Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Wynn, Delta, Microsoft, Boeing & more

Published Thu, Dec 14 20238:30 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Dec 18 20237:21 AM EST

Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley upgrades Zai Lab to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said it sees upside for the China biotech company. "With 40% of its pipeline having first-in-class potential, Zai Lab should benefit as in-licensing names re-rate under favorable tailwinds." JPMorgan names Wynn and Las Vegas Sands top picks JPMorgan named several casino stocks as top picks Thursday and said it likes Wynn and Las Vegas Sands. "We see this as a mid-cap way to play the Macau recovery while capitalizing on strong domestic trends in Las Vegas." Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on RPM Deutsche said it's bullish on the paint company ahead of earnings in January. "We are initiating a Catalyst Call Buy on RPM as we believe RPM shares will outperform following its upcoming FQ2 release on January 4th with i) FQ2 EBIT meeting if not beating consensus and ii) FY24 EBIT guidance reaffirmed if not raised to the upper-half of the original guidance." Goldman Sachs names Delta and United top 2024 ideas Goldman said it likes Delta and United as its top airline ideas in 2024. "In this environment, we favor stocks with exposure to markets with improving demand characteristics per the framework above in addition to relatively less cost headwinds into 2024." Bank of America reiterates Microsoft as buy Bank of America raised its price target on Microsoft to $430 per share from $415 and said the stock's valuation is "not demanding." "We see potential for reacceleration from mid-teens growth as we move through CY24. With the goal for operating expense growth to lag total revenue growth, this translates to mid-/high-teens FCF growth in an upside case." UBS downgrades Marathon Oil to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the oil company that it sees the pace of de-leveraging slowing. "Last, at Strip pricing, we see MRO's de-leveraging pace slowing and adding financial risk vs. peers." Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's standing by Tesla heading into 2024. "We see continued evidence that Tesla is emerging as an industrial 'standard bearer' for one of the greatest industrial changes we've witnessed in over a century – the electric transport and renewable energy economy." Stifel downgrades Deckers to hold from buy Stifel said it sees limited upside for Deckers shares. "While estimates have room for upward revisions, the generous implied multiples give credit for this and we see upside to shares limited." Morgan Stanley upgrades Live Nation to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said it's getting bullish on "future growth" for Live Nation. " LYV shares, however, have lagged the market by 2,000bps since YE21 even as returns on capital have improved. This underperformance along with increased confidence in future growth lead us to upgrade to OW." Bank of America initiates PagerDuty as buy Bank of America said the software platform company is a turnaround story. "We initiate coverage of PagerDuty (PD) with a $30 PO, implying potential upside of 34%. PD is a market-leading incident management software platform that helps businesses troubleshoot everything from cyber-attacks to computer glitches." Morgan Stanley initiates WK Kellogg as equal weight Morgan Stanley said it sees "limited topline potential" for WK Kellogg. "We initiate EW given: i) limited topline growth potential in NA cereal, ii) reinvestment needs limiting margin expansion, & iii) elevated cash needs." Morgan Stanley upgrades Six Flags to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said it's bullish on the company's merger with Cedar Fair. "We upgrade SIX to OW to align with our views on pending merger w/ OW FUN, downgrade SEAS to EW on local competitive risks." UBS upgrades Coterra Energy to buy from neutral UBS said the energy company is a "standout." "We're upgrading CTRA to Buy from Neutral. Our upgrade reflects CTRA's balance sheet strength and oil diversification, which we see insulating them in a < $3.00/mmbtu [British thermal units] environment." Wolfe downgrades Northrop Grumman to underperform from peer perform Wolfe downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "We are lowering our rating on shares of NOC to Underperform from Peer Perform given our concern that the stock's valuation may be unsustainably high in both absolute and relative terms." Goldman Sachs names Boeing a top 2024 idea Goldman said it's bullish on the stock heading into 2024. "Global air travel continues to recover, which along with replacement is driving very strong new aircraft order activity from the airlines. That is ultimately the most signiﬁcant driver of forward cash ﬂow for Boeing. " Wells Fargo reiterates American Express as overweight Wells said the stock's valuation is reasonable heading into 2024. "On AmEx, not only is valuation reasonable, but their competitive position is extremely strong and underappreciated with all the macro focus." Piper Sandler upgrades Foot Locker to overweight from neutral Piper said it's betting on a turnaround for 2024. "Upgrading FL to OW; Taking a Look at the Turnarounds: FL May be the Best Positioned Citi reiterates Apple as buy Citi says Apple shares could outperform in 2024. "Apple stock is +50% YTD vs SP500 +20% and investors are asking if the stock could outperform again next year. Looking into next year, we model double-digit EPS ~14% and FCF ~11% growth on continued gross margin expansion." Citi adds Arista to the focus list Citi said Arista is an AI cloud winner. "We maintain ANET as our #1 networking equipment pick into 2024 on sustainable growth in enterprise led by share gains and growing AI opportunity in the cloud from Ethernet adoption." Citi adds a catalyst call buy on Dell Citi said it's bullish on Dell heading into the annual Consumer Electronics Show. "We open a positive catalyst watch on Dell going into CES as we remain positive on PC demand cycle into CY24, and believe discussions at CES should drive better investor appreciation for demand drivers going into CY24, especially with AI potentially becoming a significant demand driver in outer years — more material toward CY26." Citi adds a catalyst call buy on Hewlett Packard Citi said it's bullish on Hewlett Packard heading into the annual Consumer Electronics Show. "We open a positive catalyst watch on HPQ going into CES as we remain positive on the PC demand cycle into CY24, and believe discussions at CES should drive better investor appreciation for demand drivers going into CY24, especially with AI potentially becoming a significant demand driver in outer years – more material toward CY26." BTIG upgrades TripAdvisor to buy from neutral BTIG said it's upgraded the stock after 12 years as new management takes over. "We've been downbeat on TRIP for most of its 12 years as a public company, so why are we shifting gears now? This isn't the same TRIP anymore with new management in place, metasearch no longer a majority of the business and an emerging tours & activities booking engine rising to the fore." KBW upgrades Invesco to outperform from market perform KBW said in its upgrade of Invesco that the company is well positioned. "We are upgrading shares of IVZ to Outperform from Market Perform as we believe the company is positioned well for the improving market and flow backdrop and trades at a discounted 8x our 2025e EPS." JPMorgan adds Monday.com to the focus list JPMorgan said the cloud-based platform company is a "durable-growth-at-scale story." "We strongly believe Monday presents a unique opportunity for investors looking to get exposure to a quality, multi-product, durable-growth-at-scale story, that has been clocking-in a Rule of > 70% since its IPO in mid-2021." Wells Fargo reiterates Citi as overweight The firm added the stock to its signature picks list and says it's a top idea heading into 2024. "#1 large cap is Citigroup (C)—unique self-help. This restructuring makes them more simple in contrast to the prior 10+. Expenses are pivoting and guided down in 2024/2025 after increasing a big $11bn (up 1/4) since 2019." Piper Sandler reiterates Amazon as overweight Piper says the e-commerce giant is a top pick in 2024. "We see most upside for AMZN among our large caps into '24. Retail margins have improved significantly, and we still think Street op income looks conservative into '24 on incremental numbers." JPMorgan upgrades TopBuild and Installed Building Products to overweight from neutral JPMorgan upgraded several building materials companies on Thursday and says they have high exposure to residential. "In terms of stock selection, we upgrade BLD and IBP – the two names within our universe with the highest exposure to new residential – to Overweight from Neutral." Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Stifel downgraded Deckers. A previous version misstated the firm's name.