Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Piper Sandler upgrades Shoals to overweight from neutral Piper said investors should buy the dip in shares of the solar technology company. “The weakness in SHLS is in part driven by equity weakness of the largest renewable utility/developer stemming from higher interest rates.” Bernstein initiates Disney as outperform Bernstein said Disney is a real challenger to Netflix. ” Disney (Outperform, $103 TP, implied upside 29%): The Only Credible Challenger To Netflix. Oh, Plus Parks. Despite our bearish view on Linear vs. consensus, we are bullish on DIS’s potential to transition to DTC at scale once combined with Hulu.” Read more about this call here . JPMorgan reiterates Exxon as overweight JPMorgan said it’s standing by its buy rating on the oil and gas giant. “We think XOM has multiple re-rating potential from its diversified portfolio, improved execution, portfolio management, and return of capital.” Barclays reiterates Nvidia as overweight Barclays said it sees AI restrictions ahead for companies, but that’s standing by its overweight rating on the stock. “We see further restrictions to AI as the highest likelihood. Given the likely $3B+ in shipments of solutions per quarter by NVDA to China and the $1B pipeline noted by Intel for Gaudi, we believe the AI restrictions may shift to all AI products vs the performance threshold that companies are currently working around.” Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on Discover Citi said it sees numerous positive catalysts ahead for the credit card and financial services company. “We are opening two new positive catalyst watch calls, for DFS and NAVI, as we see potential catalysts in the coming months, not necessarily into the quarterly results.” Seaport initiates Netflix as buy Seaport said it sees plenty of upside in shares of Netflix. “Early stages of converting ‘borrowers’ (password sharers) and entrée into advertising has helped 73 sentiment, but we think there is plenty of upside if NFLX can capture fair share of the global ad market.” Bank of America upgrades Xcel Energy to buy from neutral Bank of America said the energy company is an “emerging growth story.” “In a sector with companies largely playing defense given interest rate and inflationary pressures, the XEL emerging growth story comes across as all the more compelling.” Jefferies upgrades e.l.f. beauty to buy from hold Jefferies called the beauty company is an innovator. ” ELF is the leader in bringing ‘first to mass’ items to market and somewhat relies on newness in prestige for its own innovation.” TD Cowen initiates Block as buy TD initiated the company formerly known as Square with a buy and says it’s well positioned. “Fintech & Payments has attractive secular growth trends despite massive disruption and digitization of financial services in recent decades; ongoing innovation fuels growth.” Citi upgrades Formula One Group to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of Formula One that it sees even more upside if Apple gets the company’s media rights. “We believe recent concerns about the Vegas Grand Prix and disappointing US sports rights renewals (following WWE’s renewal) are overblown. In addition, we see upside if Apple secures F1’s global media rights.” Bank of America upgrades Clearway Energy to buy from neutral Bank of America said shares of the energy company are compelling. “We upgrade shares of Clearway Energy (CWEN) to Buy from Neutral as we view the company as one of the more compelling opportunities.” JPMorgan upgrades Eaton to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the industrial and electrical company is best-in-class. “Lastly, we are adding some growth in ETN after its 15% draw down, reflecting a softening in orders, and while its not ‘cheap’ it screens as best in class in growth and potential revisions.” Bank of America reiterates Eli Lilly as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $700 per share from $600 and says it’s standing by shares. ” Eli Lilly (LLY) shares have been under pressure over the past 3 weeks mostly based on macro uncertainties / selling pressure, not from any fundamental concerns.” Citi reiterates Walmart as buy Citi says Walmart remains a favorite idea. “We reiterate our Buy rating and WMT as top pick: Our thesis is unchanged. After years of investment, we believe WMT is at a point where (as CEO Doug McMillon describes it) its traditional P & L is driving a second P & L that is comprised of higher growth/higher margin businesses.” TD Cowen upgrades TE Connectivity to outperform from market perform TD said shares of the auto sensor company are less exposed to the UAW strike. “The number of known unknowns is shrinking. Auto strike already in effect and TEL less US exposed. Weakness in markets like industrial equipment, appliance, and data/devices known and modeled – further downside possible but wouldn’t come with ‘shock factor.'” Berenberg initiates Shift4Payments as buy Berenberg said the payments company will continue to take share. “However, we believe FOUR’ s demonstrated ability to drive growth amid challenging market conditions by taking market share supports our bullish stance toward the stock.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley said Temu’s ad impact is a nice tailwind for Meta shares. “So while Temu is a nice extra tailwind, we remain bullish because of broad-based (and growing) reach and ad performance improvements across META’s 10mn+ advertisers. OW, $375 PT has 23% upside.” UBS reiterates Levi’s as buy UBS said Levi’s is still an attractive stock despite the company’s disappointing earnings report on Thursday. ” LEVI’s US and EU wholesale businesses are being negatively impacted by the weak macro, challenges among some of its retail partners, and unfavorable weather. Importantly though, LEVI’s Q3 report indicated key aspects of our Buy thesis remain intact.” Oppenheimer downgrades O’Reilly and AutoZone to perform from outperform Oppenheimer said it’s taking a “less upbeat stance” on auto parts. “As we sharpen our focus on 2024 and evaluate more closely ongoing shifts within discretionary, we assume a less upbeat stance upon auto parts retail, and downgrade shares of AZO and ORLY to perform.” JPMorgan upgrades Apellis to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the pharmaceutical company is well positioned for more upside. “We believe Apellis lead asset, pegcetacoplan, represents a differentiated asset in the complement space, with opportunities in a broad range of ophthalmology, hematology, neurology, and nephrology indications. Read more about this call here. Truist upgrades frontdoor to buy from hold Truist said shares of the appliance repair and maintenance company are attractive. “The stock’s valuation is attractive at 17x our 2023 forecast or just off its all-time low multiple; our target of $42 (from $40) assumes FTDR trades at 22x our new 2024 estimate, still below the long-term norm in the mid-twenties.”
