Notable analyst calls this week: FREYR Battery, Apple and ServiceNow among top picks
Dec. 28, 2024 9:37 AM ET
By: Tiyashi Datta, SA News Editor
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Wall Street on Friday ended in the red at the end of the holiday-shortened week. For the week, the S&P ( SP500) gained over 1%, while the blue-chip Dow ( DJI) rose 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite ( COMP:IND) gained 1.3%.
Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:
FREYR Battery upgraded to Buy by BTIG
BTIG upgraded FREYR Battery (NYSE: FREY) to a Buy rating, with analyst Gregory Lewis noting that through the acquisition of a U.S. solar module plant, the company is transitioning into a solar manufacturing play and moving away from efforts to build and license tech for lithium-ion and batteries.
Lewis said FREYR may aim to expand further upstream within the solar sector through the construction of a solar cell plant, vertically integrating its U.S.-based supply chain and maximizing renewable energy production tax credits available through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Wedbush positive on Apple’s AI-driven iPhone upgrade cycle
Wedbush raised its price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to $325 from $300 and maintained Outperform rating, noting that "a golden era of growth for Cupertino is now on the horizon into 2025."
Analyst Daniel Ives believes Apple is heading into a multi-year AI-driven iPhone upgrade cycle, which is still being underestimated by the Street, adding that Apple is on track to reach the $4T market cap threshold. The U.S. tech giant could sell over 240 million iPhone units in fiscal year 2025 as this AI-driven upgrade cycle takes hold, and this will be the highest iPhone unit sales year in Apple's history, the analysts added.
RAPT Therapeutics upgraded on recent licensing deal with China's Shanghai Jemincare
RAPT Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RAPT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by H.C. Wainwright, based on the company's recent licensing deal with China's Shanghai Jemincare.
Analyst Raghuram Selvaraju, who set a $10 PT on the stock, said the deal in which RAPT gains ex-China rights for JYB1904 could give the company access to the food allergy market, which he identified as "a large and lucrative niche." The analyst projects JYB1904 to generate ~$5.4B in peak annual sales by 2037 against allergy and $500M in peak sales against CSU, with U.S. market rollouts for the product against both conditions expected in 2031.
Raymond James started coverage of ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) with an Outperform rating and a PT of $1200. Analyst Adam Tindle believes ServiceNow has a substantial Generative AI monetization opportunity, from the low hundreds of millions to multi-billions.
Raymond James upgraded property and casual insurer Progressive (NYSE: PGR) to Outperform from Market Perform, citing the stock to be a core holding for large cap growth investors.
Citi ranked Meta (NASDAQ: META), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and DoorDash (NASDAQ: DASH) as "Top Picks" across the Internet sector as these names head into 2025 in the midst of a multi-year product cycle. For small and mid-cap stocks in this space, Citi rates Reddit (NYSE: RDDT) and Zillow (NASDAQ: ZG) as Top Picks as well. |
