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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.) Analysts were buzzing about Boeing on Monday. Many on the Street reacted to U.S. regulators grounding more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after a section of of the plane blew out during an Alaska Airlines flights. Boeing shares fell sharply in the premarket on the news. On a more positive note Morgan Stanley raised its price target on home improvement giants Home Depot and Lowe’s . Evercore ISI also said investors should buy the dip in Apple . Check out the latest calls and chatter below. 8:11 a.m. ET: Goldman upgrades MetLife to buy MetLife should have a better year after underperforming in 2023, according to Goldman Sachs. The bank upgraded the stock to buy from neutral on Monday and upped its price target to $80, implying 16% upside from Friday’s close. While MetLife’s commercial real estate exposure weighed on shares last year, its core business performed well and it strengthened its capital position, analyst Alex Scott wrote in a note to clients. This year, he expects easing headwinds from the insurance company’s weaker 2023 alternative investment returns. “Additionally, we believe Metlife’s CRE office mortgage loan portfolio is very high quality and there are some early sign posts that industry pressure may begin to ease,” he said. Shares of MetLife lost nearly 9% in 2023. — Michelle Fox 7:56 a.m. ET: Morgan Stanley upgrades American Airlines, downgrades Frontier Morgan Stanley thinks American Airlines is a stock to own in 2024. The bank upgraded shares of American Airlines to overweight from equal weight, although it kept its price target unchanged. Morgan Stanley’s price target of $20 corresponds to a 47% potential gain for the stock. “Due to the progress made in 2023 and the expected execution in 2024, we are upgrading AAL to OW,” analyst Ravi Shanker wrote. “One of the concerns in the AAL thesis is that it is missing an idiosyncratic story/narrative or key catalyst that investors can hang their hats on. We believe AAL’s 1H24 Investor Day can establish a long term trajectory here.” Morgan Stanley also lowered its rating for Frontier to equal weight from overweight and trimmed its price target to $8 from $10. This new forecast means that shares of Frontier could still rally 58% from here. Shanker cited cyclical demand pressure and structural challenges as reasons for downgrading Frontier. “This leaves doubt as to what Frontier’s normalized EPS is and their path to getting there,” he wrote. “The steep selloff in the stock post Laguna [Conference] makes it cheap enough to remain EW as we await management’s plans going forward.” American Airlines shares are down 1% to start 2024, while Frontier has fallen more than 7%. — Lisa Kailai Han 7:27 a.m. ET: Bank of America double upgrades Equifax on mortgage market recovery optimism Bank of America thinks a rebound in the mortgage market thanks to expected central bank interest rate cuts will be a positive catalyst to supercharge Equifax . The firm double upgraded the credit report stock to buy from underperform on Monday and increased its target price to $300 per share from $164, implying more than 26% upside. Equifax stock has ticked down about 4% so far in 2024. “After several head fakes, we think the mortgage market is finally poised for a recovery amid Fed rate cuts,” analyst Heather Balsky said. “With mortgage-related products comprising 20% of 2023E sales (and an even higher mix of EBITDA), we think this means that EFX positioned for positive EPS revisions over the next 24 months.” — Brian Evans 7:12 a.m. ET: Jefferies upgrades Chevron to buy, says stock is poised to reverse 2023 underperformance Jefferies said Chevron stock can right the ship after a lackluster 2023. The firm upgraded the oil giant to buy from hold in a Sunday note. It’s $184 price target implies upside of more than 20%. Chevron stock has added about 1% to start 2024. It fell nearly 17% in 2023. CVX 1Y mountain CVX in past year “CVX lagged the majority of its peers in ’23 due to increased uncertainty around production visibility (Permian, Tengiz), depth of inventory, and capital overruns,” analyst Lloyd Byrne said. “Going forward, we are increasingly comfortable with US production targets, timing / costs at Tengiz, and lack of impact from Guyana-VZL / EMED disruptions.” The analyst noted that Chevron could also realize “positive cash flow revisions as our strip estimates are ~6% above Cons ’24-’27 driven by production growth from Guyana / Permian / TCO” projects. — Brian Evans 6:47 a.m. ET: Formula One and Live Nation are among Evercore ISI’s top stock picks for 2024 Evercore ISI said it prefers “idiosyncratic media names” in 2024 that have both live sports and entertainment exposure to aid long-term free cash flow and earnings. The firm listed Live Nation and Liberty Media Formula One as two of the stocks on its top pick list for 2024, with outperform ratings on both companies. Analyst Vijay Jayant maintained an $80 per share price target on Formula One, or more than 20% above Friday’s close, and increased its target price to $110 on Live Nation, implying more than 23% upside. “Formula 1 is in the sweet spot of a multi-year growth story as the company is benefiting from repricing race promotion, broadcast, and sponsorship deals with increased popularity of the sport since Liberty acquired the asset,” Jayant said. On Live Nation, the analyst said the company “has a long runway for