Here are some stocks to watch on Wall Street on Thursday: Baird names UnitedHealth an outperform Baird said the health insurer is his favorite idea at the company. “Our largest structural long is UnitedHealth Group (UNH – $597 price target, +20% upside), the most vertically and horizontally integrated managed care company.” Evercore ISI upgrades Okta from inline to outperform Evercore upgraded the identity access management company following the earnings. “OKTA reported strong first-quarter earnings that beat subdued expectations and came with a much brighter tone, suggesting that previous missteps and execution issues are over.” Goldman Sachs names Abbott Labs a buy Goldman said Abbott is well positioned for growth. “Diversified business and strong product cycles support sustained top-line growth, while expanding margins drive EPS growth. Balance sheet optionality provides further potential value creation.” UBS Re-rating Apple to Neutral UBS said its research indicates iPhone pressures remain for Apple in China and the US. “Consistent with our view that China ‘sales’ data is not a reliable or accurate predictor of iPhone/smartphone demand, our analysis of April smartphone sales data (source: Counterpoint Research) indicates continued pressure in the two largest smartphone markets, the US and China.” Piper Sandler Downgrades Cava to Neutral from Overweight Piper said it sees a better balance between risk and reward in the downgrade of the stock. “Following CAVA’s first-quarter 2024 earnings results, we are downgrading our rating to Neutral from Overweight. Our updated $92 price target represents just 4% upside from current levels, and we changed our rating as we see a better balance of risk and reward at this time.” Goldman Sachs Restates Eli Lilly to Neutral Goldman raised its price target on Eli Lilly to $785 per share from $740. “We updated our obesity treatment market model and now forecast total global sales of next-generation, primarily GLP-1 receptor agonist, anti-obesity drugs to reach $130 billion in 2030, up from our previous forecast of $100 billion.” Mizuho Upgrades PayPal to Buy from Neutral Mizuho said the payments company’s shares were too attractive to ignore. “We believe valuation is attractive, as PYPL is trading at more than one standard deviation below historical levels relative to its peers.” Bank of America Recommends Buy on Amazon Bank of America said Amazon’s advertising revenues are undervalued. “Amazon’s advertising revenues continue to grow faster than its gross merchandise volume (GMV), making it a key driver of retail profitability. We estimate that advertising currently contributes more than 4 percentage points to retail margins and could grow to 5 percentage points by 2026. Wells Fargo Initiates Amicus as Overweight Wells Fargo Raises US Cellular to Overweight from Equal Weight Wells said the company’s sale to T-Mobile “has the potential to enhance value for shareholders.” “We upgrade USM shares to Overweight and raise our PT to $75. We believe the sale of USM’s wireless business to TMUS is only the first of many steps the company can take to create value for shareholders.” Mizuho Downgrades First Solar to Neutral from Buy Mizuho downgraded First Solar primarily for valuation. “We downgraded it for valuation as the shares reflect strong pricing power and there is limited upside potential in our bull case ($325) that factors in a 5 cents/watt price increase in the US and one new production line in the US.” Deutsche Bank Upgrades Formula One to Buy from Hold Deutsche Bank said the racing series has an “attractive valuation.” “We upgraded F1 to Buy due to its combination of strong multi-year growth prospects and an attractive valuation.” Wedbush Adds Cheesecake Factory to Best Ideas List Wedbush said the stock is undervalued. “We believe CAKE has relatively better short- and medium-term sales and earnings prospects than its peers, which investors are underestimating.” JPMorgan upgrades Corning to “overweight” from “neutral” JPMorgan said the glass company has an “attractive valuation” that could lead to higher EPS. “We upgrade Corning shares to overweight. With cyclical and secular drivers in its key display and optics businesses aligned in the company’s favor, and limited incremental operating expenses and capital expenditures, it is well positioned to take advantage of an upswing in sales that should lead to strong EPS growth.” Daiwa Securities re-rates NVIDIA as outperform Daiwa Securities raised its price target on the stock to $1,325 from $900. “NVIDIA is in the right place at the right time.” Stiefel upgrades International Gaming Technology to buy from hold Stiefel said it is becoming bullish on the gambling company’s stock. “We upgrade IGT to Buy from Hold and increase our price target to $26 from $24.” Goldman Sachs Raises Salesforce to Buy AgainGoldman said it would hold the stock after Wednesday’s earnings release. “We lowered our PT to $315 (previously $345) as CRM’s Q1 ’25 results fell well short of investor expectations, but maintain our Buy rating.” Redburn Atlantic Equities Names Insulet to Buy Redburn said it is bullish on shares of the insulin and diabetes products company, with a stock name designation for Insulet. “We expect much of Insulet’s adjusted operating margin expansion to come from enhanced operating leverage, as gross margins are already well established.” Northland Upgrades C3.ai to Above Market Perform Northland upgrades the AI company following earnings. “C3.ai saw subscription growth accelerate to 41% in 4Q24, signaling abatement of headwinds from the shift to a usage-based revenue model. Pilot growth and robust demand for genAI suggest strong growth is likely to continue.” Goldman Sachs Recommends AstraZeneca, Novartis, Novo Nordisk to Buy Goldman recommended buys on several biotech companies on Thursday, saying it sees “innovation momentum as a key focus.” “We have initiated coverage of AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Novartis with buy recommendations.” Bank of America Upgrades Datadog to Buy from Neutral Bank of America said the stock is best-in-class. “Datadog is positioned to be a share gainer with a large observable TAM of $53 billion.” [total addressable market.] Guggenheim Downgrades Generac to Sell from Neutral Guggenheim downgraded the stock primarily based on valuation: “Generac shares have risen 32% since the beginning of March (versus a 3% increase for the S&P 500 in the same period), and we believe this is primarily due to the market reacting to reports that 2024 could be a more active hurricane season.”
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