Wall Street Analysts' Top Calls: Market Movers and Key Insights

Friday's analyst calls: Tesla downgraded to sell, JPMorgan likes Netflix into earnings

(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.) With the earnings season about to kick into higher gear, analysts are taking hard looks at their models and adjusting ratings. UBS said Friday that Tesla's stock, which has been on a strong run, has climbed too far, too fast and downgrades shares to sell from neutral. But Mizuho expects things will play out differently, and instead raises its price target on the electric vehicle maker, citing challenges with its robotaxis. Morgan Stanley stands by Starbucks, keeping it an an overweight, but lowering its price target. JPMorgan likes Netflix heading into the the latest report. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times are ET. 6:06 a.m. JPMorgan says Netflix shares can hit $750 JPMorgan sees more room for Netflix to run heading into the streamer's earnings report next week. Analyst Doug Anmuth hiked the mega-cap technology stock's price target by $100 to $750, now implying 14.9% upside from Thursday's close. Anmuth has an overweight rating. "We remain positive on Netflix shares heading into 2Q earnings ... while also recognizing high expectations," Anmuth told clients in a Friday note. Anmuth said he was raising some estimates for the quarter, citing benefits from paid sharing, the advertising tier, core subscriber growth and strong content. While he increased his expectations for net adds in the second quarter by 1 million to 6 million, Anmuth noted that's below expectations from some investors or 8 million or more. Looking at the full year, he said the company's outlook for revenue growth, operating income margin and free cash flow could have upside. That's due to strength from price increases, subscriber growth and cost discipline, the analyst said. On the content front, Anmuth said to expect more of a push into live sports over time. Netflix shares rose marginally before the bell on Friday. Anmuth's call comes amid a strong period for shares, with the stock surging more than 34% in 2024. -- Alex Harring 6:06 a.m. Morgan Stanley keeps Starbucks at an Overweight rating, but trims price target Starbucks shares have fallen nearly 14% over the past three months, and that's taken the risk out of the stock heading into the next earnings season, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Briann Harbour is keeping the stock's rating at an overweight, but trims his price target by 5% to $98. Harbour expects the coffee chain can hit U.S. estimates as there has been some "encouraging signs in app usage." However, he's still concerned about trends in China. "After last quarter's big cut, there is much going on to try to turn around the business, but we think most would endorse the company's comments that, at best, this will take time, clouding the near-term investment case," he wrote in a note to clients. Still, he's hopeful that sales and earnings growth visibility will begin to show next year, but it will take time for its valuation to pick up, he said. -- Christina Cheddar Berk 6:06 a.m. Wall Street reacts to report of Tesla's robotaxi event delay A pair of analysts see downside ahead for Tesla . Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh maintained his neutral rating in a Thursday note to clients while raising his price target by $50 to $230. Still, that target implies 4.6% downside from Thursday's close. In his note, Rakesh cited cited challenges with robotaxis. That comes after the electric vehicle maker's stock tumbled more than 8% on Thursday , a sell-off on the back of a Bloomberg News report saying that its robotaxi event was delayed to October from August . Citing sources familiar, Bloomberg reported that the push was made to allow employees more time to build vehicle prototypes. With the robotaxi event later, Rakesh said near-term focus is on the earnings report later this month. But he cautioned that could show slowing sales and troubles with profits. UBS analyst Joseph Spak went so far as to downgrade shares to sell from neutral. While he upped his price target by $50 to $197, that fresh target reflects a drop of 18.3%. "While TSLA is investing heavily in AI and the tech is making progress, investment is costly, pace of improvement may slow and the payoff is long dated," he told clients in a Friday note. "If market enthusiasm for AI diminishes, this may impact TSLA's multiple." The analyst said investors are leaning negative into the now-delayed robotaxi event. While Spak said it appears the company is making progress on the technology, he noted the big challenge around it and said there could be operational hiccups. Tesla shares slipped more than 1% before the bell on Friday. The stock is down 3% on the year, notably helped by a rally last week. -- Alex Harring

Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Nvidia, Micron, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, Netflix, Oracle, Microsoft & more

