Thursday stock calls by analysts include Nvidia, Apple, Netflix, Delta
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Morgan Stanley names Alibaba a top pick Morgan Stanley says the company is a standout for its own “in house” chips. “Owning the full AI stack materially raises the likelihood of becoming an AI winner. In-house chips also mitigate competitive and regulatory risks. We elevate BABA to our Top Pick, replacing Tencent, despite near-term pressure on earnings.” Wells Fargo upgrades Occidental to overweight from underweight Wells Fargo says the oil and energy company is firing on all cylinders. “We are double-upgrading OXY to OW with a $69 target price. OXY’s peer-leading oil sensitivity is both an opportunity and a risk, but it’s primarily Permian capital efficiency trends informing this rating change.” Read more. Citigroup adds a positive catalyst watch on Delta Air Citi says it’s sticking with its buy rating on Delta. “We are issuing a positive 30-day catalyst watch. We believe that the recent macro shock and fuel price volatility is increasingly priced into the airline stocks with the least amount of fuel exposure.” Baird initiates Jabil at outperform Baird says Jabil is a “prime beneficiary of de-globalization.” “JBL has a clear vision of being the best manufacturer globally. Amid increased diversification overall, the company has emerged as a key AI enabler with multiple paths to growth.” TD Cowen initiates Arista Networks at buy TD Cowen says shares of Arista have plenty more room to run. “We view Arista as likely to emerge as the preferred vendor of choice for Ethernet-based scale out and scale across switching based on its strong foundational software and hardware design IP.” UBS upgrades Aptiv to buy from hold UBS says it sees “compelling upside.” “We upgrade APTV t o Buy, $97 PT seeing compelling upside at current levels from unlocking value with the upcoming Versigent (VGNT) spin-off scheduled for April 1.” Wells Fargo cuts General Mills, Campbell’s Soup and Conagra to underweight from equal weight Wells says it sees too many negative catalysts. “We’re downgrading shares o f CPB, CAG, an d GIS to Underweight from Equal Weight. Basic concept: 1) highest leverage and dividend payout ratios in our coverage, 2) earnings risk. The net is relative/absolute underperformance seems plausible.” KeyBanc initiates Planet Fitness at overweight Key says the fitness company is too attractive to ignore. “We believe PLNT offers compelling upside at current levels, with end market resilience, member and unit growth, positive pricing/mix, and international serving as drivers.” KeyBanc reiterates Apple as sector weight Key says its survey checks show iPhone sales are seasonally slow. “We rate AAPL Sector Weight. AAPL currently trades at ~21.4x our 2026E adjusted EBITDA.” RBC upgrades Kinross Gold to outperform from market perform RBC says the gold miner offers attractive growth. “Kinross offers a combination of high FCF, leverage to rising gold prices, a stable operating outlook, and favourable execution.” Piper Sandler upgrades Murphy Oil and Occidental to overweight from neutral Piper says Murphy Oil and Occidental are beneficiaries of higher oil prices. “While the front end of the curve has been very responsive to the progress of the Iran war, we anticipate higher prices required out the curve to incentivize investment in production. As a result of the oil price deck increases, we raise our E & P price targets 9%, and we upgrade OXY and MUR to Overweight (from Neutral).” Needham upgrades UiPath to buy from hold Needham says it sees solid growth from the automation platform company. “UiPath offers an enterprise automation platform that combines robotic process automation (RPA), process orchestration, and agentic capabilities.” HSBC upgrades Pampa to buy from hold HSBC said in its upgrade of Pampa that the Argentina energy company has plenty more room to run. “We like company’s assets and management’s investment discipline, and are more optimistic on valuation due to higher Brent forecasts vis-à-vis the company’s investments in Rincon de Aranda crude field.” Jefferies upgrades Nutrien to buy from hold Jefferies says Nutrien is a Middle East War beneficiary. “With the Strait of Hormuz closed and Middle East producers halting production, global fertilizer markets have tightened with prices rising sharply. Jefferies upgrades Petco to buy from hold Jefferies says the stock is underappreciated. “Petco enters F26 headed towards growth with liquidity and profitability concerns now in the rear view mirror. The breadth of initiatives planned do not rely on an improving macro and play to the retailer’s strengths, giving us confidence they can work.” Read more. Citigroup upgrades Dow to buy from hold Citi said in its upgrade of Dow that it’s a beneficiary of the Middle East war. “We upgrade DOW and LYB to Buy, given the incremental margin expansion across the ethylene and propylene derivative value chain as US feedstock advantage widens. For both DOW and LYB, we assume PE prices see a ~12cpp hike in 1H, followed by a 5cpp decline in October and a 3cpp decline in 2027 to assume modest normalization, assuming the Middle East conflict ends in the short term.” TD Cowen initiates BWX Technologies at buy TD Cowen says the energy company is a nuclear beneficiary. “We initiate coverage of BWXT with a Buy rating and $230 price target. We view the company’s strong nuclear heritage and capabilities combined with being a technology-agnostic service and equipment provider as very attractive.” Bernstein reiterates Netflix as outperform Bernstein says it sees “credible upside.” “While we see credible upside to margin and EPS, we’re still early in ’26, with several moving parts: timing of ’26 price hike, the trajectory of ad growth, content production volume, scheduling, and release. Even with those uncertainties, we believe Netflix has meaningful EPS upside in ’26 and we maintain our Outperform rating.” Wells Fargo reiterates JPMorgan as overweight Wells says private credit fears for JPMorgan are overdone. ” JPM reducing lending to pvt credit funds where mark-to-mkt of software loans has reduced the value of collateral. We expect no losses at JPM; it shows they are in position to manage underlying collateral. Large diversified banks seem well positioned.” Citi downgrades Generac to neutral from buy Citi says it doesn’t see enough upside to keep its buy rating. “We are downgrading GNRC t o Neutral/HR and removing our 90-day positive catalyst watch.” Wells Fargo reiterates Micron as buy Wells raised its price target on Micron ahead of earnings next week to $470 per share from $410. “Our Overweight rating on Micron reflects 1) a more disciplined DRAM supply vs. demand environment; positive bit demand drivers (datacenter, PCs, smartphones, etc.), 2) stronger-than-appreciated demand-side considerations driven by next-gen technologies…” Wolfe reiterates Nvidia as outperform Wolfe says it’s bullish ahead of Nvidia’s GTC Conference next week. “Still expect bullish commentary on customer spending. Customers’ AI spending trends remain strong, and believe NVDA is likely to provide some commentary on visibility into next year.” Bernstein upgrades CVS to outperform from market perform Bernstein says it sees turnaround progress. “We are upgrading CVS t o Outperform and modestly increasing our PT to $94 which presents 23% upside.”
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