sustained double-digit growth driven by increasing demand for live events.” Formula One shares rose 9% in 2023, lagging the broader market. Live Nation rallied more than 34% last year. — Brian Evans 6:20 a.m. ET: Buy the dip in Apple stock as recent decline is overblown, Evercore ISI says A roughly 6% decline in Apple to start 2024 is overdone and may present a buying opportunity as iPhone sales remain steady, according to Evercore ISI. The firm reiterated an outperform rating on the iPhone maker and maintained a $220 per share price target — which implies more than 21% upside. “As some of the fears abate and we shift to more positive news flow (VisionPro), AAPL could start to re-rate in a more positive manner,” analyst Amit Daryanani said. “On iPhones, its worth noting that while China demand is weaker (Huawei headwinds), that is being offset by strength in US and other emerging countries (India).” The analyst also noted that Apple has multiple avenues to “to protect their bottom line and FCF even if demand is softer, via both GM expansion and OPEX control.” Shares fell last week following two downgrades. The stock is coming off a strong year, rising 18% in 2023. — Brian Evans 6:11 a.m. ET: UBS lists Dell as 2024 top tech hardware and equipment pick UBS thinks Dell offers investors “the best combination of self help initiatives” thanks to a PC market rebound as well as robust share buyback program and an undervalued artificial intelligence play. The firm maintained a buy rating on the personal computer stock on Sunday, and also listed the firm as a top pick for 2024. Dell stock has ticked down roughly 1% from the start of 2024. “In fiscal 2025 (roughly calendar 2024), we expect Dell’s business to return to growth as traditional PCs return to modest growth and ISG grows strongly due in part to AI server demand,” analyst David Vogt said. “We model 6.7% rev. growth vs consensus of 7.2% driving EPS of $7.01, slightly below consensus of $7.12.” Dells shares rose more than 2% in the premarket. The stock is coming off a monster year, rallying 90.3% in 2023. — Brian Evans 5:54 a.m. ET: Here’s what analysts are saying after Boeing’s 737 Max 9 grounding Analysts on Wall Street reacted to Boeing’s most recent 737 Max 9 issue in which section of of the plane blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight and led to the grounding of more than 170 planes, with some seeing more headwinds ahead for the embattled airplane maker. “What the temporary grounding of certain 737 MAX 9 aircraft highlights to us is that ramping-up production of the Boeing 737 MAX amidst a mounting list of quality issues may be more challenging than what the market expects,” Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag said. The firm is equal-weighted on Boeing stock with a $255 price target, which implies about 2.4% upside. “Balancing quality vs. quantity has been difficult for Boeing and will likely continue to be difficult,” Liwag added. Goldman Sachs is sticking with a buy rating on Boeing stock alongside a $280 per share price target, or about 12% upside moving forward, although analyst Noah Poponak noted potential issues stemming from a slowdown in production. “Any quality control issues introduce risk to the production and delivery cadence; but there is also a scenario where this is isolated and has limited impact beyond the near-term,” Poponak said. On the other hand, Barclays on Sunday viewed the event and the ensuing move by the Federal Aviation Administration to ground a tranche of 737 Max 9’s as “quite immaterial at this stage,” while analyst Julian Mitchell said production and delivery wasn’t guaranteed to be afflicted. Barclays”Assuming the window / door issue affects only the MAX 9 variant, the FAA directive only affects 171 aircraft worldwide,” Mitchell said. “There are around 215 MAX 9s in service globally. If the 8-200 version is also affected, then this comprises another 137 aircraft in service globally.” Citi analyst Jason Gursky also maintained a buy rating and a price target of $315, implying upside of 26.5%. “This likely limits BA’s financial exposure to an immaterial amount in the context of longer-term targets. Further, we do not expect this issue to impact other variants of the 737, as the -9 is the only one supporting a configuration that allows for a plugged door,” he said. “The stock is likely pressured on Monday given the uncertainty of the root cause, but we remain Buy-rated on the long-term outlook for [free cash flow].” Boeing shares were down 8.5% in the premarket. BA 1D mountain BA falls — Brian Evans 5:54 a.m. ET: Morgan Stanley hikes Home Depot and Lowe’s price targets Morgan Stanley sees a rebound in the home improvement industry this year and thinks Home Depot and Lowe’s will capitalize from it. The bank raised its price target on Home Depot to $375 from $335. It also lifted its Lowe’s forecast to $240 from $230. The revised targets imply upside of 9.3% for Home Depot and 13% for Lowe’s. “We expect Home Improvement industry growth to be tempered over the next two years but to also outperform consensus estimates for further declines in ’24,” analyst Simeon Gutman wrote. “We believe that 2024 will mark the return to more typical market dynamics. … This gives us confidence that our Trend Demand model should return to its typical prediction accuracy in ’24 and beyond.” Home Depot and Lowe’s rose 9.7% and 11.7%, respectively, in 2023, lagging the S & P 500. — Fred Imbert
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