Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Bernstein initiates MicroStrategy as outperform Bernstein said it’s bullish on shares of the bitcoin company and sees Bitcoin reaching $200,000 by year-end 2025. “We are initiating coverage on MicroStrategy (MSTR) with an Outperform rating.” Evercore ISI initiates AZZ as outperform Evercore said metal coatings company AZZ is well positioned for growth going forward. “Leading mkt shares in metal coatings + secular demand tailwinds + inorganic growth opportunities + simplified cap structure = Buy.” D.A. Davidson initiates Duolingo as buy D.A. Davidson said it’s a “leader” in the online language learning space. “We are initiating coverage of DUOL with a BUY-rating and a $250 PT.” KBW upgrades Bank of America to outperform from market perform KBW said in its upgrade of the bank that it sees several positive catalysts ahead. “We are upgrading BAC to Outperform based on strong capital, deposits and credit.” Bernstein reiterates Tesla as underperform Bernstein said it’s sticking with its underperform rating on the stock despite the shareholder vote. “Shareholders voted to approve Elon Musk’s pay package, and while it still faces legal challenges, it is a positive endorsement for CEO Musk, and a relief for Tesla shareholders.” Piper Sandler reiterates Pinterest as a top pick Piper said it’s sticking with its overweight rating on the stock. “We remain bullish on PINS and reiterate our top SMID pick.” Evercore ISI upgrades Ovintiv to outperform from in line Evercore said the natural gas company is well positioned. “We are upgrading OVV from In Line to Outperform. While relative performance to the sector over the past 6 months tells the story, the stock remains well positioned relative to SMID-cap peers in our view.” Evercore ISI upgrades Shopify to outperform from in line Evercore said it sees an attractive entry point for the stock. “We are upgrading shares of SHOP to Outperform with a $75 PT as the recent pullback in the stock has created an attractive entry point to own a best-in-class ecommerce platform business.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Sunrun as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the solar company to $29 per share from $24. “OW-rated RUN remains our favored way to play distributed solar.” Guggenheim reiterates Spotify as buy Guggenheim said the audio company remains a best idea at the firm. “We have maintained a BUY rating on Spotify since March 2023 reflecting our confidence in both the company’s position as the world’s streaming audio leader and management’s tightened focus on disciplined growth.” Macquarie initiates Roblox as outperform Macquarie said Roblox is the “building blox of the metaverse.” “Roblox is a highly scaled gaming platform poised to deliver a double digit CAGR over the next three years.” UBS upgrades Tutor Perini to buy from neutral UBS said the construction company is underappreciated. “We upgrade TPC to Buy from Neutral. TPC has reported losses over the past two years, and we think this leaves investors under appreciating the earnings power of the core business.” TD Cowen reiterates Virgin Galactic as buy TD Cowen said it’s sticking with its buy rating following a meeting with company management. “We hosted SPCE’s CEO, Michael Colglazier, at our conference & visited Spaceport America for the Galactic 7 flight.” JPMorgan upgrades Zscaler to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its upgrade of Zscaler that shares of the IT security company are undervalued. “Disruptive Zero Trust Leader at a Discount, Upgrade to Overweight.” JPMorgan upgrades Varonis to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the automated data security company has a “compelling valuation with improving fundamentals.” “A recent decline in the company’s stock price presents an attractive setup into the back half of the year for VRNS with several levers for upside in our view.” UBS upgrades Permian Resources to buy from neutral UBS said it’s bullish on shares of the oil and natural gas company. “We are upgrading PR to Buy and increasing our PT from $20 to $21, as we see two positive catalysts in 2H24 to drive shares higher.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Twilio to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees better value elsewhere right now. “While TWLO is a story we still like longer-term, we expect little credit over the next 12-months.” JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as overweight JPMorgan said the e-commerce giant remains a top pick at the firm. “AMZN should surpass WMT as the largest US retailer in 2024 & that 40%+ e-comm penetration is possible long term.” JPMorgan upgrades Adobe to overweight from neutral JPMorgan upgraded Adobe following earnings on Thursday. “Upgrading to Overweight As Smoother Sailing Ahead on New Product & Pricing Tailwinds, GenAI Monetization.” Bank of America upgrades Hasbro to buy from neutral Bank of America said the toy company has “a lot more for investors to play with.” “We do not believe consensus forecasts are fully accounting for the success of HAS’ digital gaming strategy with Monopoly Go! and expect the game to move off minimum royalty guarantees in 2Q, before generating ~$36mm in operating profit contribution per quarter in 2H.” Bernstein reiterates Apple and Baidu as outperform Bernstein said Baidu’s role in Apple Intelligence appears limited but that it’s standing by the China tech company. The firm also says it’s sticking with its outperform rating on Apple. “Apple looks to be taking more control of models with in their devices. This would mean that Baidu’s scope will be more limited than we first thought, with Apple potentially using their own model in chip and combination of own/Baidu models for the more advanced models.” Loop reiterates Costco as buy Loop said it’s sticking by shares of the big-box warehouse giant. “We are reiterating our Buy rating and raising our price target on shares of Costco from $890 to $940.” Wolfe reiterates Nvidia as outperform Wolfe said Nvidia is a top pick at the firm. ” NVDA remains one of our favorite names in semis as well as we expect its strong competitive position in AI will drive strong demand/pricing leverage for its datacenter GPUs [graphic processing unit] over the next several years.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s sticking with its overweight rating on Tesla . “While we believe this recent period of uncertainty around the leadership of the company has weighed heavily on the stock, we look ahead to the full measure of having Elon Musk’s fuller attention and energy behind the company’s strategy as it undertakes the biggest metamorphosis in its history.”
