6 big analyst picks: Stifel says FedEx stock is a buy | Pro Recap

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By Davit Kirakosyan

Investing.com -- Here is your daily Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed on InvestingPro since yesterday.

FedEx rises on Stifel upgrade to Buy: 'Too much opportunity to ignore'

Stifel upgraded FedEx (NYSE:FDX) to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $222.00 from $171.00, saying there is "too much opportunity to ignore" despite execution risks.

"Two significant tranches of cost savings present material potential upside to current Street estimates, even with a healthy haircut," said Stifel in a note. "There is still plenty of wood to chop, in our view, but pull forward of some of the cost savings measures and news flow around early progress on some of these initiatives gives us a baseline level of comfort that the management is serious about making things happen."

Stifel also noted FedEx's "rocky finish to 2022" and said macro risks remain, along with the need for "a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to operational improvement." It also said the company's fiscal Q3 earnings results, set for release today after the market close, should be the year's weakest: The analyst consensus calls for earnings of $2.76 per share, down sharply from $4.64 a year earlier.

Other analysts are less optimistic: On the share surge since mid-December, Morgan Stanley said, "We do not believe the optimism is yet justified."

FedEx shares were recently up 1.3%.

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Netflix upgraded to Strong Buy

CFRA upgraded Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) to Strong Buy from Buy with a price target of $390.00.

The company will report its Q1/23 earnings results on April 18, after the market close.

Shares were nearly flat in recent trading.

Oric Pharmaceuticals upgraded at Oppenheimer, shares surge

Oppenheimer upgraded Oric Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORIC) to Outperform from Perform with a price target of $14.00, noting it really likes the setup for shares into H2/23.

Since pivoting away from ORIC-101 about a year ago, the company has been in blocking and tackling mode while shares understandably languished. "Now is the time things could get interesting," said the firm, noting it gives credit to management for weathering the storm and diversifying its pipeline and believes investors can trust this capable team to deliver on its promised goals.

Shares jumped more than 9% pre-market today.

3 more upgrades

UBS upgraded Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $184.00.

The company reported a Q2/23 miss last month and guided Q3 EPS/revenues below the consensus estimates. It also hiked its dividends by 6.1% to $0.52 per share, or $2.08 annualized, for an annual yield of 1.2%.

BofA Securities upgraded W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $76.00 (from $77.00).

BofA Securities upgraded FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) to Buy from Underperform and raised its price target to $3.50 from $2.00.

The company reported its Q4 results last month, with both EPS and revenues missing the consensus estimates.