Nvidia initiated, Tractor Supply downgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today’s research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades:

• TD Cowen upgraded Exxon Mobil (XOM) to Outperform from Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $115. The firm sees “more compelling upside” saying the stock has declined with an unchanged valuation.
• Truist upgraded Enphase Energy (ENPH) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $145, up from $85. While the firm anticipates the company’s sales guidance for Q1 could come in below Street estimates, it also believes buy-side estimates for Enphase are meaningfully below consensus.
• Truist upgraded Sunnova Energy (NOVA) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $18, up from $10. Given the stock’s significant underperformance to start the year and still significant short interest, Truist sees potential for the shares to rally on the Q4 print should the company be able to provide confidence around its 2024 outlook.
• Jefferies upgraded Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $14, up from $10. The firm is bullish heading into the company’s 2024 guidance, saying consensus revenue estimates look conservative “despite several tailwinds at play.”
• Evercore ISI upgraded Duke Energy (DUK) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $108, up from $90. The company has a “much cleaner story” after its non-regulated renewable asset sale and North Carolina rate case outcome, says the firm, which sees Duke as having the best total return potential among regulated large cap utility names.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Stephens downgraded Tractor Supply (TSCO) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $240, up from $226. The firm continues to believe in the long-term growth opportunity and believes buyside sentiment remains overly negative on the potential 2024 guidance, but thinks recent outperformance could limit shares in the near to intermediate term.
• TD Cowen downgraded Chevron (CVX) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $150, down from $170. The company’s largest growth drivers, the Permian and Tengizchevroil, could continue to be discounted by the market due to execution concerns, while the Hess Corp. (HES) deal may not result in annual net cash inflows until 2027, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• JPMorgan downgraded Coinbase (COIN) to Underweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $80. The firm continues to see Coinbase as the dominant U.S. exchange in the crypto ecosystem and a leader in cryptocurrency trading and investing globally, but thinks the catalyst in bitcoin exchange traded funds that has pushed the ecosystem out of its winter will disappoint market participants.
• UBS downgraded Philip Morris (PM) to Sell from Buy with a price target of $86.50, down from $105. The firm’s analysis suggests growth of next generation products, which make up 20% of tobacco industry revenue, is likely to slow over the next five years, largely due to heated tobacco.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Bill (BILL) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $75, down from $80. Despite shares trading well below historical levels, the firm believes Bill faces a growing list of risks which make it difficult to be overly constructive at this time.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Nvidia (NVDA) with an Overweight rating and $775 price target. Nvidia remains the artificial intelligence compute company where the opportunity is not a percentage of data center revenues, but rather a percentage of worldwide IT spending, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of AMD (AMD) with an Overweight rating and $190 price target. The firm views AMD as a key beneficiary of the market’s search for alternatives to Nvidia in accelerated computing.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Micron (MU) with an Overweight rating and $100 price target. The firm contends that the combination of improving pricing, supply discipline, improving end markets, and the incremental DRAM demand from Generative AI sets up Micron to see “a meaningful recovery” in revenues, margins, and free cash flows in 2024-2025.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Broadcom (AVGO) with an Overweight rating and $1,300 price target. The firm sees a long runway for EPS, free cash flow and dividend growth for Broadcom with vision to annualized earnings power of $65 exiting 2025.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Qualcomm (QCOM) with a Neutral rating and $150 price target. The firm expects Qualcomm to be a leader at the edge for artificial intelligence, though it suspects use cases are unlikely until the 2025-2026 timeframe. Cantor also started coverage of Intel (INTC) with a Neutral rating.