Wall Street Analysts' Top Calls: Apple and Nvidia in Focus

Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Skechers, Meta, Southwest, Amazon, Sweetgreen, & more

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Redburn Atlantic Equities initiates DoorDash Redburn said in its initiation of DoorDash that it's well positioned for growth. "However, with still greater-than appreciated structural growth potential, we believe the sector is now tilting back towards a greater emphasis on expanding the top line, leaving our industry gross transaction value estimates ahead of consensus and our adjusted EBITDA projections only in line." Deutsche Bank downgrades Southwest Airlines to hold from buy Deutsche downgraded Southwest following earnings. "Revised earnings outlook no longer supportive of a Buy rating on LUV's shares; encouraged by initiatives." Deutsche Bank upgrades Lockheed Martin to buy from hold Deutsche upgraded the stock following its robust earnings report. "We are upgrading LMT to Buy (from Hold) and raising our target price to $600 (from $540)." Raymond James reiterates Apple as outperform Raymond James raised its price target to $250 per share from $200 ahead of Apple earnings next week. "We do not expect near-term results to change the AI narrative, however, and remain optimistic that upcoming AI features will drive a multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle. Citi reiterates Amazon as buy Citi said it's bullish heading into earnings next week. "We believe Amazon's 2Q24 results -- scheduled for Thursday, 08/01, AMC [after market close] -- are likely to be better-than-consensus expectations across both revenue and Operating Income." Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's sticking with its overweight rating on Tesla " Tesla AI Infrastructure 'base' is by far the fastest rising part of its asset base." Evercore ISI upgrades CBRE to outperform from in line Evercore upgraded the real estate company following earnings. "... we are upgrading the stock from In Line to Outperform as the sales environment seems to have bottomed and CBRE's profitability trends are moving in the right direction." Morgan Stanley downgrades WW International to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the company formerly known as Weight Watchers due to concerns about free-cash flow. "We downgrade from OW to EW as weak trends lead us to lower estimates and we no longer have conviction in the path to sustainably positive FCF." Morgan Stanley initiates CervoMed as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's bullish on shares of the biotech company. " CervoMed is a clinical-stage company focused on targeting neurodegenerative diseases with its lead product candidate neflamapimod." Piper Sandler upgrades Alexander & Baldwin to overweight from neutral Piper said it sees further upside for the real estate company. "Results benefit from the past few years of corporate re-alignment, with more upside potential as ALEX steadily exits its legacy land business." TD Cowen reiterates Deckers as buy TD said Deckers has a "consistent model and clear growth story." "We remain impressed by the consistency of innovation, segmentation, and accretive DTC growth which should continue to support a robust growth profile into future years." Morgan Stanley downgrades STMicroelectronics to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock following earnings. "Following another cut to FY24 guidance and a lack of visibility in recovery, we downgrade STM to Equal-weight..." Baird initiates Dianthus Therapeutics as outperform Baird said it's bullish on shares of the clinical-stage biotech company. "We're initiating coverage of Dianthus Therapeutics (DNTH) with an Outperform rating and a $58 price target." Morgan Stanley reiterates Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley said buy the dip in shares of Meta. "As such, we are most constructive META and TTD into EPS after recent sell-offs." Guggenheim reiterates First Solar as buy Guggenheim said the stock is undervalued heading in to earnings on Tuesday. "We reiterate our Buy recommendation and $356 price target as FSLR prepares to report its Q2 earnings. Oppenheimer reiterates Sweetgreen as a top pick Oppenheimer said it's standing by the healthy restaurant chain. "We reiterate SG as a top pick despite its +116% YTD gains and look forward to hosting mgmt in NYC on 8/13." Bank of America upgrades Mohawk to buy from underperform Bank of America double upgraded the flooring company following earnings. "We upgrade Mohawk to Buy (from Underperform) and raise our PO to $177 (from $120) following better than expected 2Q24 earnings." Barclays reiterates Microsoft as overweight Barclays says it's bullish heading into Microsoft earnings on Tuesday. "Overall, this should be a good Q for MSFT, but expectations are already healthy." Stifel upgrades FTAI Aviation to buy from hold Stifel said in its upgrade of FTAI that that shares of the engine materials company have more room to run. "At the risk of top-ticking the stock, we are upgrading the shares to a Buy and increasing our target to $132 based on the shares trading at the midpoint of our base and bull case sum-of-the-parts analysis Jefferies downgrades Brunswick to hold from buy Jefferies said it sees a "prolonged" recovery for the boating company. "As the season comes to a close and dealer/OEM orders are delayed, we believe the boat cycle recovery has been prolonged, calling into question LT targets set at BC's investor day." Barclays reiterates CrowdStrike as overweight Barclays said it's sticking with its overweight rating on CrowdStrike but that it's lowering its price target to $285 per share from $400. "Could Get Worse Before Better, but still a LT Security Leader." Jefferies reiterates Nvidia as buy Jefferies says it's sticking with its buy rating on the stock. "Given growth expectations at NVDA , cloud capex spending and guides must continue to rise for all the AI names to work relative to the moderate growth estimates the street is baking in for the rest of the year." Rosenblatt reiterates Qualcomm as buy The firm says the stock remains a top long idea. "We believe QCOM will gain the most from the growth in Gen-AI based smartphones due to its advanced AI processing capabilities." Citi initiates Acumen Pharmaceuticals as buy Citi said in its initiation of Acumen t hat the biopharma company has "best-in-class" potential. "With the stock currently trading under cash, we see an attractive entry point to gain exposure to a potentially best-in-class AD [Alzheimer's Disease] asset, with multi-year cash runway through clinical POC [proof of concept] readout."

