Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Amazon, Eli Lilly, Bed Bath & Beyond, Nike, Exxon & more

Published Thu, Sep 22 20228:41 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: UBS upgrades Eli Lilly to buy from neutral UBS says it's bullish on the company's weight loss drug and sees upside potential. "With these events in the rear-view mirror, we now view LLY as being the most attractive name in our large cap coverage, with the greatest potential upside to numbers." Read more about this call here. Wolfe downgrades Alcoa to peer perform from outperform Wolfe said in its downgrade of Alcoa that the aluminum "bull case has fizzled." "We downgrade AA to Peer Perform as macro factors have crushed the aluminum bull case. Goldman Sachs reiterates Exxon as buy Goldman says it sees "long-term value" in shares of Exxon . "As we have previously discussed, we believe XOM offers differentiated Upstream projects (Guyana, LNG, Permian), a unique business transformation driving the company's FCF breakeven lower, as well as improving returns on capital employed, driving our Buy rating on the stock." Telsey reiterates Bed Bath & Beyond as underperform Telsey says it's very concerned about sales declines heading into earnings next week. "Our focus when Bed Bath & Beyond reports 2Q22 results next Thursday, September 29, will be on the need for an additional cash raise, the comp so far in September, the pace of cost cuts, the inventory position, and progress on the merchandising initiatives toward national brands." Cowen initiates 23andMe as outperform Cowen said in its initiation of the genetics company that 23andMe is innovative and the stock has more upside. "This database flywheel enables further LT innovation & upside in consumer health, therapeutics, and an emerging genetics-based 1°-care service. Initiate Outperform with a $6 PT." Morgan Stanley reiterates Amazon as overweight Morgan Stanley says the company's fulfillment network is the next great catalyst for Amazon shares. "Our fulfillment utilization math implies AMZN has built enough capacity until 4Q:24, giving us increased confidence in scaling efficiencies and profit beats ahead. It also causes us to lower '23/'24 capex by $10bn/$6bn." Bank of America reiterates Salesforce as buy Bank of America says that Salesforce is emerging as the next "quality GARP stocks" after attending the company's analyst day. "We expect the shares to rerate higher over time from the current 20x C23e FCF, given potential for accel. to 25%+ FCF growth from recent high teens/low 20s." RBC initiates Nike as outperform RBC said in its initiation of Nike that China is a key catalyst heading into earnings next week. " Nike is the 100lb gorilla in sportswear with #1 market share, leading product franchises, and a Digital business that will drive future growth." Read more about this call here. Raymond James initiates Prudential as strong buy Raymond James said in its initiation of the insurance company that it's bullish on the transformation plan. "We are initiating on Prudential Financia l with a Strong Buy rating; our $115 Price Target represents 29% upside potential. PRU's transformation plan should boost growth." Wolfe reiterates Netflix as outperform Wolfe says it sees a Netflix's ad-tier product as a real catalyst for the company. "The crux to our bullish stance is that we see a real path to doing that based on our analysis of ad loads, AVOD mix, engagement, and potential growth boost from lower churn. At the core of our advertising thesis is the estimate that Netflix accounts spend ~2hrs/day vs. 1hr/day for Hulu." MoffettNathanson initiates CrowdStrike as outperform Moffett said in an initiation note that CrowdStrike is the "leading platform" in cyber security. "The cybersecurity industry comprises what we see as five main pillars: identity, endpoint security, data security, network security, and cloud security. Each one of these pillars has the opportunity to establish a platform to dominate, and CrowdStrike has emerged as the leading platform for endpoint security." Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as overweight Morgan Stanley says it sees an attractive risk/reward after meeting with company management. "Meeting with executives across MSFT increases our confidence in a high-teens total return profile, not reflected in shares, creating an attractive risk / reward." Mizuho downgrades Block to neutral from