Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Morgan Stanley reiterates Costco as overweight The firm says membership card scanner rollouts is a “Netflix moment” for Costco. ” Costco’s ongoing roll-out of membership card scanners at its U.S. clubs could soon deliver a Netflix moment. Our channel checks suggest membership counts at selected Costco locations, following implementation of the scanners, is rising by double digits.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Spotify as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Spotify to $430 from $400, calling it a top pick. “We remain bullish due to cont’d conviction in 1) Spotify’s best-in-class product offering and related pricing power, 2) cont’d runway for user growth, and 3) mgmt’s commitment to financial discipline and driving profitability.” Citi initiates Corteva as buy Citi says it sees more growth ahead for the agricultural chemical company. “We initiate on CTVA with a Buy rating and a $68 target price.” Citi reiterates Amazon as a top pick The bank says the stock is a top pick ahead of earnings next week. ” AMZN Remains a Top Pick: While the 2024 holiday shopping season (beginning on Black Friday) has 5 fewer shopping days vs. last year, based on our analysis of 2019 results we don’t believe it should impact overall consumer and advertiser spend.” Bernstein reiterates Apple as outperform Bernstein says it’s sticking with Apple ahead of earnings next week. “We believe that a more muted iPhone 16 cycle (and potentially stronger iPhone 17 cycle) is increasingly embedded in expectations and that the combination of elongated replacement cycles and AI functionality should drive strong upgrades over the next two years.” Baird downgrades McDonald’s to neutral from outperform The firm says it sees too many food safety risks. “We are concerned that reports of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s restaurants in multiple U.S. states could pose a major threat to consumer sentiment and MCD’s U.S. comps.” Read more about this call here. JMP upgrades Snap to market outperform from market perform JMP says the social media company is well positioned for growth. “With Snap set to roll out Simple Snapchat and launch Sponsored Snaps, we see an inflection in impression growth as we believe the company can grow U.S. and North American engagement and drive greater ad load with its new ad products.” Read more about this call here. Citi reiterates Microsoft as buy Citi trimmed its price target on the stock to $497 per share from $500 but says it’s sticking with Microsoft ahead of earnings next week. ” Microsoft shares have lagged over the last Q as investors struggle to rationalize enormous ramps in capex, amidst underwhelming Azure growth (capacity constraints + macro) and slowing EPS growth.” RBC initiates Oracle as sector perform RBC says it’s concerned about the drivers of future growth at the database management software provider. “We are initiating coverage of Oracle Corp. with a Sector Perform rating and $165 price target.” Baird upgrades Quest Diagnostics to outperform from neutral Baird says it likes the “lab set-up” for the medical diagnostic company. “No doubt, we didn’t love the multiple premium vs. DGX’s closest peer, but we do like the lab set-up in 2025 and there’s no reason to hold back on one simply because the other is cheaper.” Bank of America reiterates Starbucks as buy The bank says EPS growth is “still possible” following the company’s pre-annoucement on Tuesday. “We believe SBUX’s situation parallels CMG before Brian Niccol’s arrival – namely reputational issues – and not the widely circulated bear cases that surrounded both (e.g., negative price perception, increased competition, excess store growth, deteriorating youth perception).” Bank of America reiterates GE Aerospace as buy Bank of America says the selloff in the shares is “overdone” following earnings. “As we highlighted in our 3Q preview, the expectations on aftermarket were high and the increasing multiples were starting to fuel concerns around how long aftermarket could stay this strong. That said, we think the market reaction on GE is overdone.” Wells Fargo reiterates Carvana as overweight Wells raised its price target on the stock to $250 per share from $175 ahead of earnings next week. “Despite CVNA’s outperformance, we lean long into Q3, & see pot’l unit/Adj. EBITDA upside w/ signs of improving fundamentals & ramping inventory selection.” Morgan Stanley reiterates General Motors as underweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $46 per share from $42 but says it’s sticking with its underweight rating following GM’s earnings. ” GM’s strong 3Q, raised outlook and confident share repurchase commentary helps re-rate the company, continuing the stock’s run as the best house on a rough block.” Bank of America reiterates Uber as buy The bank raised its price target on the ride-hailing provider to $96 per share from $88 ahead of earnings next week. ” Uber is one of the best Large Cap growth stories in Internet, in our view, with 30% estimated bottom line growth, and trades at an attractive valuation at 17x 2026 Free Cash Flow compared to 23x for FANG group.” Canaccord reiterates Tesla as buy The firm says it’s sticking with the stock ahead of earnings on Wednesday afternoon. “Tesla continues to operate relatively well despite macro turbulence.” Piper Sandler upgrades BXP to overweight from neutral The firm upgraded the company formerly known as Boston Properties and says it sees strength in the D.C. market for the real estate investment trust. ” BXP is now seeing leasing strength in D.C., not experienced since Sequestration over a decade ago, as new supply stops and tenants seek premium, well-located buildings with strong financial sponsors.” Bank of America upgrades Amylyx Pharmaceuticals to buy from neutral Bank of America says it’s bullish on the biopharma company’s blood sugar drug. “We are upgrading Amylyx from Neutral to Buy and raise our PO to $10 (from $4.20) based on our view on the prospects of avexitide, a drug it is developing to control blood sugar.”
