(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Monday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A software stocks and a nuclear energy play were among the names being talked about by analysts on Monday, along with an automaker and a tech giant. Raymond James downgraded Palantir to market perform, citing a rich valuation. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Constellation Energy to $313m implying more than 20% upside. Elsewhere, Bernstein downgraded General Motors to market perform. Microsoft also got a downgrade from DA Davidson. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 7:34 a.m.: Deutsche initiates Pinterest with buy rating Pinterest’s upside potential is currently underappreciated by investors, said Deutsche Bank. The bank initiated coverage on the digital platform with a buy rating. Its price target of $43 per share implies 41.5% upside from Friday’s close. Analyst Benjamin Black forecasts revenue growth of 18% through the next three years. Pinterest’s relevance to users will continue to grow through the company’s product innovation, he added. “The platform’s ability to support those seeking inspiration all the way to the ultimate purchase activity is making Pinterest increasingly indispensable for full-funnel advertisers,” Black wrote in a Monday note. “Pinterest’s value proposition is supported by the fact that 90% of its product searches are unbranded, implying advertisers can reach high-intent consumers before a product/brand has been selected.” The stock is currently trading at a relatively cheap valuation compared to its competitors, he added. “With a clear path to both revenue and margin upside from today’s levels and valuation multiples significantly below peers, we see a compelling case to make PINS a core holding for investors,” Black added. The stock has struggled year to date, with shares currently down 18%. Shares advanced nearly 3% Monday in premarket trading. — Hakyung Kim 7:32 a.m.: Citi upgrades Keurig Dr Pepper, sees 15% upside for stock The tide is turning for Keurig Dr Pepper , according to Citi. The bank upgraded the drink manufacturer to buy from neutral, citing a volume improvement in the U.S. coffee industry. Analyst Filippo Falorni accompanied the move by raising his price target to $43 from $36, implying that shares could climb 15% from here. Falorni blamed softness in the U.S. coffee market as the main reason for Keurig Dr. Pepper’s stock weakness over the past two years, pointed to headwinds such as waning consumer spending and increased at-home coffee consumption during the pandemic. “In 2Q24, coffee pod vols returned to flat (+0.2%) vs. -4.5% in the P5Qs and we see a further improvement in 2H24 to +LSD% (especially in Q4) supported by easier comparisons, recent improvement in scanner data, new brands contribution (Black Rifle & La Colombe in RTD), and potential upside from the K Brew + Chill launch,” he added. The analyst pointed out that the stock is still trading at an attractive valuation. Meanwhile, going forward he also expects topline acceleration in the overall U.S. refreshment beverages category. Keurig Dr. Pepper stock is up 12% in 2024. — Lisa Kailai Han 7:27 a.m.: Truist cools on chip stocks The excitement around artificial intelligence is not enough to fuel a further rally for all semiconductor stocks, according to Truist. Semiconductor analyst William Stein downgraded the industry as a whole to neutral from constructive. In particular, Stein focused on Microchip Technology and Analog Devices , moving those to stocks to hold from buy. “Stocks have done very well, but industry fundamentals have bifurcated between the haves (AI companies) and have-nots (diversified semis). Now, certain diversified semis — especially MCHP & ADI — reflect both (1) a significant fundamental recovery and (2) peak P/E,” Stein said in a note to clients. “We believe MCHP & ADI are fundamentally strong companies but cannot recommend the stocks at this point in the cycle and downgrade them to hold,” he continued.” — Jesse Pound 7:19 a.m.: Bank of America upgrades On Holding, raises earnings expectations On Holding continues to make great strides forward in the sports shoe industry, according to Bank of America. The bank upgraded the athletic shoe manufacturer to neutral from underperform, which reflects the stock’s “ongoing strong growth” and more limited downside to consensus, analyst Ashley Wallace wrote. Wallace also hiked her price objective to $55 from $21. Shares of On have soared 85% this year. Wallace’s updated price forecast implies that the stock could climb another potential 10% from here. The analyst increased her medium-term earnings expectations for On by 10% to 24%, noting that the company is “one of the fastest growing brands across European sporting goods and consumer discretionary overall.” “Strong brand heat and white space opportunities are helping to fuel top line growth, which is also translating into higher margins,” she added. — Lisa Kailai Han 7 a.m.: DA Davidson downgrades Microsoft, cites diminishing AI lead DA Davidson believes that Microsoft has lost its edge over competitors in artificial intelligence. The investment firm downgraded shares of the tech giant to neutral from buy, although analyst Gil Luria maintained his $475 price target. This implies that shares could rise 9% from Friday’s close. Microsoft is up 16% on the year. But Luria wrote that Microsoft’s competition on the artificial intelligence front has largely caught up, reducing the justification for the stock’s current premium valuation. “We believe that Microsoft’s lead is now diminished in both the cloud business and code generation business, which will make it hard for MSFT to continue to outperform,” he wrote. “Our new proprietary hyperscaler semiconductor analysis indicates AWS and GCP are far ahead in terms of deploying their own silicon into their data centers, which gives them a significant advantage over Azure going forward.” Luria added that Microsoft is also more reliant on Nvidia than its competitors, especially as it continues to overinvest, resulting in declining operating margins. The company also seems to have lost its lead for GitHub Copilot to its competitors, while its OpenAI investment does not yet appear to have paid off. “Since OpenAI only has ~1000 