Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Palantir, Exxon, Salesforce and more

Published Thu, Aug 31 20238:13 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Aug 31 20232:56 PM EDT

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: BMO initiates Civitas Resources as outperform BMO said in its initiation of the energy producer that it likes Civitas' fundamentals. "Civitas is also a leader on returning cash to shareholders via its less volatile variable dividend and share buyback program." Evercore ISI upgrades Okta to in line from underperform Evercore ISI said the company's prior missteps are behind it. "We believe the risk/reward is more balanced at these levels given the business seems to be stabilizing." Morgan Stanley downgrades Palantir Technologies to underweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said Palantir's fundamentals are "mismatched." "Valuation Overly Reflective of Palantir's AI Promise, But Fundamentals Remain Mismatched." Goldman Sachs reiterates Apple as buy Goldman Sachs said it's bullish on Apple's iPhone event in September. "We believe that the ongoing investments in the iPhone 15, as well as the Apple ecosystem (e.g., iOS, Services, iPad/Mac/Watch compatibility) should drive further growth in the iPhone installed base through market share gains and minimizing churn." Goldman Sachs reiterates Salesforce as buy Goldman Sachs said it's standing by its buy rating on Salesforce after its earnings report Wednesday. "Despite a greater level of reinvestment in 2H (in Gen-AI, targeted hiring), we expect profitability to sustain 30% levels in FY24 as management extracted significant cost savings from the workforce restructuring conducted earlier this year." Read more about this call here. Rosenblatt reiterates Amazon as buy Rosenblatt said it's bullish on Amazon's partnership with Shopify. "The post-close news that Amazon and Shopify are native integrating Buy with Prime highlights and strengthens a new growth vector for Amazon - co-opetition, or becoming a platform for rivals." Bank of America reiterates Nvidia as buy Bank of America said it sees upside for Nvidia's gaming sales. "After effectively undershipping demand for 3-4 quarters, we continue to see upside for NVDA gaming sales." Wells Fargo downgrades Victoria's Secret to equal weight from overweight Wells Fargo downgraded the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. " VSCO once again cut their FY plan, as top-line trends/share dynamics remain unfavorable. Uncertainty on their ability to execute a turnaround is mounting and valuation should continue to erode." Bank of America reiterates Uber as buy Bank of America said it's standing by shares of the ride-sharing company. "We continue to see Uber as well positioned for top and bottom-line growth and maintain our Buy rating." Raymond James upgrades SkyWest to outperform from market perform Raymond James said it's bullish on the regional airline. "We are upgrading SKYW from Market Perform to Outperform on increased conviction on the likely continued improvement in pilot trends as U.S. mainline and cargo airlines moderate growth (and pilot hiring) into 2024." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan initiates Establishment Labs as overweight JPMorgan said in its initiation of the medical technology company that it has a "unique offering." "The company boasts a comprehensive portfolio of breast implants under its Motiva brand, supported by differentiated clinical data and a competitive profile that have supported its success in the $2.0- 2.2B breast augmentation and reconstruction markets." Truist initiates RadNet as buy Truist said in its initiation of the stock that it's "well positioned with solid overarching tailwinds." " RadNet (RDNT) is a leading provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging in the United States with 360+ centers." JPMorgan initiates MP Materials as overweight JPMorgan said in its initiation of the rare earths materials company that it sees "solid demand growth." "We are initiating coverage of U.S.-based rare earths producer MP Materials (MP) with an Overweight rating and a Dec 2024 price target of $27." Canaccord upgrades Shopify to buy from hold Canaccord said the stock's setup looks "pretty good." "Favorable fundamental setup outshines valuation concerns; management meeting takeaways, upgrade to BUY." Citi upgrades Arista Networks to buy from neutral Citi said the computer networking company is an "early AI play." "With its cloud exposure, Arista is the best networking play on Generative AI." Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI downgrades Chewy to in line from outperform Evercore ISI downgraded the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. "Our View: We are downgrading CHWY from Outperform to In- Line with a $35 PT (reduced from $53) in the wake of In-Lineish FQ2 EPS results." JPMorgan downgrades Hostess Brands to neutral from overweight JPMorgan downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "We are downgrading the TWNK shares to Neutral from Overweight because the stock is now close to our price target ($28), the result of media reports about the company potentially being for sale." Morgan Stanley upgrades 3M to equal weight from underweight Morgan Stanley said it sees a more balanced risk/reward as fundamentals improve. " 3M's liabilities are likely to grow but look better discounted into shares." Redburn Atlantic upgrades Exxon to neutral from sell Redburn upgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "With limited valuation downside, and upgrades now coming through, we upgrade ExxonMobil from Sell to Neutral."