Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Nvidia, First Republic, Whirlpool, Meta, FedEx & more

Published Fri, Mar 17 20238:29 AM EDT

Here are Friday's biggest calls on Wall Street: JPMorgan upgrades Chubb to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the insurance company is defensive. "Our long-term fundamental outlook for CB has been positive, but we have been reluctant to recommend the stock due to concerns about slowing price hikes in the commercial lines market and the stock's valuation." CFRA upgrade Whirlpool to buy from hold CFRA said in its upgrade of the stock that shares are attractive. "Despite weak demand in appliances, we believe WHR shares are attractive as the U.S. market leader." KeyBanc reiterates Apple as overweight KeyBanc said iPhone demand remains "resilient amid macro concerns." "We continue to believe AAPL is one of the best opportunities within our coverage given AAPL's resilient product/subscriber base, ability to grow key markets such as China and India, solid margin expansion potential and AAPL's shareholder friendly capital allocation." Wells Fargo upgrades Warner Brothers Discovery to overweight from equal weight Wells said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees an attractive risk/reward. "We threw everything and the kitchen sink at a Downside Case scenario for WBD, and it still delevers to 3x by '25E. We now have conviction in FCF to limit downside, while the stock has asymmetric upside." Read more about this call here. Wedush downgrades First Republic to neutral from outperform Wedbush said that a takeover could wipe out the equity value from the bank. "We're downgrading shares of First Republic to NEUTRAL from OUTPERFORM as we believe a distressed M & A sale could result in minimal, if any, residual value to common equity holders owing to FRC's significant negative tangible book value after taking into account fair value marks on its loans and securities." Read more about this call here . Citi initiates Bumble as buy Citi said the dating app continues to take market share. "Bumble currently has one of the best growth rates within our Internet coverage, with expected modest EBITDA margin expansion as well." Read more about this call here. Oppenheimer upgrades Synchrony to outperform from perform Oppenheimer said the consumer financial services company is a "safety play not for the faint hearted." "We think banking sector liquidity fears brought forward some recession valuation downside, and we expect a snapback before ultimate lows." Morgan Stanley upgrades Nvidia to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said the AI "narrative is too strong to remain on sidelines" on Nvidia. "Having been EW for a large move in the stock, we still see indications that LLM (large language model) enthusiasm is turning into stronger spending both near term and long term; we have been too data point oriented around a positive bigger picture, but the narrative is too strong to remain on sidelines." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan reiterates First Republic as overweight JPMorgan said it's standing by shares of First Republic. "However, with the shares trading well below TBV (tangible book value), we see this as a higher risk but potentially very high reward name." Read more about this call here. Cowen reiterates Netflix as outperform Cowen said it sees long-term upside as the streaming giant cracks down on password sharing. "Our proprietary survey continues to suggest that NFLX's paid sharing measures could add a significant number of US paid sharers as well as drive new member adds in '23. In 1Q23 through Feb, ~40% of password sharers want to maintain access." Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy Citi said it's bullish on Nvidia's adoption of AI. "We lift our TP to $305 from $245 with a bull case of $400 on accelerating generative AI adoption based on multiple cloud service providers like AWS, MSFT, Alphabet, and Baidu comments this week." UBS reiterates Alphabet as buy UBS said it's getting more bullish on shares of the internet giant. "We see cost risk around the integration of generative AI into Google search results as manageable." Truist initiates Churchill Downs as buy Truist said the horse racing company's brand is "iconic." "As sports teams, leagues and high-end brands see record valuations, we see scope for CHDN and its iconic Kentucky Derby race (or rather brand) to appreciate accordingly." Canaccord reiterates Rivian as buy The firm admitted its buy rating has not been accurate but says it's standing by shares of the electric vehicle company. "We believe Rivian is on its way to capturing its fair share of the EV market via a thoughtful vertically integrated strategy." Bank of America reiterates FedEx as buy Bank of America said its standing by its buy rating on FedEx after the company's earnings report on Thursday. "We increase our PO to $305 (from $233), on 16x our F24E EPS (from 13x), above the midpoint of its 12x-18x trading range as we believe F23 represents trough earnings." Stifel downgrades Shopify to hold from buy Stifel resumed coverage of Shopify with a downgrade, noting it sees margin pressures. "However, the investments the company is making to expand its platform capabilities are pressuring gross margins and driving increased CapEx in the near term, which is weighing on the company's ability to drive meaningful profitability and FCF in '23/'24." Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's bullish on Microsoft's AI opportunity. "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CVP of Modern Work and Business Applications Jared Spataro hosted a webcast focused on the role AI will play in impacting productivity work." Citi reiterates Meta as buy Citi said it likes Meta's improved operating leverage. " Meta is a top pick in 2023, as outlined in our deep dive of 11 Key Internet Trends in which we highlight Meta's improving engagement, newer ad products, like Advantage+ (resulting in greater ROAS), and improving operating leverage." Argus downgrades Bath & Body Works to hold from buy Argus said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees too much "economic uncertainty" " BBWI shares have underperformed the S & P 500 over the past quarter, falling 16% compared to a 0.1% decline for the index. Given the increasing pressure from online retailers and economic uncertainty, we are lowering our rating to HOLD."