Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Barclays reiterates Qualcomm as overweight The firm says Qualcomm is a “best of smartphone breed” following the company’s earnings report on Wednesday. “Better results and guide are indicative of a stronger Android high end and Auto/IoT [internet of things].” Bank of America downgrades Solaredge to underperform from neutral Bank of America says Solaredge is at risk of tariffs in a Trump administration. “Solar trackers could also face significant challenges on potentially softer demand from U.S. utility-scale solar developers, especially if tariffs and the loss of domestic content adders inflate project costs. Jefferies downgrades Palantir to underperform from hold Jefferies says the fundamentals are “unsustainable” right now. “We underestimated the momentum that PLTR was able to garner after the launch of Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) boot camps, and we underappreciated PLTR’s ability to put up 4 quarters of accelerating growth (for both top-line revenue and RPO) on easy comps following 3 straight quarters of less-than-stellar results from 1Q23 to 3Q23.” Bernstein downgrades Ford to market perform from outperform Bernstein called the automaker’s earnings a “mixed bag.” “We conclude that Ford will face significant pricing and FCF headwinds in 1H/25 and potential upside into 2H/25 or ’26 depends on decisive management action.” Morgan Stanley names Allstate a top pick Morgan Stanley says it sees new auto policy growth heading into next year. “Aggregating statutory disclosures, ad spending, and company data, we deduce that pricing will decelerate, but the competitive environment will still be relatively favorable, leading to efficient growth opportunities for Allstate in 2025.” Wolfe reiterates Nvidia as outperform The firm says it’s not worried about new restrictions on semiconductor companies with a Trump administration. “Direct restrictions on AI semis have already been in place for the last several years. Restrictions have ensured that NVDA and AMD AI accelerators shipped into China have roughly the same performance as what domestically available options can already provide.” Loop downgrades Crocs to hold from buy Loop said in its downgrade of Crocs that it sees too many headwinds for the company’s Hey Dude brand. “The company recently issued a Q4 outlook for slowing sales in both segments, and this is the second consecutive quarter with a disappointing sales outlook. These concerns are magnified by the problems Hey Dude is facing even as it laps easy comparisons.” Barclays downgrades Coty to underweight from equal weight Barclays downgraded the beauty stock following earnings and says it sees “strategy creep.” “Coty effectively lowered its medium-term algorithm last night, but notably, this significant change was not detailed in the press release. We have been concerned about strategy creep at Coty for some time, with the company altering the building blocks to reach its revenue goals at least twice in the past two years.” Bank of America upgrades Schneider to buy from underperform Bank of America says the trucking company is a Trump beneficiary. “We raise our rating on Schneider National’s shares (SNDR) to Buy from Underperform as we see favorable impacts post-U.S. election results (improved consumer confidence, rising domestic manufacturing, increasingly deregulatory environment, and a lower corp tax rate), leading to a more constructive truckload cycle upturn.” Citi downgrades KeyCorp to neutral from buy Citi downgraded the regional bank stock mainly on valuation. “We highlighted KEY as a top beneficiary in our Election Initial Take and the stock outperformed the group trading up 15.7% on the back of optimism on regulatory environment, capital markets rebound, and fixed asset repricing.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight The firm says it’s sticking with Apple despite the threat of tariffs. “And while AAPL is thought of as the ‘poster-child’ for leveraging Chinese manufacturing, and thus most at risk if tariffs were to be instituted, they don’t face the most significant EPS headwind in our coverage given they have a higher gross margin than peers, which limits the incremental tariff impact.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Disney as buy The firm says it’s bullish ahead of earnings next week. “Content and the Disney /Max bundle should help DTC subscriber growth in F4Q, followed by pricing and paid sharing beginning to yield benefits in F2025, while profitability continues to improve, albeit at a slower pace than F2024.” Baird upgrades McKesson to outperform from neutral Baird upgraded the healthcare and medical supply company following earnings. “We had ample reasons to be concerned. MCK cleared up several of those concerns, removed a few major overhangs, both peers reported strong updates again, large-cap HC is relatively under-owned and relatively inexpensive, and there’s no reason to say much more. MCK isn’t perfect, but what is? Can’t come up with strong argument why it shouldn’t return toward recently higher multiples.” Baird downgrades JPMorgan to neutral from outperform Baird said in its downgrade of the banking behemoth that it’s time to “take profits.” “We know, and we agree – JPM is best-in-class. It has scale, skill, and dominant market share across its various businesses, alongside a great management team. Despite that, we find the risk/ reward unattractive here and urge investors to take profits.” UBS initiates Vulcan Materials as buy UBS says the materials company is a “beneficiary of an improving non-residential construction market “We initiate VMC with a Buy rating and $349 PT.” JPMorgan upgrades Clearwater to overweight from neutral JPMorgan upgraded the software company following earnings. ” CWAN noted record-high EBITDA margin of more than 33%; EBITDA to free cash flow conversion was once again driven by positive working capital changes and improved collections.” Guggenheim downgrades Sunrun and Sunnova to neutral from buy Guggenheim downgraded several solar companies on Thursday and says it sees too many risks. “In assessing Tuesday’s election outcome, we believe that investors need to reconsider the level of risk associated with investing in energy transition equities, particularly with respect to potential policy and trade outcomes. We are downgrading our investment ratings for Array Technologies, Sunrun and Sunnova from Buy to Neutral.” Raymond James upgrades US Cellular to outperform from market perform Raymond James upgraded the cellular company due to a more favorable regulatory environment in a new White House. “We are upgrading TDS and USM both to Outperform, from Market Perform, following the results of the 2024 Presidential election, as we see significant upside in shares of both stocks given the ongoing strategic review and announced asset sales at USM, and now feel the regulatory path to approval is cleaner and timeline should be better.” KeyBanc downgrades Five Below and Dollar Tree to sector weight from overweight The firm downgraded both stock due to China tariff concerns. “We downgrade DLTR and FIVE to Sector Weight based on acute China import exposure.” Bank of America reiterates Tesla as buy The firm says the “US election [is] a vote of support for growth trajectory.” “We reiterate our Buy rating on TSLA and raise our PO to $350 from $265 following the US election results.” Seaport downgrades Duolingo to neutral from buy The firm downgraded the language App company mainly on valuation following earnings. “We lower our rating on DUOL to Neutral (from Buy) following 3Q24 results as we believe shares are fairly valued at current levels with shares at the high end of its valuation range at ~16x 2025 EV [enterprise value] /sales.”
