Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas Downplays Impact Of Tesla’s 2M Vehicle Recall, But Flags Delay In FSD V12 And Departure Of Key AI Executives

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Morgan Stanley analyst and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) bull Adam Jonas on Thursday offered his two cents on the EV maker’s recent recall of over 2 million vehicles. What Happened: Early on Wednesday, Tesla issued a recall for over 2 million vehicles equipped with all versions of Autosteer, an autopilot feature, citing insufficient controls to prevent misuse, and offered a free software update. Jonas does not deem the recall to have a cost impact on Tesla in the upcoming year as it involves merely a software upgrade for the ‘fix’ to be deployed. Tesla’s Self-Driving Dreams: Citing his own experience as an autopilot user for over 3 years and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) capability for over a year, Jonas said that FSD presently has greater value as a convenience feature than a safety feature. The most important aspect of it is knowing when to use it and when not to, Jonas said. While Tesla would have its own […]

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Shoppers Dip Toes Back Into Discretionary Spending – Analysis

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Discretionary spending is inching back just in time for the holidays. That’s one readout from analysts after spending data and quarterly results from Costco Wholesale this week showed shoppers still have an appetite to splurge on items beyond everyday groceries and essentials. The data comes after retailers, analysts and economists had cautioned in recent weeks that waning pandemic savings, higher interest rates and even the resumption of federal student loan payments could dampen demand for discretionary goods. Sales at electronics and appliance stores surged 12% year on year in November, according to the Commerce Department. That’s up from 1.5% in October after seven consecutive months of lower year-on-year sales. Other discretionary categories showed an acceleration from the previous months. Furniture and home furnishings stores posted a 7.3% decline in November, compared with a 12% slide the previous month. Sporting goods, hobby, book and music store sales, meanwhile, logged a 0.2%

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Chewy’s Analyst Day Insights: Needham Highlights Potential Growth Amid Amazon Competition

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

On Thursday, Chewy Inc (NASDAQ:CHWY) held its Investor Day. The company sees FY24 sales growth to be below the long-term target of a high single-digit percentage. The company sees a long-term adjusted EBITDA margin of 10% and expects to deliver margin accretion in FY24, irrespective of the macro environment. Needham Analyst Anna Andreeva notes that Chewy has focused on only half of the Health TAM ($4 billion insurance and $18 billion products). She writes that over 20% of active customers purchased from Chewy pharmacy, and as pharmacy TAM shifts online, Chewy should benefit across the P&L. From a potential pool of 50 million new customers, 18% (12 million) represent high-value prospects, while 62% (41 million) fall into the mid-value category. Also Read: Federal Violations – Chewy Among Companies Selling Unapproved Animal Drugs. Needham reiterates the Buy rating with a price target of $25, up from $20. As the pet industry increasingly transitions to online

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Costco Shares On Pace For All-Time High After 1Q Sales Hold Up

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Shares of Costco Wholesale are on pace for their fifth all-time high close in just more than a week after the company’s discretionary sales ticked up in the recently completed first quarter. The stock was up 4.4% to $658.46 in midday trading, reaching an all-time intraday high and notching its largest percent increase since January. Shares are up 44% this year. Costco shares are on pace to reach a fifth record close since Dec. 7. The big-box retailer on Thursday said it logged a higher profit in the period ended Nov. 26, as sales rose in line with analysts’ expectations. Same-store sales, which strip out store openings and closures, rose 3.8%, consistent with the prior quarter. Costco’s e-commerce sales rose in the quarter, bucking a trend of sliding sales. The company saw improvements in its bigger-ticket non-food items, also a reversal from previous results where Costco saw weakness in discretionary

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Trending: Costco Price Target Bumped Up by Analysts

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Costco Wholesale is one of the most mentioned companies in the U.S. across all news items in the last 12 hours, according to Factiva data. Several analysts have raised their price target on Costco shares a day after the company reported first-quarter sales rose 6.1% from the year-ago period. The company also said it would pay a special dividend of $15 per share. Among the analysts raising their price targets were DA Davidson, which increased its target to $600 a share from $570, and BMO Capital, which pushed its target up to $700 a share from $612, as reported by Benzinga. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva.

