(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Thursday’s analyst calls and Wall Street talks. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to see the latest posts.) A semiconductor maker and a tech giant were among the stocks to which were discussed by analysts on Thursday. Analysts reacted to Broadcom’s latest quarterly results, which sent shares higher. Meanwhile, Jefferies called Microsoft a good pick, looking for around 25% upside. Check out the latest calls and chats below. All ET times. 8:05 am: Barclays downgrades NextEra Energy Partners, warns of possible dividend cut A possible cash crunch at NextEra Energy Partners could take a bite out of the utility company’s shareholders, according to Barclays. Analyst Christine Cho cut NextEra Energy Partners to underweight from equal weight, saying in a note to clients that the company may have trouble paying its convertible equity portfolio financing, a type of hybrid financing that can tie up the flow of money from part of the business. “Our downgrade is driven by a lack of visibility on how the company will address the upcoming $3.7 billion in CEPF acquisitions that will arise over 2026-2032. With limited debt capacity (if it wants to stay within estimates (its credit ratio) and an exceptionally high payout ratio of ~95%, we see limited options available outside of a distribution cut,” the note said. NextEra Energy Partners has a dividend yield of more than 11%, which could make this a case of a so-called “dividend trap” where a yield rises as traders expect payouts to be reduced. The distribution cut could be 45% or more, Barclays estimated. “Although the current yield of ~11% is high and the price has some probability that the distribution is not sustainable, we still think there is further downside potential if our analysis is at the forefront,” the note said. — Jesse Pound 8:01 am: Bank of America doubles Kimberly-Clark Bank of America sees the start of a long-term upside in Kimberly-Clark, doubling down on the stock to buy from underperformers. The bank also raised its price target to $160 from $115, suggesting 18% upside from Wednesday’s close. “KMB has begun implementing its growth strategy to unlock sustainable organic sales growth and higher long-term margins through structural improvements to the business, which we expect to result in higher earnings estimates and expansion multiple,” wrote analyst Anna Lizzul. a note to customers. It expects the consumer goods company to achieve more sustainable margin expansion as the correlation breaks down between pulp and energy inputs versus gross margin. Kimberly-Clark will also begin to increase market share, particularly at the premium level, and continue to innovate to grow at or above the market in key categories, she added. Shares of Kimberly-Clark are up about 11% year to date. — Michelle Fox 7:59 AM: KeyBanc Raises Netflix Price Target Netflix’s growth won’t slow anytime soon, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. Analyst Justin Patterson maintained his overweight rating on the stock and raised his price target by $2 to $707, implying about 8.8% upside potential. This year, the stock is up 33.5%, outpacing the broader market’s gains by a wide margin. Patterson is positive about Netflix’s membership and engagement trends. “We believe Netflix is poised for more balanced growth between subscribers and monetization over MT,” Patterson said in a Thursday note. “As efforts such as paid sharing and ad-supported tier level, we believe Netflix can maintain a profile of LDD% revenue growth and 20%+ YoY EPS growth.” From the firm’s latest survey, the analyst believes that Netflix has several positive catalysts, including that consumers using the streaming platform improved for the second quarter in a row, that Netflix still has an opportunity to raise prices, and that annual growth in members is reasonable to expect. over the next few years. — Pia Singh 7:23 am: Bank America raises Boeing price target Bank of America is weighing the challenges and opportunities for Boeing to make a turnaround. For now, analyst Ronald Epstein is keeping his neutral rating and raised his price target by $20 to $200 to reflect a market reassessment of a 4.5% free cash flow yield. This target implies about 9.5% potential upside for the stock over the next 12 months. “Boeing remains uniquely positioned to face the robust air traffic demand environment, with the gap created by the duopoly. However, on the other hand, turnaround of operations may take time and uncertainties remain in the near term,” the analyst said in a tuesday note. . “Boeing is too big to fail, but is it too big to be mediocre?” Epstein lowered his FCF and earnings per share estimates mainly to reflect lower 737 deliveries from Boeing, after the company announced