Thursday’s analyst calls: Meta Platforms earnings reaction, GE spinoff gets big upgrade

(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Thursday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A tech giant and an energy spinoff were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Thursday. Analysts gave their assessment of Meta Platforms’ latest quarterly report, which exceeded Wall Street earnings and revenue expectations. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley upgraded GE Vernova to overweight . Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 6:42 a.m.: Wells Fargo upgrades Carvana to overweight The long-term opportunity for Carvana has become too strong for Wells Fargo to ignore. Analyst David Lantz upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. Lantz also hiked his price target for the stock to $175 from $75. Shares of Carvana have rallied nearly 152% this year. This upgraded price target implies that the stock could rise another 14% from here. CVNA YTD mountain CVNA year to date “Despite lingering macro concerns and choppy category dynamics, CVNA fundamentals are clearly improving, and we see a LT [long-term] opportunity too hard to ignore,” the analyst wrote. “Stepping back, the debt overhang is lifting (via growing EBITDA, pot’l lower rates, etc.) and we see a long runway for share gains with just 1% share of its $1T TAM.” As another catalyst, the analyst pointed out that Carvana is building production across the country to match the strong demand that has exceeded its current website inventory levels. The company also has the capacity to grow at three times its current retail levels, while average days to sale remain below its historical levels. Lantz added that looking ahead, Carvana believes it could potentially add “fundamental gains” for each gross profit line item. — Lisa Kailai Han 6:26 a.m.: Raymond James upgrades Wingstop to outperform on stronger long-term outlook The future looks bright for shares of Wingstop , according to Raymond James. The financial firm upgraded the chicken wing restaurant chain to an outperform rating from market perform. Analyst Brian Vaccaro also set a target price of $420, implying 12% upside. Shares of Wingstop have rallied nearly 46% this year. As a catalyst, Vaccaro pointed to the company’s rising growth targets. He believes the company could sustain an annual unit growth within the low-to-mid teens for several years as Wingstop’s franchises and international footprint grows. “Management now sees a LT [long-term] growth opportunity of 10K+ units (U.S. 6K+, Int’l. ~4K), more than 4x its current size (2,351 units),” he wrote. A strong value proposition versus its peers could also mean higher guidance for shares of Wingstop, Vaccaro added. “We also believe the brand’s relative value proposition has strengthened during the pandemic with cumulative pricing vs. 2019 up only mid-teens% compared to many QSR [quick service restaurant] chains +30-40%,” he said. Meanwhile, Wingstop’s robust balance sheet could possibly present a future opportunity to return more than $500 million of capital to shareholders. — Lisa Kailai Han 6:08 a.m.: Wells Fargo stands by American Express as top consumer finance pick American Express stands out among its peers, according to Wells Fargo. The bank stood by the payment cards operator as its top pick within consumer finance. Earlier this month, American Express reported a second-quarter profit beat and lifted its earnings guidance for the full year. The stock is now up 35% in 2024. Wells Fargo highlighted America Express as a top pick against a backdrop of stead card spend in the second quarter. American Express’ travel and expense “moderated a touch on softer lodging and airline spend, offset by continued strength in restaurant. Positively, AmEx did see slightly better [small or midsize enterprise] spend in Q2’24,” wrote analyst Donald Fandetti. As a whole, card providers have been facing better levels of net charge-off rates and delinquencies. Fandetti also noted that marketing has ramped up for the affluent segment, with American Express projected to spend around $6 billion on marketing both in 2024 and 2025. Fandetti has an overweight rating on America Express, accompanied by a $285 price target. This is approximately 13% higher than where shares closed on Wednesday. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:53 a.m.: Wall Street stands by Meta after latest earnings beat Wall Street analysts were left blown away by Meta’s latest quarterly earnings beat. The social media platform traded 7% higher after it posted second-quarter earnings of $5.16 a share on $39.07 billion in revenue. That’s higher than the LSEG consensus of $4.73 per share on revenue of $38.31 billion. The company also lifted its revenue forecast for the current quarter. META 1D mountain META pops Analysts at Goldman Sachs, Citi, Barclays and Bank of America stood by their buy- or overweight-equivalent ratings and raised their price targets across the board. Goldman Sachs and Barclays raised their forecasts to $555, implying upside of 17%. Bank of America lifted its price target to $563 from $555, while Citi increased its target to $580 from $555. Bank of America listed Meta as one of its top AI plays within the consumer internet space. Besides its solid AI ramp-up, analysts also commended the company’s advertising gains, which rose 22% from a year earlier. By contrast, Meta rival Alphabet reported just an 11% increase in its Google ad sales last week. “META continues to execute at arguably the best pace of any company in digital advertising, with little revenue deceleration despite facing very tough comps in 2H24,” wrote Barclays analyst Ross Sandler. Shares of the Magnificent Seven stock are 34% higher on the year. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:53 a.m.: Morgan Stanley upgrades GE Vernova General Electric’s energy spinoff is primed for strong gains ahead, according to Morgan Stanley. The bank upgraded GE Vernova to overweight from equal weight. Its price target of $220, up from $175, implies upside of 23% from Wednesday’s close. “We believe we are at the early stages of a multi-decade energy transition investment cycle that will require significant capital investment in gas power, renewables, and grid expansion/enhancement. GEV, in our view, is the purest way to gain exposure to all three of these investment opportunities,” analyst Andrew Percoco wrote. GE Vernova was spun off from General Electric in April, along with the conglomerate’s aviation business. Over the past three months, shares have climbed 17%. GEV 3M mountain GEV in past 3 months — Fred Imbert