Friday's analyst calls: Apple a buy ahead of earnings, food delivery stock to surge more than 60%

(This is CNBC Pro's live coverage of Friday's analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Apple and a food delivery stock were among the names being talked about by analysts on Friday. Raymond James hiked its price target on Apple to $250. Meanwhile, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage of DoorDash with a buy rating and a price target implying upside of more than 60%. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:33 a.m.: Redburn Atlantic initiates DoorDash as a buy DoorDash is a stand-out name in the food delivery sector, according to Redburn Atlantic. Analyst James Cordwell initiated coverage on Doordash with a buy rating. His price target of $170 indicates 68% upside from Thursday's close. Out of the four food delivery stocks in his coverage, DoorDash is the only stock he named a buy. "While consensus essentially reflects a mean reversion in trends at the different platforms, we believe the sector is more likely to be characterized by winner-takes-most dynamics, leaving our estimates for DoorDash substantially ahead of consensus," Cordwell wrote in a Friday note. To be sure, he noted that DoorDash's first-quarter adjusted EBITDA came in just in-line with consensus estimates, even as gross order value topped expectations. "As an immediate reaction to the results, the stock was punished given market assumptions that adjusted EBITDA margin expansion would remain the priority. However, in our view, the company is pursuing the right strategy and will, in time, be rewarded accordingly," the analyst added. Shares are up just 1.9% in 2024. DASH YTD mountain AAPL year to date -- Hakyung Kim 5:33 a.m.: Raymond James raises Apple price target Raymond James is getting more bullish on Apple ahead of earnings. Analysts Srini Pajjuri raised his price target on the iPhone maker to $250 from $200, implying upside of 15% from Thursday's close. He also reiterated his outperform rating on shares. Pajjuri called Apple, which reports earnings next week, a "more stable AI play for volatile times." "We do not expect near-term results to change the AI narrative ... and remain optimistic that upcoming AI features will drive a multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle," he said. "Early signs are already emerging as our conversations in the supply chain point to upward revision to iPhone 16 builds (by 5-10%) in 2H24. Supply chain data also points to material changes to iPhone 17 internals, suggesting that Apple is looking to do more AI on the device." Apple shares are up nearly 13% for the year. In the past week, though, they are down 3% amid a broad tech sell-off. AAPL YTD mountain AAPL year to date -- Fred Imbert