Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Cantor Fitzgerald initiates Planet Labs as overweight Cantor said in its initiation of Planet Labs it’s bullish on the satellite imaging company. “AI-derived data price accretion, acceleration of defense/climate threats drives growth, margins.” Oppenheimer initiates Toast as outperform Oppenheimer said the restaurant payment tech company is well positioned. “Initiate coverage of Toast, Inc. (TOST) with an Outperform rating and $46 PT, offering 15% upside potential.” RBC reiterates Tesla as outperform RBC said it’s standing by Tesla heading into earnings next week. “Post election, shares are up over 70%, but we do forecast 20.5% Auto gross margins for ’25 vs consensus’ 19%. We think Reg credits will be stronger than consensus is modeling, as will Energy Storage Revenues.” Bank of America reiterates Apple as buy The firm lowered its price target on the stock to $253 per share from $256 ahead of Apple earnings on January 30. “We expect a strong report driven by initial demand for the iPhone 16.” Berenberg upgrades Sherwin-Williams to buy from hold Berenberg said it sees earnings growth acceleration for the paint company. “We expect Sherwin-Williams to quickly seize on this opportunity and accelerate its market share gains.” Piper Sandler upgrades Travelers to overweight from neutral Piper upgraded the insurance stock following earnings. “We are upgrading Travelers (TRV) to Overweight from Neutral. After a careful review, we are responding to Travelers’ report of stronger-than-expected 4Q24 results and increasing our EPS estimates.” Citi initiates Digital Ocean as buy Citi said the software company has a “differentiated” offering. “New Leadership brings the right tools to re-capture differentiation — DOCN operates in the highly fragmented and commoditized cloud hosting infrastructure space where the incremental differentiation/competitive edge comes via product portfolio depth and customer engagement efforts/brand awareness.” Citi reinstates Albertsons as buy Citi said the grocery chain is a “self-help” story. “We are reinstating coverage of ACI with a Buy rating and $26 TP following a period of restriction due to the previously announced (and now blocked) merger between ACI and KR.” Mizuho reiterates Nvidia as outperform The firm said the stock is a beneficiary of the Stargate initiative. “Potential Tailwind for NVDA, CRDO, AVGO, MU and ARM if Consummated.” Baird upgrades Twilio to outperform from neutral Baird upgraded the cloud communications company following its investor day. “Yesterday we attended TWLO’s investor day and driven by the pre-released Q4 upside and broad-based strength, came away more confident in the company’s ability to continue to drive double-digit revenue growth and further upside to guidance and estimates.” TD Cowen reiterates Microsoft as buy TD Cowen said it sees some bumps in the road for Microsoft earnings next week but says it’s standing by the stock. “Layer in DecQ being a deceleration qtr, likelihood of new FX headwinds in ests and increasing gross margin contraction, and there are some bumps in the road to get through.” Bernstein upgrades Netflix to outperform from market perform Bernstein upgraded the stock following earnings earlier this week. “There are more questions than answers about the key drivers of long-term growth for Netflix (e.g., sports, advertising, gaming (?)), but what we do know gives us sufficient confidence for a much-delayed upgrade, even at the current price point.” Jefferies upgrades Steel Dynamics to buy from hold Jefferies upgraded the steel company following earnings. “On the call, management emphasized its near-term focus is to execute on the ramp-up of its organic growth, of which funding is largely complete, rather than the aggressive pursuit of new growth options. In light of both earnings and FCF likely rising from the contribution of these projects, we upgrade STLD to BUY and raise our 12-month target to $145/sh.” Barclays upgrades Air Products to overweight from equal weight Barclays said the company is “rejuvenated.” “We upgrade Air Products to Overweight and raise our PT to $365. We view Air Products as a leading producer in a quality industrial gas industry, with a solid, cash-generative base business and a re-focused mandate on the core business.” RBC upgrades Magna to outperform from sector perform RBC said it’s “getting constructive” on the auto supplier. “Magna specifically should benefit from easy comps, and we expect guidance to come in above consensus levels.” Bank of America initiates Quanta Services as buy Bank of America called the infrastructure company a “consistent outperformer.” “We initiate coverage of Quanta Services Inc. (PWR), the leading NA utility infrastructure services company with a Buy rating and $407 price objective.” JPMorgan initiates WeRide as overweight The firm said the autonomous driving company is best positioned for gains ahead. ” WeRide is a leading global autonomous driving (AD) company that develops AD technologies from Level 2 to Level 4 for a wide range of use cases, including ADAS solutions, robobus, robosweeper, robovan and robotaxi.” JPMorgan downgrades PVH to neutral from overweight JPM said the owner or brands like Tommy Hilfiger is seeing rising competition. “While we see multi-year brand ‘unlock’ underway with the new leadership team focused on driving increased desirability of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands through improved product design & marketing, we see an elongated path to reaching management’s Mid-Teens operating margin target…” Guggenheim upgrades Restaurant Brands International to buy from neutral The stock’s sell-off is overdone, according to the firm. The company is the owner of brands like Burger King. “We are trimming our 2025/2026 EPS for Restaurant Brands Int’l to $3.63/ $3.85 from $3.72/$4.00. But we are also upgrading RBI to Buy from Neutral as we think the substantial recent pressure on the stock has become overblown.”