employees, is burning cash, and only operates on Azure, it is safe to say that almost that entire amount is Azure revenue, driving much of Azure’s acceleration to date. While we expect great things from OpenAI, we would still consider this lower quality revenue,” Luria said. — Lisa Kailai Han 6:38 a.m.: Bernstein downgrades General Motors General Motors’ good luck may finally be running out, according to Bernstein. The investment firm downgraded the automobile stock to market perform from outperform and lowered its price target to $53 from $54.50. This updated target is approximately 8% higher than where shares closed on Friday. General Motors has climbed 36% this year. But analyst Daniel Roeska now sees risks to earnings and growth in shareholder distributions beginning to emerge. “Continued inventory build in the U.S. will lead to pricing headwinds next year, a delayed ramp on electric vehicles and Cruise pushes losses into next year, and headwinds in GM’s international businesses are increasing,” he said. As a result, Roeska lowered his 2025 adjusted earnings per share forecast for the stock by 7.7%. Meanwhile, General Motors’ upcoming October capital markets day could further illuminate the company’s near-term cash needs. “We are concerned that an updated EV strategy, a potential Hyundai-collaboration on hybrids, and Cruise evolution could introduce additional capital requirements and weigh on FCF,” Roeska said. “Given the risk of declining earnings in ’25e and potentially higher investment needs in the business, we see the risk balance skewed to lower FCF.” — Lisa Kailai Han 6:19 a.m.: Citi raises Meta price target Meta’s TikTok competitor Instagram Reels could be a lasting tailwind for the technology titan, according to Citi. The bank reiterated its buy rating on the “Magnificent Seven” stock while lifting its 12-month price target to $645 from $580. The updated price target implies that shares could rise another 15%. Analyst Ronald Josey pointed to rising engagement and demand in Instagram’s short-form Reels video platform as a major catalyst for the stock. “As Reels ad load and usage continue to expand we believe Meta’s discovery engine and content recommendation models, powered in part by its investments in GenAI, are a competitive advantage and represent a clear path of LLM ROI,” he wrote. “In fact, in many ways we believe Meta’s competitive advantage is now deeper and wider given improved engagement, investments in GenAI, and multiple newer offerings on-the-come.” Josey added that Meta remains his top stock pick across the internet sector. Meta stock has rallied 59% this year. META YTD mountain META year to date — Lisa Kailai Han 6:12 a.m.: Citi double upgrades Ciena to buy from sell Citi likes what it sees from Ciena . The bank double upgraded the networking systems stock to buy from sell. Analyst Atif Malik also lifted his price target to $68 from $44, which points to upside of 16%. As a catalyst, Malik pointed to an improving backdrop in the telecommunications/cable industry due to a pickup in demand and bookings. This could begin to have a material impact on the company’s returns beginning in 2025, the analyst wrote. “With measured improvement in this meaningful piece of the business, we see less risk to numbers and believe CIEN is more likely to achieve its L-T 6-8% target for topline growth,” he added. Health cloud demand will also support Ciena’s growth in 2025. While Malik sees the company as a potential beneficiary of artificial intelligence, he noted that these opportunities still seem to be further out for the company. “While we continue to believe that material AI-related opportunities for CIEN are likely 6-12 months away, once the traffic related to AI applications flows to other data centers or to consumers across the network, the positive trends in CIEN’s webscale bookings are supportive of growth in FY25 webscale revenues, in our view,” the analyst wrote. Shares of Ciena have climbed 30% this year. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:47 a.m.: Raymond James downgrades Palantir It may be time to move to the sidelines when it comes to Palantir , according to Raymond James. Citing a strong performance, the firm downgraded the software stock to market perform from outperform. Analyst Brian Gesuale also removed his price target of $30. “While we remain enthusiastic about Palantir’s longer term positioning in AI, we are downgrading our rating to Market Perform from Outperform given our view that shares need to consolidate stellar gains over the last couple of years and grow into its rich valuation,” he elaborated. “Valuation has expanded ~fivefold making it the richest software name amongst comps at 26.1x FY25 sales.” Shares of Palantir have soared 117% in 2024. PLTR YTD mountain PLTR year to date While a high valuation may be the stock’s biggest near-term obstacle, Gesuale is optimistic on the company’s potential in the long run as an artificial intelligence beneficiary. “Geopolitical instability and global AI arms race provide improving long term visibility for Palantir that should pave the way for ongoing growth in the ~20% range over the next few years,” Gesuale added. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:47 a.m.: Morgan Stanley raises Constellation Energy price target Constellation Energy’s new nuclear power deal primes the stock for strong gains ahead, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst David Arcaro raised his price target on shares to $313 from $233. The new forecast points to nearly 23% upside. Constellation Energy on Friday announced it would restart the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island, with the intention to sell that power to Microsoft for its data center needs . The stock rallied more than 22% on the news — bringing its year-to-date advance to 118%. CEG YTD mountain CEG year to date “This is an attractive deal for CEG,” Arcaro wrote. “Operational risk to bring the plant online appears manageable, the contract is very long (20yrs) and with a strong counterparty. Bringing nuclear online supports the grid, with no emissions and 24×7 operations, and the move has generated strong political support.” Wells Fargo analyst Neil Kalton also hiked his price target on the stock to $300, implying nearly 18% upside ahead. — Fred Imbert