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: UBS downgrades Tesla to sell from neutral UBS said it has a "lack of visibility" right now for Tesla shares. "While TSLA is investing heavily in AI and the tech is making progress, investment is costly, pace of improvement may slow and the payoff is long dated. If market enthusiasm for AI diminishes, this may impact TSLA's multiple." Wolfe initiates Spotify as outperform Wolfe said the streaming company is a market leader. "We initiate coverage of Spotify (SPOT) with an Outperform rating and a $390 12-mo. forward Price Target (28% upside)." Bernstein reiterates Apple as outperform Bernstein said Apple should "benefit from healthy iPhone revenue growth over the next 1 - 2 years." "We continue to believe that FY 25 should be a strong iPhone cycle, as upgrade rates improve, given an aged installed base and compelling forthcoming AI functionality." Citi upgrades Array to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of the solar tech company that long-term trends are intact and the selloff is overdone. "ARRY shares are down > 40% this year, likely on fears of project push-outs unexpected CFO change, potential NT margin pressure due to freight costs, and ASP [average selling price] declines." Bank of America reiterates Micron as buy Bank of America said it's sticking with its buy rating after a series of constructive management meetings. The stock sits on the firm's US1 top ideas list. "We maintain Buy and note MU's recent inclusion in BofA's US1 list." Morgan Stanley reiterates Starbucks as overweight Morgan Stanley lowered its price target to $98 per share from $104, but says it's sticking with its overweight rating on Starbucks. "After last quarter's big cut, there is much going on to try to turn around the business, but we think most would endorse the company's comments that, at best, this will take time, clouding the near-term investment case." Barclays initiates Revolution Medicines as overweight Barclays said it's bullish on shares of the biotech company. "We are initiating on Revolution Medicines (RVMD) with an OW rating ahead of two value-inflecting data readouts in 2H24." JPMorgan reiterates Netflix as overweight JPMorgan raised its price target on the stock to $750 per share from $650. "We remain positive on Netflix shares heading into 2Q earnings on Thursday, 7/18, while also recognizing high expectations." JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as overweight JPMorgan said it's bullish heading into Amazon's Prime Day event next week. The firm has Amazon as a best idea. "Subscription/Prime member acquisition, or other parts of the Prime ecosystem, though we believe Prime Day's financial benefits extend well beyond the 2-day event period." Benchmark reiterates Nvidia as buy Benchmark raised its price target on Nvidia to $170 per share from $135. "Positive Take-Aways from Fireside Chat, Demand Continues to Outstrip Supply; Reiterate Buy, PT to $170 vs $135." Citi reiterates Western Digital as buy Citi added an upside catalyst watch on shares of the digital storage company and says it sees "gross margin improvements." "We additionally add an upside 90-day short-term view on WDC on increased confidence in robust NAND pricing and under shipment to demand, supporting WDC flash gross margin improvements, while our sum-of-the-parts analysis suggests further potential to unlock value as the Flash business is spun off later this calendar year." Benchmark upgrades Booking Holdings to buy from hold Benchmark said long-term trends are stabilizing for the travel online website. "We are raising our rating on Booking Holdings (BKNG) to Buy from Hold and establishing a new $4,700 per share price target." BTIG initiates Carvana as buy BTIG said the online used car company has a "compelling future." "We are initiating coverage on Carvana Co. with a BUY rating and $155 PT." Baird downgrades Visteon to neutral from outperform Baird said in its downgrade of the auto tech parts supplier that it's concerned about decreasing auto production. "We are also downgrading VC to Neutral (wall of worry amid increased LVP [light vehicle production] risks now appears too steep to climb)." Jefferies initiates J. Jill as buy Jefferies said the clothing retailer is underappreciated. "We think the market under-appreciates JILL's sustainability and operational discipline to drive continued profitable growth." Jefferies upgrades Inter Parfums to buy from hold Jefferies said shares of the fragrance company are "oversold." "We upgrade IPAR to Buy based on our view that the shares are oversold." Piper Sandler reiterates Microsoft, Monday.com & Oracle as overweight Piper said it has its "highest conviction" in these three stocks. "However, there are still pockets of strength. Accelerating IaaS [infrastructure as a service] spend on AI tailwinds should benefit MSFT and ORCL. Healthy demand for workflow builder tools and new pricing has sustained strong momentum at MNDY. Deutsche Bank reiterates Block as buy Deutsche raised its price target on the stock to $98 per share from $90 and says it's the "best house in [a] tough neighborhood." "Despite weak stock performance by payment peers, we believe SQ continues to shine fundamentally with one of the few beat and raise stories in the sector." Morgan Stanley reiterates DraftKings as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's sticking with the gaming company as a top idea. "We stay OW DKNG (Top Pick) where we tweak our ests but stay above cons/guide & still expect a capital return catalyst."