Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Meta, Amazon, Ford, Activision Blizzard & more

Published Thu, Apr 27 20238:45 AM EDT

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said it remains "torn" on Apple heading into earnings next week. "On one-hand, AAPL's YTD move has surprised us and its valuation is full, making it unclear whether there is further room for multiple-driven upside." Piper Sandler downgrades Vornado to neutral from overweight Piper downgraded the real estate investment trust due to its dividend suspension. "We are downgrading VNO to UW from Neutral given the surprise common dividend suspension Barclays reiterates Activision Blizzard as overweight Barclays said it sees a "strong buying opportunity" for shares of the video game company. " ATVI shares fell 11% [yesterday] post CMA's decision to block the deal with MSFT. Despite the deal likely dead in water, we view this as a strong buying opportunity given its cheap relative valuation to EA, momentum in core franchises (CoD/Candy Crush), along with upcoming catalysts in Diablo 4/Warzone Mobile." Oppenheimer downgrading Wolfspeed to perform from outperform Oppenheimer said it sees too much uncertainty for the wide-band semiconductor manufacturer. "However, we believe uncertainty around financing and ramp cadence will remain an overhang for several quarters, driving our downgrade to Perform." Cantor Fitzgerald initiates Polestar as overweight Cantor initiated the Swedish electric vehicle company with an overweight rating and says it sees an attractive entry point. "We believe Polestar benefits from: the rapid industry demand for EVs, the support of Volvo and Geely (Private), and a meaningful partnership with Hertz (HTZ, NC). With the stock down ~36% YTD, and currently trading at $3.40 (as of 4/26), we believe this can be a good entry point for investors with a long-term investment horizon." Cantor Fitzgerald upgrades 2U to overweight from neutral Cantor said it sees an attractive risk/reward in the digital education company. "As a result, we view this as an opportunity to participate in a business that we expect to show meaningful cash-flow conversion improvements over the coming years, given the shares are currently at all-time lows (it's been public since 2014). Additionally, we believe the market is assigning virtually no value to its enterprise business, which is the fastest-growing segment within 2U. " Morgan Stanley reiterates Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the AI beneficiary to $300 per share from $250 after the company's earnings report Wednesday. " META continues to focus on efficiency and ROIC while AI/ML based investments improve recommendations and drive engagement as the incrementality of Reels continues to increase over time." Read more about this call here. Bank of America reiterates Roku as buy Bank of America said ad greenshoots are starting to emerge for Roku. "We reiterate our Buy rating based on Roku' s better than expected metrics of active accounts, streaming hours, better traction in programmatic and potential bottoming of ad trends." Morgan Stanley reiterates Ford as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's standing by its overweight rating heading into earnings next week. "Like other OEMs, (original equipment manufacturers) Ford must decide what kind of EV strategy to pursue: Grow fast and burn cash or a more focused approach that prioritizes capital discipline." Citi reiterates Amazon as buy Citi said it's bullish on the e-commerce giant heading into earnings on Thursday after the bell. "Ahead of Amazon's 1Q23 results [today] after the close, we are mostly focused on two key areas: 1) AWS revenue growth and profitability; and 2) N.A. retail margins. Goldman Sachs reiterates ServiceNow as buy Goldman said it's standing by its buy rating on ServiceNow's after the company's earnings report on Wednesday which showed "resilient growth" "Given the greater incremental approval layers needed within enterprises today, NOW is well-positioned to sell into its base." Citi initiates Cintas as buy Citi said in its initiation of the workwear rental company that it has a "significant competitive advantage." "Our new and proprietary indices of employment and pricing highlight Cintas's significant competitive advantage which we estimate has driven 4.6ppts p.a. through-cycle organic growth from net new business alone and has recently accelerated Cintas' market share gain. BMO downgrades Electronic Arts to market perform from outperform BMO said in its downgrade of the video game company that shares are "fairly valued" right now. "We also think a reduction is appropriate given lingering concerns about EA's mobile strategy and general pressure on video game spending. We see EA shares as fairly valued." Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley reiterates Nvidia as overweight Morgan Stanley said the stock is one of the firm's top picks heading into earnings in May. "We see a positive setup for NVIDIA in this quarter's earnings, with checks indicating that the significant enthusiasm we've seen from AI adopters has translated into reacceleration for data center product."