in May that deliveries to Chinese operators were temporarily halted. Boeing shares are down 29.9% this year. — Pia Singh 6:41 am: Oppenheimer names Ulta a top pick, thinks struggling beauty stock has strong upside. Oppenheimer thinks Ulta stock is primed for a comeback. Analyst Rupesh Parikh re-upped Ulta to a “top pick status” and maintained his outperform rating on the stock. Its 12-18 month price target of $475 implies the stock could gain 21.8%. This year, the stock has lost more than 20%. “We generally see a very compelling risk/reward scenario,” Parikh wrote. “We believe management’s updated FY24 guidance is now more realistic and are optimistic that new efforts on the innovation front coupled with lean benchmarks could help drive an acceleration as the year progresses.” He continues to have a favorable view of Ulta’s long-term prospects for several reasons, including: “Differentiated retailer offering and unique value proposition” Ulta’s “superior retailers” that have a strong history of innovation Relative category attractions beauty Continued market share Possible comments from Ulta’s management at the firm’s consumer conference left analysts with a positive sentiment on the stock, as the company is pleased with its brand launches and optimistic about its innovation pipeline for the half second of the year, Parikh added. — Pia Singh 6:01 am: Morgan Stanley downgrades Corning, sees more balanced risk-reward Shares of Corning will have a tougher time moving up after their start this year, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Meta Marshall downgraded the company, which is known for producing glass and specialty materials, to equal weight with an improved demand picture. It maintained its price target of $38, which means the stock could fall slightly from its last close. This year, the stock has significantly outperformed the broader market, gaining about 24.9%. “We like GLW’s positioning to participate in many mega trends in the coming years, but we think the current valuation captures most of the NT expected for valuations and we are moving away from our OW given our view of a more balanced risk reward,” Marshall said. in a note on Tuesday, adding that it still sees upside through 2024. The stock’s valuation now accounts for expected improvements in service provider spending and partial de-risking of 2025 valuations for a more yen weak. It also includes some upside from the demand for fiber connected to the AI data center, Marshall said. — Pia Singh 5:45 AM: What analysts are saying about Broadcom’s earnings Semiconductor maker Broadcom beat analysts’ expectations for its fiscal second quarter, sending shares up 13% in premarket trading. The stock was already up nearly 34% this year. Here’s what analysts said about the company after its results: Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley reiterated his overweight rating and raised his price target by $500 to $2,000, implying 33.7% upside potential. Broadcom’s earnings reinforced its position as one of AI’s biggest beneficiaries, O’Malley said, expecting its fiscal 2024 AI revenue to come in at more than $11 billion as a more baseline scenario . “AVGO continues to efficiently integrate VMware and in our view remains one of the best ways to play AI,” he said. JPMorgan’s Harlan Sur similarly maintained his overweight rating and raised his price target by $300 to $2,000. He shied away from increasing print on Broadcom’s future AI revenue, which he thinks is currently conservative, and noted that Google and Meta are among its AI network shipping customers. The stock remains his top pick in semiconductors, Sur said. UBS was slightly less bullish by comparison, with analyst Timothy Arcuri maintaining his buy rating and raising his price target by $125 to $1,735. However, this suggests about 16% upside potential. “From here, the numbers still leave room to continue moving higher, especially considering the large scale of GPU demand and the typical degree of ‘attachment’ for network solutions,” he wrote in a note to on Thursday. — Pia Singh 5:45 a.m.: Jefferies calls Microsoft a top pick Microsoft is “pursuing the art of AI,” according to Jefferies The investment bank called the tech giant a top pick, maintaining a buy rating. His price target of $550 implies an upside of about 25%.Microsoft shares are up more than 17% this year, building on their 56.8% gain from 2023. MSFT YTD Mountainous year-to-date Analyst Brent Thill said Jefferies hosted meetings with Microsoft executives recently. 2) Core Azure continues to be healthy, boosted by the AI halo; 3) M365 Copilot is on track, expect gains in F2H25; 4) recently [year over year] Operating leverage is impressive given AI’s significant investments.” – Fred Imbert
All the Wall Street talk of market moves from Thursday