Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Meta, Nvidia, Tesla, FedEx, First Solar, Costco & more

Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: JMP downgrades Peloton to market perform from outperform JMP downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. “We are downgrading our rating on shares of Peloton from Market Outperform to Market Perform as Peloton reached our prior $16 price target while we leave our FY2024 estimates largely unchanged following FY2Q23A earnings.” Piper Sandler reiterates Tesla as overweight Piper said it’s standing by shares of the automaker following its release of its annual 10-K report. ” Tesla [is] starting to recognize FSD (full self driving) revenue. … It took awhile, but TSLA is starting to book previously-deferred revenue related to software.” Bank of America downgrades First Solar to neutral from buy Bank of America said in its downgrade of the stock that the “favorable catalysts” are priced in. “We downgrade First Solar to Neutral following +50% outperformance since August based on the benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act. FSLR’s US manufacturing footprint was an unambiguous winner from IRA given visibility to ~$8Bn+ in production tax credits.” Read more about this call here . Citi upgrades FedEx to buy from neutral Citi said cost controls are starting to take hold for FedEx . “We are upgrading shares to Buy from Neutral as we believe FedEx is showing increasing signs of cost control following its missteps in 2022.” Read more about this call here . Bank of America upgrades FedEx to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade on cost cuts. “We raise our rating on Fedex shares to Buy and increase our PO to $233 (from $204) on 13x (from 11.5x) our F2024e EPS, lifting our multiple above the trough of its 12x-19x historical trading range as its cost cuts begin to take hold.” Bank of America upgrades Meta to buy from neutral Bank of America said it sees “multiple expansion” possibilities for Meta. “We have been cautious on the ad environment into 2023, and on Meta given platform shift to Reels and capex spend that could derail EPS growth when the ad market improves.” Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs reiterates Meta as buy Goldman said it likes Meta’s “balanced” approach following the company’s earnings report on Wednesday. “In its Q4’22 earnings report, Meta management produced a much more balanced narrative than the one from just a quarter ago.” Read more about this call here. Oppenheimer downgrades Match to perform from outperform Oppenheimer said the dating app company is now a “show me” story. “While MTCH unveiled an encouraging product roadmap and evidence of improved à la carte revenue, stock is now a “show me story” after losing a record number of paid subs, stoking bear concerns that US/Europe online dating is maturing. Mgmt. suggesting that dating is not recession-resistant.” Guggenheim initiates Darden as buy Guggenheim said the owner of brands such as Olive Garden will continue to take share. “We believe Darden is one of the best managed restaurant companies with scale advantages that allow it to create value through M & A, out-compete full-service peers on price, and drive back-of-house synergies.” Needham upgrades Okta to buy from hold Needham said in its upgrade of the identity access management software company that it sees burgeoning growth. “We believe Okta set conservative guidance for FY24, calling for just 16%-17% Revenue growth.” Guggenheim reiterates Tesla as sell Guggenheim said there are too many negative catalysts for Tesla right now. “Searching for a TSLA catalyst ahead of the 3/1 investor day; wait times will tell demand story, in our view.” Bank of America reiterates Costco as buy Bank of America said the warehouse club giant has a “strong value proposition.” “We reaffirm our Buy and continue to view Costco as well-positioned LT given our view of: 1) Share gains given COST’s strong value proposition and price positioning, 2) potential store growth acceleration given excess demand and strong traffic growth.” Bank of America reiterates Nvidia as buy Bank of America said it’s standing by its buy rating ahead of the company’s earnings report later this month. “Reiterate Buy ahead of NVDA’s FQ4 earnings, though tweak down near-term expectations to reflect potential pause in cloud demand from US and China.”