Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs Upgrades Utz to Buy from Neutral Goldman says investors should buy declining shares of the snacks company. “We upgrade Utz to Buy as we view an above-average and below-the-line growth outlook given the company’s strong position in the lucrative salty snack category, driven by faster growth, lower private label exposure, and Superior pricing power and strong in-market execution, coupled with the benefits of acquired brands and organic initiatives, are driving distribution and market share gains that we believe can continue.” Read more about this call here. Loop started CVS Health because Loop said at the start of the stock that it had several levers for growth. “Well positioned in its core markets, with low debt and strong earnings growth, CVS can make more strategic acquisitions and build a larger primary care business.” Read more about this call here. Loop began as a purchase of UnitedHealth, the health insurer said to be one of the best-positioned stocks in the firm’s coverage. “UNH is one of the best-positioned managed care names, with leading positions in the commercial and government profit markets, and its broad and complementary portfolio of related products and services will continue to deliver superior growth, profitability and return on capital.” Citi downgrades the Dow from buy to neutral Citi said in the downgrade of the chemical company that it was concerned about the impact rate hikes would have on the Dow. “Our call so far was that commodity chemicals tend to outperform in periods of inflation and rising prices, and this generally holds true up to a certain point where a stronger economy is driving inflation. But now with the Fed rate breaking the back of inflation. Is determined for. Hiking.” Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI reiterates Uber and Lyft as Evercore said this survey investigation shows improvements in the industry. “We are reiterating our long-term outperform ratings on both UBER and LYFT as more evidence from our 5th Annual US Ridesharing Survey paints an optimistic outlook about the industry’s recovery.” Truist downgraded Roblox at valuation to stop buying Truist Downgrade Roblox. “Lest favorable for the group as a downgrade to hold screen: 1) the trend of revision, particularly AEBITDA, as we expect the company to continue to invest aggressively; 2) valuations. Truist to Amazon The purchase reiterated as Truist said it is “incrementally” more bullish on the stock. “We are turning positive on AMZN, which is strategically cautious for its 2021 exit, Because we believe Street expectations are being reset to more achievable levels, and valuations are down 38% YTD.” Jefferies adds Nvidia and Boeing to the franchise list, Jefferies said. “These top views are underpinned by differentiated analysis, backed by catalysts and sit at valuation levels that suggest upside.” Loop started Humana as a buy. said it likes the stock’s long-term opportunity. “It’s early, but its recent gains last all year.” Whether or not we believe HUM’s growing portfolio of brands and services, both at home and in its clinics, will enhance the value it delivers to investors in the senior market.” Wells Fargo downgrades Toll Brothers from overweight to equal weight Wells said in his downgrade of Toll Brothers that the housing company is a “mid-cycle play, but the current cycle is nearing the end.” “Gross margin/ROE stability will be a show-me for investors in a recession. In addition, its affordable luxury product line will be resiliently tested for the first time.” Read more about this call here. Needham reiterated to Meta as Needham said in a note that the Meta platform’s brand value is slipping. “We We believe deteriorating brand value is being driven by data scandals and persistent negative press headlines.” RBC upgrades NextEra Energy to outperform sector performance. We view NextEra Energy Partners as a leading yieldco, given their high-quality asset portfolio, strong sponsors and large backlog of growth opportunities.” Baird upgrades American Express from neutral to outperform Baird “The relentless panic selling opportunity, risk/reward is ultimately looking attractive for banks and card names. From our perspective, the recent crash at banks is providing an opportunity to add risk to the group, and we are upgrading COF/MTB/FITB/AXP this morning to outperform. The tech giant however says the shares are “expensive”. “HPQ and AAPL are very transactional (<10%) of recurring revenue but have variable cost business models, which minimize deleveraging risk; that said, we believe both during the pandemic may have 'earned more', and they may have a greater impact on consumer exposure during a recession. AAPL also remains costlier than its history and FAAMG peers." Wells Fargo reiterates Disney as overweight Wells said in a note that the recent selloff in Disney shares is mostly noise. “We see industry-leading content spend and go-to-market flexibility (e.g. bundling, AVOD) re-accelerating DTC subs growth. We think a lot of the recent sell-off is noisy while it is finally DTC subscriptions.” That matters. We may need to rethink our overweight rating if net aids don't look better by the December quarter. The 1Q22 results were only a sub-bearish, but also indicated that the management biz Rethinking the model with a lot of wood to do with it. We need to have a clear view of NFLX 2.0." B. Riley downgrades to neutral from buying American Eagle Outfitters and Urban Outfitters. Riley downgraded several retailers on Friday, citing promotional risks and inflation concerns. "Downgrading AEO and URBN to neutral promo risk and bearish; expect ANF to continue trending toward industry margin levels." Needham reiterates Apple as buying level, and pricing power. Higher brand values lead to higher lifetime value per user (LTV) for consumer-facing products, we believe." Bank of America downgraded Owens Corning so Bank of America raised the ceiling and Double downgraded the insulation company, saying it has too much new construction risk. "We downgrade Owens Corning to underperform (by purchase) and reduce our PO by $80 (from $119). OC has a relatively high new construction risk (estimated to have more than a third of insulation and 20% of roofing)."
