(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Wednesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A chipmaker and a smartphone glass maker were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Wednesday. Citi raised its rating on Texas Instruments to buy from neutral. Meanwhile, Mizuho upgraded Corning to outperform, saying the recent pullback in the stock is a buying opportunity. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 7:17 a.m.: Bank of America reiterates buy rating on MongoDB Database MongoDB is a “secular winner” in the large data management market, according to Bank of America. The firm reiterated its buy rating on shares ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings announcement on Aug. 29. Analyst Brad Sills forecasts 3% upside to revenue in the second-quarter. Sills holds a price target of $300 on shares, which suggests 18.3% upside potential from Tuesday’s close. July data indicated that seasonality trends improved amid weakening macro headwinds. Sills believes the data also indicated MongoDB’s growth rate has potentially bottomed and could reaccelerate through new offerings. “We continue to believe that MongoDB is well-positioned to capture share of the $108 billion database market, with formidable advantages such as: 1) a large developer community (400+ million downloads of Community Server), 2) a proprietary document model, and 3) support of 13 programming languages,” Sills wrote in a Wednesday note. Shares have declined 38% in 2024. — Hakyung Kim 6:37 a.m.: Wells Fargo becomes bearish on packaging company Wells Fargo thinks there’s too much uncertainty surrounding Sonoco Products . Analyst Gabe Hajde downgraded shares to underweight from equal weight. He notched down his price target by $2 to $52, implying just 2.8% upside potential from Tuesday’s close. Sonoco’s recent acquisition of sustainable packaging company Enviosys adds significant leverage to its balance sheet “at an inopportune time” of macro and interest rate uncertainty, said Hajde. Hajde also pointed to uncertainty surrounding the company’s divestiture activity. Sonoco had recently stated it would increase its divestiture activity from the original $1 billion by 2025. “We believe investors likely take a backseat until further clarity on the divestiture timeline and assets are provided as equity dilution risks remain,” Hajde wrote in a note on Wednesday. The company is also facing pressures in confectionary and industrial packaging sectors, the analyst added. Shares are down 9.5% in 2024. — Hakyung Kim 6:03 a.m.: Another strong quarter for Nvidia ahead, says Raymond James Raymond James is optimistic ahead of Nvidia’s second-quarter earnings report on Aug. 28. Despite concerns around the company’s speculated delay of its Blackwell platform, analyst Srini Pajjuri believes the impact should be modest. “We have modeled a modest contribution from Blackwell in FQ3 and expect any delays to drive upside to Hopper GPUs in the short term, which could actually benefit gross margins,” Pajjuri said in a client note on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Spectrum-X Ethernet switch will likely be the key driver of revenue in the near-term, said Pajjuri. The analyst added that there is “no slowdown in AI demand.” Nvidia has managed to beat on both top and bottom lines in its last four quarters, according to Raymond James. Shares traded 0.8% lower Wednesday before the bell. — Hakyung Kim 5:47 a.m.: Citi upgrades Texas Instruments Texas Instruments is worth its premium price, Citi said. The bank upgraded shares to buy from neutral after the chipmaker held a management call, during which it lowered its 2026 capex spending to between $2 billion and $5 billion, from $5 billion prior. Citi also raised its price target to $235 from $200, implying 16% upside potential from Tuesday’s close. “It’s Christmas in August — TXN Lowers Capex and Points to Margins Bottoming as Hoped,” analyst Christopher Danely wrote in a Wednesday note. Operating margins are currently at their lowest level in a decade, which Danely thinks is “unsustainably low.” Once margins rebound to their previous peak, earnings per share growth could reach 100%, he added. To be sure, Danely noted that “yes, [the] stock is expensive … but TI is always expensive.” Texas Instruments has historically traded at a premium of 20% to 30% relative to its competitors, the analyst said. Shares are up 18.8% in 2024. TXN YTD mountain TXN year to date — Hakyung Kim 5:47 a.m.: Mizuho upgrades Corning Investors should capitalize on the recent pullback in Corning shares, according to Mizuho. Analyst John Roberts upgraded the maker of Gorilla Glass — which is used in smartphones and other devices — to outperform from neutral. His price target of $47, up from $44, implies upside of 15.4% from Tuesday’s close. The rating change comes after an 8.1% drop over the past month. To be sure, the stock remains nearly 34% higher for the year. GLW 1M mountain GLW in past month “We’re aware of no overall slowdown in the company’s business and growth programs,” Roberts wrote. “We believe the stock correction was driven more by the market rotation rather than any slowdown in Corning’s sales, and the company’s growth program is relatively broad-based. Since optical glass fiber & related segment is leading the growth, we believe the September 19 meeting could be a catalyst that will once again highlight the company’s strength.” Shares were up more than 2% in the premarket after the upgrade. — Fred Imbert
Wednesday’s analyst calls: Texas Instruments upgraded by Citi, buy the dip on smartphone glass stock
Aug 21, 2024
