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Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Raymond James upgrades Biogen to outperform from market perform Raymond James said it likes the company’s Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi, and believes Biogen stock sets up well for 2024. “Leqembi survey of Alzheimer’s treating physicians … suggests bottlenecks for use are slowly improving and the vast majority of treatment candidates are expected to be treated in the next ~12-mos.” Stifel initiates Rivian as buy Stifel initiated Rivian with a buy and called it a “long-term competitive differentiator.” “The company is also focused on scaling its service network of mobile service vans and physical service centers as a long-term competitive differentiator to significantly enhance [the] customer experience of owning the EVs.” Stifel upgrades DataDog to buy from hold Stifel said the software company has an attractive setup heading into 2024. “Overall, after a volatile 2023, given current consumption trends and a stable macro backdrop, we expect DDOG to post ~25% CY24 rev-growth, but expect guidance to start at ~20%. Upgrade to Buy, target $140.” Bank of America names Amazon a top pick in 2024 Bank of America says the e-commerce giant and owner of Amazon Web Services is a top pick in 2024. “Amazon remains our top eCommerce stock as the company is well positioned for margin expansion in 2024 from continued optimization of its regional logistics network, the ramp of advertising opportunity (through Prime Video & 3P partnerships), and reacceleration of AWS revenues.” Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said it sees several risks for Apple in China. “We see three main sources of China-related risk for Apple: (1) regulatory risk; (2) incremental competition and (3) supply chain risk. While we see a significant ongoing risk to Apple from any major geo-political escalation in US-China relations, we don’t believe that near term conditions have changed.” Bank of America reiterates Nvidia as buy Bank of America sees “consistent execution” for Nvidia , and says it’s a still a top pick. “Meanwhile valuation is compelling at only 22x CY24 PE for a company with 55-60% YoY sales and eps growth.” Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Rio Tinto Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on Rio and says iron ore prices should remain robust. “We expect iron ore prices to remain strong into the Chinese New Year and the premiums for higher grade iron ore to increase.” TD Cowen names Constellation Brands a top 2024 pick TD Cowen said the beer and wine company is “best-in-class.” ” STZ is our Best Idea in 2024. Shares currently trade at a 3-turn discount to its 10-year average, despite the de-risked multi-year wine outlook and EPS growth algo at Analyst Day. We believe this offers investors an attractive entry point for a best-in-class.” UBS upgrades J.B. Hunt to neutral from sell UBS said the outlook is improving for the trucking company. “We raise our rating on JBHT from Sell to Neutral because we see an improving outlook for intermodal volume growth in 2024 and we also believe the reset down in EPS expectations for 2024 has nearly run its course.” Bank of America upgrades Equinor to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the Norwegian energy company, which also trades in the U.S., that it’s a “balance sheet fortress.” “Other than Equinor’s minimal exposure to fading refining margins, we believe its financial framework offers more resilience to its shareholder distributions than its share price gives it credit for.” Bank of America downgrades Take-Two to neutral from buy Bank of America said in its downgrade of Take-Two that not enough is known about the next generation of Grand Theft Auto. “We downgrade TTWO to Neutral from Buy and maintain our PO because (1) we expect FY25 consensus estimates, which assume a GTA 6 launch by March 2025, to fall by ~20% before August 2024, (2) not all investors are willing to extend duration beyond 15 months.” Morgan Stanley reiterates AMD as overweight Morgan Stanley said it was impressed by the company’s AI event on Wednesday. “The AMD AI event showed a wide range of customer testimonials from cloud and OEM [original equipment manufacturers] customers, and validates that the architecture will play an important role.” Guggenheim initiates Pure Storage as buy Guggenheim said in its initiation of the data storage company that it’s a “disruptor.” “We are initiating coverage of Pure Storage (PSTG) with a BUY rating and [discounted cash flow]-based price target of $48, implying 50% potential upside.” Wells Fargo initiates Bumble as overweight Wells said it’s optimistic on the company’s “sustainability.” “We struggle to reconcile BMBL’ s current multiple w/ consistent share gain in online dating, so we initiate OW w/ $19 PT. While Bumble isn’t a structural share gainer, it is benefiting from underinvestment at industry incumbent Tinder.” Wells Fargo initiates Match as equal weight Wells said the stock’s valuation is full right now. “We see MTCH valuation as compelling at 9x WFSe ’25 EBITDA, but we are concerned Tinder is over-earning & that Hinge top of funnel share gains have limited incrementality to Match Group overall. As a result, we initiate with an EW rating and $32 PT.” Wells Fargo upgrades Schneider to equal weight from underweight Wells said it sees a more balanced risk/reward for the Wisconsin-based trucking and logistics company. “We’re upgrading SNDR to Equal Weight (from Underweight) and raising our PT to $25 (from $23). We view the risk/reward [as] balanced given the backdrop of stabilizing freight trends and opportunity for earnings acceleration in H2 2024.” Leerink initiates Tourmaline Bio as outperform Leerink initiated the biotech company with an outperform on Thursday and says it has “best-in-class potential.” “We are initiating coverage of Tourmaline Bio with an Outperform rating and a $45 price target.” Goldman Sachs initiates Hertz as neutral Goldman initiated the car rental company and says it sees slightly more opportunity in Hertz than Avis. “As such, we believe that greater focus on company-specific growth is more warranted late cycle, and we identify incremental opportunities for HTZ from here. Goldman Sachs upgrades Qiagen to buy from neutral and names Thermo Fisher a top pick Goldman said in its upgrade of Qiagen that the diagnostic company is defensive. The bank also named Thermo as a top pick and says it has a “consistent” trend of raising guidance. “Highlight our top ideas for 2024: AVTR and TMO , upgrade QGEN to Buy, downgrade DHR to Neutral on valuation and highlight our top instrument name, Agilent, in order to keep exposure to the cyclical recovery potential for the sector in 2H24.” Stephens upgrades Q2 Holdings to overweight from equal weight Stephens said the software company is well positioned for growth. “In our view, QTWO has transitioned from a hyper-revenue growth to a margin expansion story, with a predictable, LDD (low double digit) rev profile.” Seaport upgrades Sphere to buy from neutral Seaport said in its upgrade of the entertainment company that it sees “better unit economics.” “Upgrading SPHR to Buy from Neutral on better unit economics and expenses out-of-the-gate.” UBS initiates Bio-Techne as buy UBS said in its initiation of the life science company that it has a path to double-digit growth. “We are initiating coverage of Bio-Techne (TECH) with a Buy rating. We see a path for Bio-Techne to return to double-digit growth post the ‘COVID hangover.’” UBS initiate Bio-Rad as buy UBS said in its initiation of the life science and diagnostics company that it has room to boost profit margins. “Our Buy rating on Bio-Rad (BIO) reflects our constructive view of the company’s margin expansion opportunity and product cycles.”
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