Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Roth MKM initiates Iren Energy at buy Roth says the blockchain bitcoin miner is well positioned. “We launch on IREN with a Buy and $14 PT and believe it offers investors an attractive investment opportunity in the growing energy demand for digital infrastructure.” DA Davidson initiates Miller Industries at buy DA Davidson says the tow truck leader is well positioned. “We are initiating coverage of MLR with a BUY rating and $82 price target.” JPMorgan upgrades Parr Pacific to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the gas exploration and production company has overcorrected. “Additionally, we upgrade PARR to OW from N given our view that it has over-corrected on its significant underperformance YTD, declining > 50%, which we think is reflective of its exposure to Asia crack [spreads] and to distillates.” JPMorgan downgrades MercadoLibre to neutral from overweight JPMorgan downgraded the online Latin American marketplace mainly due to valuation. “We downgrade MELI to Neutral keeping our $2400 PT, following a strong rally, as well as limited room for upward consensus revisions.” Wolfe upgrades Sphere to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said it sees “minimal expansion upside priced into” shares of the Las Vegas entertainment company. “One year since the grand opening of the Las Vegas Sphere, the concept proposes 20%+ ROICs to developers of new Spheres . Expanding Experiences content will benefit LV and future developers. Minimal expansion upside priced into stock.” Northland upgrades Salesforce to outperform from market perform Northland says Salesforce is well positioned for market share gains. “With CRM well positioned with Agentic AI, the next evolution to GenAI, we believe CRM is well positioned to capitalize on the more than 3x in software TAM we expect GenAI will drive.” Raymond James downgrades GE Vernova to market perform from outperform Raymond James downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. “Downgrading GE Vernova (GEV) from Outperform to Market Perform, as the AI-fueled rally feels a bit overstretched, and the stock could use some consolidation.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Nike as buy Deutsche Bank says it’s sticking with the stock following its latest earnings release on Tuesday. ” NKE’s 1Q print reinforced our view that the turnaround will be a marathon, not a sprint.” Guggenheim initiates Absci as buy Guggenheim said the biotech company is well positioned. “We are initiating coverage of Absci Corporation (ABSI) with a BUY rating and a $10 price target.” Mizuho initiates Archrock at outperform Mizuho says it’s bullish on shares of the natural gas compression company. “We believe AROC is supported by tailwinds for the broader compression industry.” Mizuho initiates Kodiak Gas at outperform Mizuho says the nat gas compression contractor is seeing aggressive growth. “We initiate coverage of Kodiak Gas Services (KGS) at Outperform and a $36 PT.” Wells Fargo reiterates Alphabet as equal weight WellsFargo lowered its price target on Alphabet to $182 per share from $190. “As regulatory headlines abate, attention returns to fundamentals. Continue to lean cautious on search growth despite better-than-expected 1H. While NT growth [is] tough to call, taking 100bps out of search growth in ’25 on travel spend shift to social.’ Wells Fargo reiterates Meta as overweight Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $652 per share from $647. “See another robust quarter and solid [forward] quarter guide, but unlikely to materially alter our above-consensus ’25 EPS estimate of $27+. Stock increasingly viewed as AI winner but likely range bound until ’25 OpEx/CapEx guide on 4Q:24 EPS call.” JPMorgan upgrades SAIC to overweight from neutral The firm says it sees “profitable growth” for the IT company. “We are changing up some Fed IT ratings to highlight where we see relative opportunity. This includes upgrading SAIC to OW from Neutral, with the market seemingly still skeptical of mgmt’s plans to drive more profitable growth.” Canaccord reiterates Tesla as buy The firm says it’s sticking with shares of Tesla. “We expect at least part of the story of 3Q24 to be the comeback of the EV (and hybrid). Maybe EV’s aren’t dead after all.” Raymond James downgrades T-Mobile to outperform from strong buy Raymond James downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. “We are downgrading TMUS to Outperform from Strong Buy as we remain positive on the stock, but don’t see a significant/immediate share price upside as we did previously.” Evercore ISI upgrades M & T Bank to outperform from in line The firm says it it sees earnings per share upside for the Buffalo-based regional bank. “We see further outperformance, as a favorable inflection in MTB’s fundamentals could support a more constructive earnings outlook.” Berenberg upgrades Rio Tinto to buy from hold Berenberg says the metals and mining company is a “medium-term diversified winner.” “With a lower medium-term capital bill than BHP, and significantly less execution risk than Anglo American, we move Rio up to Buy, and think that the shares will be the medium-term diversified winner versus peers.” Baird downgrades Harley-Davidson to neutral from outperform Baird said it’s survey checks show excess inventory. “We contacted Harley-Davidson dealers for an update on Q3 trends. Dealers reported weak retail, excess inventory, and caustic sentiment – all of which suggest risk to guidance.” Gordon Haskett upgrades Home Depot to buy from accumulate The firm says demand trends are bottoming. “With this in mind, we think it’s appropriate to increase our exposure to the Home Improvement vertical and are upgrading shares of Home Depot (HD) to Buy-Rated (from Accumulate-Rated).” Barclays upgrades Diamondback Energy to overweight from equal weight Barclays says it sees a host of positive catalysts ahead for energy company. “We expect FANG to unveil a 2025 program that’s much more capital efficient than initially estimated.” Bernstein reiterates Nvidia as outperform Bernstein says it’s sticking with its outperform rating on the stock. “Potential for continued strong Gen-AI training dynamics is likely constructive for Nvidia at this point, though questions around the pace and trajectory of Gen-AI inference however may come more at the expense [of] their peers who have (mostly) broadly acknowledged Nvidia’s training dominance and have hence focused on inference as the bulk of their long term opportunity.” JPMorgan reiterates Apple as overweight The firm conducted a consumer survey on Apple’s iPhone 16 and found a “stronger iPhone cycle, but softer mix with AI focus missing till now.” “The consumer feedback confirms our outlook for the iPhone 16 series, which includes 1) a stronger and more robust cycle led by higher interest in 16 series from both upgraders and switchers, although 2) upgraders are showing lower preference for high-end models compared to prior year.”
Wednesday’s biggest analyst calls on Wall Street