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Intel’s Stock Sheds a Bear as a Key Catalyst Awaits

/ / Technology /

BofA says Intel’s plans to break out design and manufacturing financials could help investors better value the respective businesses Intel Corp.’s bear camp got a little smaller Friday as a BofA Securities analyst ended his negative call on the stock. BofA’s Vivek Arya still has concerns about Intel (INTC), including that there’s limited upside in the PC market and that the company is shedding server market share to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and ARM Holdings PLC (ARM). But he’s feeling more encouraged about other areas of the business, including its Mobileye autonomous-driving unit and its foundry plans. See also: Intel announces new PC, server chips designed for AI uses What’s more, Arya thinks that Intel is undervalued on a sum-of-the-parts basis. That could change as the company moves to separate its design and manufacturing financials early next year. “This should help compare each business unit to its respective [comparables],”

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Nvidia Stock Remains A Bargain Despite More Than Tripling In 2023, Says Bernstein Analyst: ‘Cheapest AI Play’

/ / Technology /

The AI revolution has not only sparked a sea change in several industries this year, but it has also more than tripled the Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock in 2023. Yet, it remains the “cheapest AI play” right now, according to a Bernstein analyst. What Happened: Bernstein Research’s senior semiconductor analyst Stacy Rasgon thinks that Jensen Huang-led Nvidia is still a value purchase despite the massive rally this year. Powered by the AI revolution, Nvidia’s shares have surged over 241% in 2023 so far. Despite this, the company’s valuations are the cheapest they have been since the cryptocurrency bubble burst in 2018. Rasgon has a target of $700 for the Nvidia stock, which is currently trading at $488.90. Despite the spectacular returns this year, though, Rasgon says the rally has been “disappointing.” Over the last month, the stock has actually declined by 1.2% even though its earnings beat expectations. “In fact, while forward estimates have quadrupled this year as

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FactSet Launches FactSet Mercury to Supercharge Junior Banker Workflows

/ / Financials /

FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, today announced the beta release of its latest AI advancement, FactSet Mercury, an innovative large language model-based knowledge agent to power modern digital workflows and enhance fact-based decision making. FactSet Mercury is a breakthrough solution that optimizes the company research workflow for junior bankers, offering a single, trusted conversational interface to access key company information with supporting context and actionable next steps. With FactSet Mercury, users can access FactSet’s comprehensive financial fundamentals and pricing data, along with extensive bank and branch regulatory data through an integrated suite of generative AI (GenAI) tools surfaced in a single chat interface. New features of the chatbot include Chart Creator, which empowers a user’s next best action by using natural language to create a pitch-ready chart. “We are thrilled for clients to experience mile-wide discoverability on FactSet by simply asking for what they need,”

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FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) Analyst Ratings

/ / Financials /

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 12/08/2023 9.54% Deutsche Bank $471 → $480 Downgrades Buy → Hold 09/22/2023 4.97% B of A Securities $450 → $460 Maintains Neutral 09/22/2023 5.89% RBC Capital → $464 Reiterates Sector Perform → Sector Perform 09/22/2023 -0.5% BMO Capital $419 → $436 Maintains Market Perform 09/22/2023 -19.67% Morgan Stanley $332 → $352 Maintains Underweight 09/22/2023 -16.25% Goldman Sachs $380 → $367 Maintains Sell 09/05/2023 7.48% Deutsche Bank $461 → $471 Maintains Buy 08/25/2023 5.89% RBC Capital $500 → $464 Downgrades Outperform → Sector Perform 06/27/2023 9.54% Barclays $520 → $480 Maintains Overweight 06/26/2023 -4.38% BMO Capital $424 → $419 Maintains Market Perform 06/23/2023 -24.24% Morgan Stanley $335 → $332 Maintains Underweight 06/23/2023 -13.28% Goldman Sachs $365 → $380 Maintains Sell 06/15/2023 2.69% B of A Securities → $450 Reinstates → Neutral 05/23/2023

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ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) Analyst Ratings

/ / Technology /

ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 11/30/2023 29.25% JP Morgan $726 → $878 Maintains Overweight 10/19/2023 6.88% JP Morgan $732 → $726 Maintains Overweight 10/12/2023 19.24% Susquehanna $850 → $810 Maintains Positive 10/11/2023 7.76% JP Morgan $772 → $732 Maintains Overweight 07/28/2023 — Bernstein Downgrades Outperform → Market Perform 07/20/2023 17.77% Wells Fargo $775 → $800 Maintains Overweight 06/16/2023 — New Street Research Downgrades Buy → Neutral 01/26/2023 14.09% Argus Research $590 → $775 Maintains Buy 01/26/2023 10.7% JP Morgan $710 → $752 Maintains Overweight 11/14/2022 — Susquehanna Upgrades Neutral → Positive 11/14/2022 -2.1% Wells Fargo $510 → $665 Maintains Overweight 11/08/2022 — Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage On → Overweight 10/21/2022 — New Street Research Upgrades Neutral → Buy 10/20/2022 — Deutsche Bank Upgrades Hold → Buy 10/10/2022 -24.92% Wells Fargo $600 → $510 Maintains Overweight 07/21/2022

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