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(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.) Tech giants Apple and CrowdStrike were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Monday. Apple got a price target increase from Wells Fargo. Meanwhile, Guggenheim downgraded CrowdStrike after a global outage. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 6:43 a.m.: Morgan Stanley upgrades Fiserv to overweight on future earnings growth Fiserv could have a rosy outlook ahead, according to Morgan Stanley. The bank upgraded the financial technology stock to an overweight rating from equal weight. Analyst James Faucette also lifted his price target to $175 from $154. Fiserv stock has rallied 17% in 2024. Faucett’s new price target implies a potential 12% upside for shares of Fiserv. “We think Fiserv will continue to drive strong merchant growth, especially with share-gaining asset Clover, to drive consistent earnings outperformance in an easing competitive landscape,” the analyst wrote. As a catalyst, Faucette cited Fiserv’s strength as an earnings compounder with strong investor support and a well-liked management team. “Even at a more premium relative payments valuation, we think FI will continue to compound approximately at the rate of earnings growth over the medium term, especially given healthy stock support from its long-term investor base who have broadly appreciated the CEO and management team’s execution and outperformance relative to expectations,” the analyst wrote. Faucette highlighted Clover, Fiserv’s credit card processor for small businesses, as an attractive growth asset for the company. The analyst sees further upside for Clover to drive incremental growth from additional software and services as it expands its international strategy. Meanwhile, an easing competitive landscape and lower capital inflows into the space should also lift some of the pressures on Fiserv. — Lisa Kailai Han 6:41 a.m.: Raymond James double downgrades Estee Lauder A delayed recovery could weigh down shares of Estee Lauder , according to Raymond James. The investment firm double-downgraded the beauty stock to a market-perform rating from strong buy. Analyst Olivia Tong also removed her previous price target of $155. Shares of Estee Lauder are down 32% this year. EL YTD mountain EL year to date “Arguably much is already in the stock at current levels, and there are bright spots like distribution diversification in the U.S. and the $1.1-1.4B profit recovery plan net of reinvestment which is slightly weighted to FY25. However, we see few catalysts for the stock if upside opportunity is limited, even if a guidedown for FY25 is broadly expected,” the analyst said. As a major reason for the double downgrade, Tong cited weakening demand in the China marketplace. A potential U.S. political shift could further impact Chinese consumers’ interest in U.S. goods, the analyst added. Meanwhile, competition for Estee Lauder has been intensifying, both globally and domestically. Tong also sees potential risks for profit recovery if sales are too slow to pick up, while higher compensation expenses would also weigh down margins. “A slower sales rebound could necessitate further increases in brand support and/or allow a higher level of promotions, which would hurt not only the pace of margin recovery but also brand image,” the analyst added. — Lisa Kailai Han 6:19 a.m.: Morgan Stanley downgrades Fidelity National Information Services, cites lack of catalysts ahead Morgan Stanley believes it may be time to take a step back from Fidelity National Information Services . The bank downgraded shares of the financial technology stock to equal weight from overweight. Fidelity National Information Services stock closed at $75.25 on Friday afternoon, slightly below analyst James Faucette’s $79 price target. “With the stock near our PT, we are downgrading FIS as most of the expected price upside related to better Banking growth, cost actions, mgmt communication, and Worldpay sale have been priced in,” Faucette remarked. The analyst added that most of the stock’s catalysts have already been played out, including banking segment growth and strong capital markets performance. Therefore, there are “limited stock catalysts or opportunities for significant upward earnings revisions that can drive meaningful multiple expansion” ahead. — Lisa Kailai Han 6 a.m.: Piper Sandler lifts Nvidia price target ahead of next earnings report “Magnificent Seven” darling Nvidia should rebound after its recent struggles, according to Piper Sandler. Ahead of the company’s next quarterly earnings report due late August, analyst Harsh Kumar stood by his overweight rating for the stock and lifted his price target to $140 from $120. This updated forecast implies that shares could rally 19% from their current price. Shares of the graphics processing unit manufacturer have soared a whopping 138% in 2024. However, the stock has struggled this month, losing more than 4% amid a sharp rotation out of tech and into smaller stocks. To be sure, Kumar believes Nvidia’s upcoming quarterly report should boost the stock. “We see the strong business trends exhibited over the prior year by NVDA set to continue aided by official launch of the Blackwell architecture in the October quarter. With the launch of the new architecture, we feel this has the potential to spur a new leg of growth given that demand from CSPs, enterprises, and sovereign continues to be strong,” the analyst wrote. Kumar also pointed to current demand for Nvidia, which appears to be “extremely strong.” He added that additional demand drivers, such as traction in the automotive, healthcare and financial services will also propel Nvidia’s stock higher going forward. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:51 a.m.: Guggenheim downgrades CrowdStrike to neutral following global outage CrowdStrike stock is unlikely to move on from its global outage unscathed, according to Guggenheim. The investment firm downgraded the cybersecurity stock to neutral from buy, pointing to the massive outage that began on Friday and resulted in thousands of canceled flights as a reason. Analyst John DiFucci also removed his price target of $424. As a catalyst for the downgrade, DiFucci cited the “likely resistance to new deals in the near-term as a result of anticipated fallout from the apparent quality assurance issue that caused a massive disruption of IT systems across the globe.” Shares of CrowdStrike are up 19% on the year but were trading 4% lower on Monday morning. CRWD YTD mountain CRWD year to date “With the stock still trading at the highest multiple of recurring revenue across our entire Software coverage, we are stepping away for the time being,” the analyst added. However, DiFucci underscored that he still has the “utmost respect” for CrowdStrike’s leadership team and believes that investors with a multi-year horizon can likely ride the incident out. While the incident is unlikely to affect renewals, it could delay deal signings and even cost the stock losses in closely contest deals. “The restoration of its reputation may take more time and will likely affect new business signings at least in the near-term,” DiFucci added. — Lisa Kailai Han 5:51 a.m.: Wells Fargo raises Apple price target Wells Fargo is getting more bullish on Apple ahead of earnings. The bank raised its price target on the tech giant to $275 from $225, reiterating its overweight rating on the stock. The new forecast implies upside of nearly 23% going forward. “Despite initial muted consumer interest, we increasingly think Apple Intelligence / iOS 18 (Fall) release w/ AI features will drive a significant upgrade cycle on a historically high aged installed base (1.3B+ iPhones; 4.5+ yr refresh cycles),” analyst Aaron Rakers wrote. He also sees “potential for moderate upside to iPhone estimates” when the company posts its fiscal third-quarter figures on Aug. 1. Apple shares have climbed more than 16% this year. AAPL YTD mountain AAPL in 2024 — Fred Imbert
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