Here are Tuesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: UBS reiterates McDonald’s as buy UBS said that “favorable brand positioning should support sales and share resilience.” “We believe MCD is well positioned as a high quality, defensive compounder that should prove resilient given relative benefits from pressured consumer spending and drivers to support still solid sales momentum.” Evercore ISI upgrades Exxon to outperform from in line Evercore said that Exxon is well positioned with several positive catalysts in the months ahead. “Key name in terms of Energy vs. Market, the path to doubling earnings likely to remain central (and achievable).” Read more about this call here . Deutsche Bank upgrades McKesson to buy from hold Deutsche said the medical and pharmaceutical products company has an attractive valuation. “Regarding MCK’ s near- to medium-term earnings outlook, issues that were once tailwinds had turned to headwinds and now could be back to tailwinds.” Evercore ISI downgrades Occidental Petroleum to in line from outperform Evercore downgraded the hydrocarbon exploration company on valuation. “A quality oil levered upstream portfolio with some unique growth drivers is complimented by an extending cycle for OXY ‘s chemicals business, the cessation of midstream headwinds, and a growing low carbon business. Our sense is these tailwinds have been captured in the stock’s outperformance YTD while new headwinds are set to arise, most visible being the pref equity that caps returns to shareholders at $4/sh annually.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as overweight Morgan Stanley said that despite the stock’s valuation, Microsoft is still very attractive. “While we continue to see solid demand trends in Microsoft’s commercial segments ( > 65% of gross margin $’s), updated FX guidance and weaker PC data points lead us to clean up our forward forecasts, bringing down our FY23 EPS estimate by $0.09 to $10.84.” Berenberg upgrades Liberty Global to buy from hold Berenberg said in its upgrade of the telecommunications company that the stock is “compelling.” “We are upgrading Liberty Global to Buy (from Hold) for the first time since we initiated coverage of the company in 2018. In the near term, price increases will improve its growth trends. In the medium term, the realisation of M & A synergies in the UK and Switzerland will improve profitability.” Wells Fargo upgrades Lear to overweight from equal weight Wells said in its upgrade of the automotive seat company that it has electric vehicle “optionality.” “We are upgrading LEA from Equal Weight to Overweight. The upgrade reflects 1) compelling valuation, 2) strong EPS growth, and 3) EV tailwinds & optionality.’ Morgan Stanley reiterates Uber and Alphabet as overweight Morgan Stanley said its latest survey checks show travel demand continues to hold up which bodes well for Alphabet and Uber. “Latest AlphaWise data shows 58% of people expecting to travel in next 6 months, with 81% of higher income households expecting to travel. Rising inflation concerns must be monitored (travel one area people expect to pull back on), but we remain OW UBER, GOOGL, and tactically positive EW BKNG.” UBS initiates Marqeta as buy UBS said the credit card issuing platform has significant upside potential. ” Marqeta remains poised to gain share of the secular shift to card-based payments from cash, win new high-growth customers, and benefit from the expansion of its largest customer, Block.” Jefferies upgrades Vale and Rio Tinto to buy from hold Jefferies upgraded several mining company’s on Tuesday and said Vale and Rio Tinto were well positioned to outperform in a slowing U.S. economy. “Clean balance sheets, low valuations, strong cash flow, high yields, structural demand growth, and an implicit baked-in inflation hedge are defensive characteristics.” Read more about this call here . Cowen names Planet Fitness a best idea Cowen said in a note that the fitness company is well positioned to succeed in a downturn or better environment. ” PLNT sits at the nexus of powerful secular shifts that will support growth, and is further fueled by its $250mm and growing ad fund, accelerating its flywheel.” Citi reiterates Peloton as buy Citi said that it’s still bullish on the company’s turnaround after it named a new CFO. “Given Mrs. Coddington’s professional experience spans software, eCommerce, and consumer subscription businesses (including ~5 years at Netflix), we believe she is well positioned to help manage Peloton in its next phase of subscriber growth.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley said in a note that Apple’ s Worldwide Developer Conference was “innovation engine at full throttle.” “Apple’s WWDC 2022 keynote played out largely as we expected, with the highlights focused on feature upgrades across iOS 16, iPadOS 16, WatchOS 9, and macOS Ventura, as well as the introduction of a new MacBook Air.” Needham reiterates Apple as buy Needham reiterated its buy rating on Apple on Tuesday morning, but said it was surprised by the “silences” during the tech giant’s presentation at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference. “The biggest surprises to us from WWDC were the silences. Over a nearly 2-hour infomercial, AAPL said nothing about: a) AppleTV (including no mention of its 2022 Best-Picture award winner CODA or the future role of sports in their content bundle, including a potential NFL deal); b) no further privacy crackdowns (; and, c) no mention of an artificial reality OS.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Oracle as buy Deutsche said it’s bullish heading into the company’s earnings report next week. “We reiterate our Buy rating heading into Oracle’s F4Q results, given increasing fundamental strength reflected in our partner checks.”
