Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Splunk, Peloton, Rivian, AMC and more

Published Thu, Aug 24 20238:26 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Aug 24 202312:22 PM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Needham reiterates Rivian as buy Needham said it's standing by its buy rating on the electric vehicle company and that it's performing well in the secondary market. "We believe RIVN is answering the three most common questions we get across our EV OEM coverage: (1) is there vehicle demand; (2) can the vehicles be manufactured at increasing scale to drive higher gross margins through better fixed cost absorption; and (3) is there leverage on per-unit costs?" Oppenheimer reiterates Salesforce as outperform Oppenheimer said it's bullish heading into earnings next week. "In our view, the earnings risk for CRM weighs slightly positive ahead of F2Q results despite our recent field checks pointing to mixed business trends for Salesforce and with investor expectations at higher levels for this earnings report." Goldman Sachs reiterates Nvidia as buy Goldman Sachs said it's standing by its buy rating after Nvidia's strong earnings report Wednesday. The firm raised its price target to $605 per share from $495. "Looking ahead, we see the combination of a strong/broadening demand proﬁle in Data Center and an improving supply backdrop supporting sustained revenue growth through CY2024." Read more about this call here. Stifel upgrades Nvidia to buy from hold Stifel upgraded the stock after its strong earnings report Wednesday. "Following another exceptional quarter, significantly stronger-than-expected outlook, and extended demand visibility, we upgrade our rating on NVDA shares to Buy." Read more about this call here . Loop reiterates Apple as hold Loop said it's standing by its hold rating on Apple due to concerns about iPhone 15 launch "complications." "Downside risk to Street iPhone unit shipments. Reduced iPhone mix (more iPhone 14s / fewer iPhone 15 Pro Max's) impacting revenue & gross margins." Morgan Stanley names SI-Bone a top pick Morgan Stanley named the orthopedic company as a top pick and said it likes its "multi-pronged growth story." "We are encouraged with SI-Bone's multi-pronged growth story and ability to drive beats/ raises, as well as a clearer pathway to adjusted EBITDA breakeven." Wedbush upgrades AMC to neutral from underperform Wedbush said it sees an improving backdrop for the meme stock. "We think AMC i s well-positioned against an improving industry backdrop." Bank of America upgrades Williams-Sonoma to neutral from underperform Bank of America said the downside scenario is now "off the table" for Williams-Sonoma. "We're upgrading Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to Neutral following the company's better-than-expected 2Q results." Bank of America downgrades Vizio to underperform from buy Bank of America double-downgraded the stock on concerns about a weakening consumer. "We are downgrading shares of Vizio from Buy to Underperform as we see headwinds from a weaker macro environment." Goldman Sachs upgrades Kenvue to buy from neutral Goldman Sachs upgraded the Johnson & Johnson spinoff company and says it's poised for a re-rating. "We upgrade KVUE to Buy from Neutral, as we see compelling relative valuation with an approaching catalyst for a re-rating." Read more about this call here . Bank of America reiterates Splunk as a top pick Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating after the company's earnings report Wednesday. " Splunk reported strong Q2 results with ARR [annual recurring revenue] upside, though the standout was meaningful FCF upside." Raymond James upgrades Prudential to strong buy from market perform Raymond James said shares are "ready to rock." "We expect PRU will re-rate as it proves out its transformation strategy and reflects potential for increased share repurchases as a catalyst." Piper Sandler reiterates Amazon as overweight Piper Sandler raised its price target on the stock to $185 per share from $175 and said "now" is the time to buy. "We think now is the time to buy AMZN with margins inflecting & AWS growth troughing. Share gains should also improve with efficiency." Read more about this call here. Wolfe adds Charles Schwab to its top picks list Wolfe said it sees an attractive risk/reward for shares of Charles Schwab. "Risk reward is unmatched with upside potential of $80 (+38% upside), and limited downside with shares trading at ~11x our 2025 EPS." Wolfe upgrades Discover Financial to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said the credit card and financial services company is attractively valued. "We view DFS as a 25% ROTCE generator in normal times and believe recent underperformance fueled by internal control and risk management deficiencies that will ultimately be remediated create a buying opportunity." Bernstein downgrades Estée Lauder to market perform from outperform Bernstein said the near-term setup for Estée Lauder is too challenging. "Nevertheless, 4Q results were not the clearing event that we wanted to see, and we still see the near-term set-up as challenging in addition to which, we view the longer-term growth trajectory as increasingly uncertain." Bank of America downgrades Peloton to neutral from buy Bank of America said it sees "limited visibility on growth initiatives" for Peloton . "We downgrade to Neutral from Buy and lower our PO to $6.50, based on 3x 2024E (4.5x prior) subscriber gross profit, a discount to Internet subscription comps reflecting hardware costs and a lower operating margin outlook, less net cash." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley downgrades International Flavors to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said visibility is low right now for International Flavors . "With leverage levels high, forward visibility low, and management's record still in building mode, although seemingly well understood by the market, we downgrade to Equal-weight." Piper Sandler downgrades Analog Devices to neutral from overweight Piper Sandler said it's concerned about an economic downturn. "We are downgrading shares of ADI to Neutral following the earnings announcement yesterday. While the company is doing almost everything right in terms of reducing excess inventory, we simply are not comfortable with the timeframe of the economic downturn." Goldman Sachs reiterates Snowflake as buy Goldman Sachs said it's standing by its buy rating on the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. "Given the company's strong competitive positioning, we continue to view Snowflake as well positioned to capitalize on a generational shift of data and analytics to the cloud, with strong secular tailwinds including cloud adoption, big data, AI/ML, and secure data sharing." Rosenblatt reiterates Nvidia as buy Rosenblatt raised its price target on the stock to $1,100 per share from $800 and says the company is "just getting started." " Nvidia' s epic print and guide two quarters in a row is simply unprecedented and just getting started." Read more about this call here. Correction: Wolfe upgraded Discover Financial. A previous version misstated the name.