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(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Wednesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Tesla and Airbnb were among the biggest analyst calls for Wednesday. Analysts around the Street reacted to Tesla’s latest quarterly results. While shares rallied on the back on the report, many of those covering the EV maker remained skeptical on the company’s prospects going forward. Elsewhere, Mizuho upgraded Airbnb to buy. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 6:43 a.m.: Bank of America stays bullish on Spotify Bank of America reiterated its buy rating on Spotify after the streaming service posted a record quarterly profit. Spotify announced its first-quarter results on Tuesday, beating on top and bottom lines following a year of cost cutting and streamlining efforts. Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich raised her price target to $370 from $315, suggesting 22% upside from Tuesday’s close. “SPOT is at an inflection point in profitability and free cash flow,” the analyst said in a Tuesday note. She cited improving advertising and deeper penetration in existing markets. In addition, forthcoming price hikes, capital returns potential and new business lines also strengthen the story around Spotify, she added. — Hakyung Kim 6:04 a.m.: Citi raises price target on Amazon Amazon is becoming a more profitable organization, according to Citi. Analyst Ronald Josey raised his price target to $235 from $215, implying nearly 31% upside from Tuesday’s close. He maintained his buy rating on the stock. The price target increase comes on the heels of Amazon’s new grocery delivery subscription launch. “Amazon remains one of our top picks across the Internet sector,” Josey said in a Wednesday note. He cited increased operating income projections amid strong top-line trends for his price target increase. Heading into the company’s first quarter earnings release on April 30, Josey said he is focusing e-commerce strength, improving demand trends for Amazon Web Services and retail margin expansion. Advertising demand in its Prime Video segment and Grocery segment performance are also key focus areas, the analyst added. “Given faster shipping speeds, we believe conversion rates are improving as Amazon’s retail business benefits from its regionalization approach with shorter transport distances as the overall cost to serve comes down,” said Josey. “While on AWS, demand for new instances appears to be improving, led by GenAI, as optimizations wane.” — Hakyung Kim 5:48 a.m.: Wall Street remains skeptical on Tesla Tesla shares are up 10% following its first quarter earnings announcement — but Wall Street analysts aren’t feeling as enthusiastic on the stock. The electric vehicle maker missed on both top and bottom lines. Revenue fell 9% on a yearly basis, the steepest annual decline since 2012. Nonetheless, “the report was better than relatively low investor expectations,” according to Goldman Sachs. Automatic non-GAAP gross margins, despite decline on a sequential and yearly basis, still topped estimates, per analyst Mark Delaney. Tesla’s update that it is planning on launching a low-cost model — not the Model 2 — using elements from existing lines to “pull-in timing should help to mitigate intermediate to longer-term growth concerns,” Delaney wrote in a note. TSLA YTD mountain TSLA year to date Goldman is sticking with its neutral rating on the stock due to ongoing questions and concerns around vehicle volumes, robotaxi outlook and concerns surrounding competition and demand. Its $175 price target suggests 21% upside from Tuesday’s close. UBS is also staying on the sidelines. Analyst Joseph Spak reiterated his neutral rating while notching down his price target to $147 from $160. Spak believes near-term visibility is cloudy due to its pivot to AI. “TSLA took the ultimate bear case off the table as there is a new, lower-cost product coming,” Spak said in a Tuesday note. But, “while we see improvement from 1Q24 levels, we see limited growth for [the] current lineup and lack of clarity on what these “new vehicles” could bring. “There are still several unanswered questions around the new low-cost vehicle,” Spak noted. Wells Fargo’s Colin Langan is more bearish. He kept his underweight rating on the stock following the quarterly results, citing rushed timing of the new models and a weak fundamental backdrop. “We suspect the release of deferred [full self-driving] sales explains most of the Q1 beat. Post call excitement, fundamental risks around demand & px pressure continue,” Langan said in a client note on Tuesday. — Hakyung Kim 5:48 a.m.: Mizuho upgrades Airbnb Airbnb is on a roll, and Mizuho expects even more gains ahead. Analyst James Lee upgraded the short-term housing rental company to buy from neutral. His new price target of $200, up from $150, implies upside of 24%. Shares were up more than 1% in the premarket. The stock has been on fire this year, soaring 18.2%. ABNB YTD mountain ABNB year to date Lee cited three drivers for the upgrade. First, “we expect the potential launch of sponsored listings to generate double-digit EBITDA upside long-term; (2) We believe FY24E consensus room night growth has been de-risked, leaving limited downside concerns; (3) We see opportunities to beat room night growth with incremental demand from Summer Olympics and share gains from elevated hotel pricing.” — Fred Imbert
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