Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Tesla, Snowflake, Salesforce, Nio, Nvidia & more

Published Thu, Mar 2 20238:42 AM EST

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Credit Suisse names Microsoft a top pick Credit Suisse said Microsoft is a key beneficiary of AI. "Within US Software, MSFT is our Top Pick and we are adding it to the CS Top Pick List following an extensive assessment of MSFT's potential paths of monetization." Roth MKM initiates Getaround as buy Roth initiated the car sharing company and said it's a "a digital platform for the mass population of idle vehicles." "With vehicles idly parked approximately 95% of the time, GETR's 100% digital, frictionless car-sharing technology platform serves as a springboard capable of maximizing utilization of approximately 1.2B legacy cars." RBC initiates Moderna as outperform RBC said in its initiation of Moderna that it's a "cancer vaccine believer." "We think COVID cliff and its near-term impact to the P & L is well appreciated given $5b guided 2023 revenue floor, CDC numbers framing how volume is evolving and price, new variants and compliance offering potential upside." JPMorgan downgrades Nio to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said it sees too many challenges after the Nio's earnings report on Wednesday. "We believe the stock will likely trade sideways in the near term and we would reassess a potential inflection point in mid-late 2Q23, depending on the magnitude of sequential volume and margin improvement where we are directionally positive yet cautious given street expectations are too high, which leaves surprise bias more to the downside than upside, in our view." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan downgrades Dollar Tree to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said it sees too many macro headwinds for the discount retailer. "We downgrade DLTR to Neutral. Multi-year, we see DLTR returning to a double-digit EPS "compounder" with top- and bottom-line drivers in place at the core DT banner (with DT Plus roll-out incremental) and stabilization at the Family Dollar concept." JPMorgan downgrades Silvergate to underweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its downgrade of the crypto bank that it sees too much "downside risk" for shares of Silvergate. "Downgrade to UW; Further Downside Risk with the Ability to Continue as a Going Concern Now Cited." Bank of America reiterates Lowe's as buy Bank of America said it's standing by shares of the home improvement retailer after its earnings report on Wednesday. "The concept of Lowe's 'closing the gap' in its same-store sales growth and operating margin with that of Home Depot is another key element of the investment thesis." Morgan Stanley upgrades Pinduoduo to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said the ag-tech company is a "long-term growth story." " PDD benefits from the long-term consumption trend given its 'low price' user mind-share, and its expansion of branded product coverage supports above-industry growth, making it a structural growth stock in China e-commerce." Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on Lockheed Martin Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on the stock and says it's beneficiary of the defense budget in Congress. "We open a 90-day catalyst watch on our Buy-rated defense names, including GD, LDOS, LMT and SAIC, ahead of the introduction of the FY24 budget later this month and the beginning of both committee mark-ups on spending bills in Congress and Debt Ceiling negotiations between House Republicans and the Biden Administration." Goldman Sachs reiterates Tesla as buy Goldman said Tesla's investor day on Wednesday should give shareholders even more confidence in the automaker's strategy. "The bottom line is that we believe the event should increase investor confidence in Tesla's ability to reduce costs by ~50% with its next generation platform, given the breadth and depth of Tesla's team and how its vertically integrated model allows it to optimize on both cost and performance criteria." Raymond James resumes Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices as strong buy Raymond James resumed coverage of Nvidia and said it's a leader in the race to AI. The firm also said AMD is an "underappreciated" AI play. "Nvidia Corporation is the undisputed leader in AI/ML and arguably has the best autonomous driving solutions. ... .Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an underappreciated play on AI/ML, in our view." Barclays initiates Carlyle Group and KKR as overweight Barclays said KKR is an "attractive" long-term growth story. The firm also initiated Carlyle group and says it's "undervalued." "We initiate coverage of CG (PT $41) and KKR (PT $69), both at Overweight. CG has been a challenged story, but we see it as undervalued and think the ongoing mix shift away from PE can help valuation over time. KKR we see as an attractive long-term grower with ample scaling opportunities and lower near-term fundraising risk." Goldman Sachs reiterates Salesforce as buy Goldman said it's standing by shares of Salesforce after the company's earnings report on Wednesday. "F4Q23 should change the narrative towards the path to profitable growth and reinforce our belief (articulated last week) that CRM is at an inflection point that can vault it into the upper echelons of highly valued tech companies." Read more about this call here. Jefferies reiterates Apple as buy Jefferies said its survey checks show limited impact from economic uncertainty. "Our analysis of web traffic globally indicates that Apple is seeing limited impact from macro-related pressure through January." TD Cowen upgrades Okta to outperform from market perform TD Cowen said in its upgrade of the stock that stability has been "restored." "We are upgrading OKTA to Outperform raising our PT to $100 from $70. Our upgrade is based on: 1) Strong FQ4 results and improved FY24 guidance; 2) Focus shifting to profitable growth as FY24 operating & FCF margin should dramatically expand on the heels of prior & expected disciplined cost mgmt." Citi reiterates Disney as buy Citi said in a note to clients that Disney could sell its stake in Hulu. "We believe Disney may sell its 67% stake in Hulu. In parallel, we suspect Disney may secure the distribution rights to two Marvel characters held by Comcast (Hulk and Namor)." Morgan Stanley reiterates Liberty Formula One as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's bullish on shares of the auto racing company. "We believe F1 is the fastest growing global sport and that growth is expected to drive 10-15% adjusted EBITDA CAGR from 2022 to 2026." Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley said competitors can't keep up after Tesla's investor day on Wednesday. "In a race to the bottom, we seriously question how the competition can keep up." Needham upgrades Salesforce to buy from hold Needham said after several years on the sideline that investor should buy the stock now. "Six years on the sidelines is a long time in our universe but here we are, upgrading CRM to Buy as we believe its FY24 profitability guidance better aligns its cost structure with its intermediate term growth outlook."