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Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Netflix as neutral Morgan Stanley kept its neutral rating on the stock and said it thinks the launch of the ad-supported tier is already priced in. “We continue to see Netflix as the clear market leader in streaming, but still a maturing business in a highly competitive market facing a global consumer under increasing economic stress.” UBS reiterates Apple as buy UBS said Apple’s iPhone Pro and Pro Max demand remains “solid.” “We continue to expect the ASP (average selling price) tailwind from the Pro and Pro Max on iPhone revenue and the extra week in the Sept quarter (14 weeks vs 13 weeks last year) will likely be offset by the strength in the US dollar.” Bernstein names Meta a top pick Bernstein cut its price target on the stock to $195 per share from $230, but noted that it sees “light beyond the dark” and named Meta as a top pick. “The bear case is loud: No one uses Facebook anymore! The next Yahoo! Lighting money on fire for a metaverse dream that will never happen! But we see light beyond the dark and complicated headlines. And in an investment universe lacking high conviction ideas, we move Meta to our top pick.” JPMorgan upgrades Colgate-Palmolive to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the company has pricing power. “Colgate Palmolive will likely have to talk to more FX headwinds but it is one of the few stocks that will likely be able to keep pricing power while cost pressures alleviate due to good brand equity and entry level price points with low exposure to private label and be able to grow EPS in HSDs (high single digits) in 2023 while recovering market share globally.” Bank of America upgrades Las Vegas Sands to neutral from underperform Bank of America said in its upgrade of the casino company that pandemic and Macao risks are lower. ” LVS is a low beta, low leverage stock that is less correlated with US macro and rates, with substantial positive estimate revision potential should a reopening occur.” Berenberg downgrades Albemarle to hold from buy Berenberg said it’s concerned about the chemical company’s exposure to declining lithium prices. “In our view, Albemarle and other lithium producers will be exposed to a sharp decline in lithium prices.” Citi upgrades Comcast to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of Comcast that concern about share price underperformance is overdone. “We also see an increasing likelihood that the cable firms promptly respond with a plan to stabilize or improve value for shareholders, which may include: grow EBITDA even without meaningful revenue growth with a rising mix of broadband/business revenue; accelerate technology upgrades & efficiency initiatives; monetize under-appreciated assets; & opportunistically invest and repatriate cash to shareholders.” Read more about this call here . Bank of America names Northrop Grumman and Rocket Lab top picks Bank of America said it likes Northrop’s defensiveness. The firm also said Rocket Lab is a “best-in-class” space company. “We like Northrop Grumman due to the company’s diversified defensive positioning, exposure to younger programs and subsequently low beta. … We continue to view Rocket Lab as a best-in-class space company which has successfully diversified its exposure beyond launch services and has earned a reputation as one of the most consistent and reliable launch providers globally.” Citi downgrades American Express to sell from neutral Citi said in its downgrade of American Express that it’s concerned about a recession. “As Citi’s economics team has forecast a modest US recession as a base case in 2H23, we felt it was prudent to assume a mild recession in our consumer finance stocks.” Read more about this call here . Bank of America reiterates Microsoft as buy Bank of America said it still sees a solid risk/reward outlook for Microsoft. “We expect the company to resume sustained high teens FCF growth following the FY23 deceleration (8% in our model) from currency headwinds and the increased bonus pool, given that key Azure and Office 365 cycles represent multi-year opportunities.” Cowen reiterates Amazon as outperform Cowen said that its recent survey shows Amazon is still the preferred place for shopping. “Our survey of 2,700 consumers suggests that Amazon remains the top resource for consumers at a number of touch points along a consumer’s path to purchase in the Apparel & Accessories vertical.” Stifel upgrades Biogen to buy from hold Stifel said in its upgrade of Biogen that concerns about the company’s Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab, are overdone. “BIIB shares have faded since the positive lecanemab data, and we do worry about residual competitive/commercial risks, notwithstanding the uncertainty around BIIB’s future CEO.” Read more about this call here. Raymond James initiates Nike as outperform Raymond James said in its initiation of Nike that investors should take a longer term view of retail. “Aside from obvious macro headwinds, there are industry-specific challenges, and we expect a challenging 2H22. We also believe this is consensus view and while it’s impossible to call the trough in stocks, we believe investors should take a longer-term view.” Goldman Sachs initiates Sherwin-Williams and Linde as buy Goldman said in its initiation of the chemical stocks that it likes the sector’s defensiveness “Thus, we are more positive on defensive stocks: Buy on SHW, PPG, AXTA, LIN, APD, TROX and OLN; but less optimistic on the performance for rest of our coverage universe.” Read more about this call here . Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC.
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