, volume trends have been mixed with cash equities and options holding up well at historically elevated levels, while some derivatives volumes have been weak through August-to-date." Telsey reiterates Bed Bath & Beyond as underperform Telsey said it sees shares dropping $3. "Overall, Bed Bath's weak financial position, uncertain economic environment, leadership overhaul, poor execution, and lack of clear strategy keep us cautious on the stock." Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo downgrades Hewlett Packard to underweight from equal weight Wells downgraded the stock due to concerns about "deteriorating PC demand." "While we maintain a positive view on HP 's strong FCF and execution on driving a richer portfolio mix (commercial PCs, consumer premium / gaming, peripherals, Instant Ink, etc.), we think deteriorating PC demand and macro sensitivity in print could result in material downward est. revisions." Read more about this call here. Daiwa reiterates Disney as buy Daiwa said in a note that Disney Parks should continue to drive earnings and outlook. "We continue to believe that this market leader can dominate the burgeoning streaming market and we look at stock weakness as buying opportunities. We also believe that despite high content spending, DIS has scale, synergies, and Parks margins to help offset." Bank of America reiterates Dick's as buy Bank of America said it sees a risk to estimates heading into earnings next week, but that the "long-term strategy is on track." "We are raising our PO to $125 (from $105) which is based on 12-13X given higher sector multiples & reiterate Buy as believe DKS sales & margins have been structurally rebased at higher levels vs. 2019 given: DKS 'content of products' is higher heat and more narrowly distributed." Bank of America reiterates Peloton as buy Bank of America said it sees limited visibility on Peloton shares heading into earnings next week, but that it still thinks subscribers can grow. "The two things we look for on the call are a path to grow subs to over 5mn, and a path to positive FCF." HSBC downgrades Krispy Kreme to hold from buy HSBC said it sees a lack of visibility following the donut company's second-quarter earnings report. "Weak 2Q revenues cast new doubts on Krispy Kreme' s brand strength, pricing power and revenue management capability. 2Q results also raise questions on whether its fast store expansion works in a higher inflationary environment like this." Morgan Stanley reiterates Robinhood as equal weight Morgan Stanley said Robinhood user growth and engagement remains soft. "Robinhood reported July metrics [yesterday] that showed m/m flat user growth, declining engagement (-6% Monthly Active User's) and +13% net new asset growth." Atlantic Equities reiterates Uber as overweight Atlantic Equities said there's more profit potential for Uber. "Q2 results encouragingly showed both stronger than anticipated Mobility gross bookings growth and more progress on Delivery profitability." KeyBank reiterates Apple as overweight KeyBanc raised its price target on Apple to $185 per share from $177 and said it sees "strong trends." "Currently, the data supports our above-consensus Hardware revenue estimates, which we increase for iPhone based on further review of our estimates and F3Q22 results." Citi reiterates General Motors as a top pick Citi kept its buy rating on the stock saying that it sees several positive near-term catalysts for shares of General Motors. "With a ~14% '22E Auto FCF yield as the starting point, we highlight the following potential NT catalysts. (1) Supportive auto data points that raise investor confidence in GM's H2 outlook and macro resilience. To that, we were encouraged by management's tone at our meeting. Bank of America reiterates Home Depot and Lowe's as buy Bank of America said Home Depot and Lowe's are both "attractive" even with conservative second-half outlooks. "Both retailers beat Street expectations for 2Q EPS and maintained strong margins despite cost pressure, as the resilience of consumer demand for home maintenance and renovation combined with the retailers' competitive strengths supported continued earnings growth." Citi reiterates SoFi as buy Citi said it sees shares of the online personal finance company going higher. "While near term volatility can continue, we believe SoFi's operating performance can lend support at current levels and lead the stock higher as the selling pressure ends

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