Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: JPMorgan, Beyond Meat, FedEx & more

Published Thu, Sep 3 20208:25 AM EDT

Key Points

Berenberg upgraded FedEx to buy from hold and downgraded UPS to sell from hold.
Morgan Stanley upgraded Eli Lilly to overweight from equal weight.
Baird initiated Beyond Meat as outperform.
Deutsche Bank upgraded JPMorgan and Bank of America to buy from hold.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Berenberg upgraded FedEx to buy from hold and downgraded UPS to sell from hold Berenberg said in its upgrade of FedEx that it sees the company's free cash flow startingto "improve." The firm also downgraded UPS and said the market is getting too "overexuberant" about e-commerce growth at the shipper. "We see a divergence in the risk/reward across the sector. We upgrade FedEx to Buy as margins finally reach an inflection point and FCF generation starts to improve, and we remain positive on Deutsche Post (raising our price target again) as we think the pandemic can help close the valuation gap with its US peers. However, we think the market has got overexuberant about e-commerce growth at UPS and so downgrade the stock to Sell. Baird initiated Beyond Meat as outperform Baird began coverage of the alternative meat company with an outperform rating and said it was "constructive" on Beyond Meat's growth prospects. "We model substantial revenue growth over the next several years, driven by increasing distribution (domestically + internationally), increasing velocity per point of distribution, and introduction of new products. We are constructive on BYND 's growth prospects given the company's rapidly growing brand equity and large addressable market." Deutsche Bank upgraded JPMorgan and Bank of America to buy from hold Deutsche said in its upgrade of JPMorgan and Bank of America that it sees meaningful improvement going forward for the bank stocks and as well as attractive valuations. "Our positive view reflects more confidence in a continued macro recovery, the massive lag in bank stocks vs. the overall market, attractive absolute valuations of bank stocks, likely solid pre-provision net revenue trends in both 3Q and 4Q of this year, and arguably lower credit risk than what we feared a couple months ago. On this last point, the outlook on credit remains uncertain, but there is a good chance that the bulk (if not all) of loan loss reserve builds are done." Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley upgraded Eli Lilly to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees positive prospects surrounding the company's treatments of Alzheimer's and diabetes. "We are upgrading LLY from EW to OW and increasing our PT from $157 to $176. We extended our model through 2025 and raised our LT EPS growth projection from 12% to 14%. We are bullish on prospects for Phase 3 diabetes asset tirzepatide and note that LLY shares offer Alzheimer's optionality."