Top Analyst Calls for Thursday: Exxon, Disney, Tesla, Apple, Affirm, Ulta, Alphabet, and More

The following are Thursday's top Wall Street predictions:

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Home Depot continues to outperform, says Cowen

Despite being cautious as it approaches its earnings later this month, Cowen says it will maintain its outperform rating.

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"As we see a risk to comps' downside, we are more cautious heading into 4Q22 EPS. We also reduce EPS and FY23 comparables at both HD and LOW, anticipate early guidance that is reasonably balanced, and anticipate both to continue to tell me stories in the near future.

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Activision Blizzard is still regarded by Morgan Stanley as a top choice.

The video gaming firm is still "very appealing," according to Morgan Stanley.

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We are optimistic about ATVI's underlying future as a result of the company's outstanding performance in '22 and numerous successful game launches. With ATVI shares trading at 13x '23 PE (ex-cash+break fee), we see a highly enticing standalone risk-return regardless of the MSFT merger.

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New York Times is upgraded by Barclays from underweight to equal weight.

In its upgrading of the major newspaper company, Barclays stated that it is entering "profit optimization mode."

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"NYT's growth model is quickly moving away from growth and toward profitability, and if managed properly, may potentially increase long-term margins."

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Bunge is downgraded by Baird from outperform to neutral.

Following the agriculture and food company's underwhelming results released on Wednesday, Baird reduced its rating.

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"Although the forecast is probably modest and just intended to serve as a starting point for the year, we anticipate shares to remain stagnant in the short term until there is more clarity about 2023 and beyond. While we enjoy BG's

For sector exposure, we like DAR and ADM based on the management team and valuation.

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Uber is a top choice, according to JPMorgan.

Following Wednesday's "excellent" earnings announcement, JPMorgan says it will continue to hold the shares.

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"Uber produced another excellent quarter of execution with profitability coming in beyond our expectations and demand across both Mobility & Delivery holding up well amid tough macro," said a spokesperson for the company.

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RBC downgrades Affirm from outperform to sector perform.

RBC stated that it expects a "difficult" environment when it downgraded the fintech startup.

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We reduce AFRM's rating from Outperform to Sector Perform because we think that the combination of increasing finance costs, delayed impacts of pricing moves, and anticipated deceleration into FH2/23 GMV (gross margin value) and revenues signals to a more difficult market ahead.

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Coupang is flagged by Barclays as overweight

The major Korean online retailer is a "share gainer," according to Barclays.

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"Coupang can be thought of as the combined FreshDirect, Door Dash, and Amazon of Korea. But whether it can survive without COVID tailwinds will determine its success.

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Alphabet is still considered overweight by Morgan Stanley.

As for Alphabet's foray into artificial intelligence, Morgan Stanley remains optimistic.

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We think Google has the scale and AI technology necessary to keep and increase its market-leading user base.

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Disney is recommended as a buy by Bank of America.

Following the release of the company's earnings report on Wednesday, Bank of America increased its price objective for the stock from $115 to $135 per share while maintaining its buy rating.

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"While Bob Iger's strategic vision for DIS gives us hope, it is apparent that this is only the first stage of the transformation, which will call for skillful execution. Since Bob Iger has a long and successful track record, DIS may have faith that he will handle this transition.

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Exxon is still a buy, according to Goldman Sachs.

Goldman claims that it will maintain its buy rating on Exxon stock.

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"Given expectations for ongoing company change and the advantaged Upstream long-term project queue, we retain our favorable stock perspective (Guyana, Permian). The meeting's important takeaways are highlighted inside, including those related to (a) project discussion, (b) capital allocation, and (c) business transformation.

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Tesla is still rated poorly by Bernstein.

Tesla is "tough" to predict, according to Bernstein, because of recent share price volatility.

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The recent weeks have served as a reminder of how challenging it is to predict Tesla's performance in the near term, but we think that in the long run, valuation counts and the company is currently trading above our 2050 DCF value of $150 per share.

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Apple remains neutral, according to Bank of America.

According to Bank of America, Apple Services could experience a significant slowdown.

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"We model overall Apple Services revenue to decelerate to 2% y/y in F2Q23" after increasing by 6% year over year in F1Q23, taking into account the effect of an extra week (5% in F4Q22).

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Bank of America is downgraded by KBW from market performance to underperform.

The banking behemoth was downgraded by KBW, which cited its high cost and excessive valuation.

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"We are reducing our rating on BAC from Market Perform to Underperform due to: 1) our 2024 forecast being 12% below consensus, and 2) the stock now trading above its historical P/E multiple."

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Vale is downgraded by JPMorgan from overweight to neutral.

The primary reason JPMorgan downgraded the mining and metals company was valuation.

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"Both Vale and Gerdau have experienced quite good runs recently (+40% and +35%, respectively, since their last bottoms), and in our opinion, the moment has come to the box. As the impact of China's openness on commodities increases, we anticipate improved entry opportunities into these equities in YE23.

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DraftKings is downgraded by Roth MKM to sell from neutral.

Roth expressed concern about the "profitability story" in its downgrading of the stock.

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Because we anticipate 1H23E EBITDA losses larger than the consensus and lessen market confidence in DKNG's profitability narrative, we tactically lower DKNG to Sell from Neutral (PT still $15).

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Canaccord starts the purchase of SentinelOne

In a report published on Thursday, Canaccord stated that the provider of security platforms is a long-term winner.

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Due to the company's stance as a data-driven security platform, made possible by its roots in endpoint security and a solid foothold in the midmarket enterprise market, we regard SentinelOne as a long-term secular winner.

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The loop starts the purchase for Triumph Financial

The business was dubbed a "new fintech leader in payments" by Loop.

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Given its knowledge, "We regard Triumph Financial as a 'unique and of one' type of organization factoring for transportation and its recently developed open-loop payment platform.

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Ulta remains an outperform, according to Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer claims that the Ulta bull case "still has legs."

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The ULTA management team continues to provide solid execution, and we continue to view an appealing upside case supported by positive category dynamics, corporate initiatives, pricing contributions to tickets, and these factors.