5 big analyst picks & cuts: Tesla stock slapped with Sell rating | Pro Recap

By Davit Kirakosyan

Investing.com -- Here is your daily Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks and cuts you may have missed since yesterday: upgrades at GE, SeaWorld, and XPO, while ratings at Tesla and Hewlett Packard Enterprises were slashed.

3 analyst picks: GE, SeaWorld, XPO

New analysts at Jefferies assumed coverage on General Electric (NYSE:GE) with a Buy rating and a price target of $120.00.

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According to the firm, GE Aerospace is a high-growth, profitable engine franchise with approximately 70% AM mix and ramping engine deliveries for LEAP and GEnx, expected to increase by more than 50% and 53% in 2023, respectively. This growth is due to sole-source (MAX) and competitive majority share (A320neo, 787).

The company is set to report its Q1/23 earnings results on April 25.

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS) with an Overweight rating and a price target of $70.00, noting it sees an attractive risk/reward for the regional theme parks (that offer double-digit levered FCF/share growth) despite macro risks.

According to the firm, that overlapping footprint with Disney/Universal offers relative pricing power, with a greater per-park scale supporting its above 5% EBITDA CAGR outlook.

Citi upgraded XPO (NYSE:XPO) to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $50.00 from $37.00 following recent executive additions from Old Dominion (NASDAQ:ODFL) including Dave Bates as COO and former OD CFO Wes Frye to the board, which greatly enhances the company’s operational credibility.

Following the appointment news, the company's shares jumped nearly 18% yesterday.

This key addition gives Citi confidence that the company can close its OR and pricing gap compared to competitors Old Dominion and Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA).

2 analyst cuts: Tesla, HPE

Tudor Pickering downgraded Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Sell from Hold following the company’s reported worse-than-expected Q1 results as margins were hurt by price cuts. Shares closed more than 9% lower yesterday.

Q1 EPS was $0.85, below the consensus estimate of $0.86, while revenues came in at $23.3 billion, compared to the consensus of $23.78B.

Other Wall Street analysts cut their price target on the company following the earnings announcement, including Morgan Stanley with a new target of $200.00 (from $220.00) and reiterated Overweight rating, JPMorgan with a new target of $115.00 (from $120.00) and reiterated Underweight rating, and Citi with a new target of $175.00 (from $192.00) with reiterated Neutral rating. In addition, several analysts, including Bernstein and Evercore lowered their EPS estimates on the company.

CFRA downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) to Sell from Buy and cut its price target to $14.00 from $18.00.