5 big analyst picks: Baidu is the 'best AI play in China,' says Morgan Stanley
Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed today: upgrades at Baidu, Philip Morris, EPR Properties, US Foods, and Studio City International.
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Baidu upgraded at Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley upgraded Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) to Overweight from Equalweight and raised its price target to $190.00 from $160.00.
The analyst called Baidu the "best" Chinese AI play, citing numerous competitive advantages:
(a) full stack of AI capabilities (computing power, deep learning framework, large language model, applications); (b) proprietary training data (search queries); (c) commercial 2B+2C use cases (AI search, AI cloud, autonomous driving, Xiaodu smart home); (d) ability and willingness to sustain AI R&D investment; (e) early mover advantage; and (f) relatively lower regulatory hurdles.
Beyond that, on Friday Baidu announced that it has secured a commercial license from regulators for its driverless ride-hailing service in Shenzhen. Baidu has already acquired licenses for fully driverless services in three other Chinese cities, namely Wuhan, Chongqing, and Beijing. It is currently awaiting a commercial license in Beijing.
And last month, the company beat on both top and bottom lines in its Q1 results.
Philip Morris upgraded to Buy
Citi upgraded Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $117.00 from $109.00. Shares were recently up 1.5% in the pre-market.
The company is set to report its Q2/23 earnings next month. Street estimates stand at $1.49 for EPS and $8.78 billion for revenue.
3 more upgrades
JMP Securities upgraded EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) to Market Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $54.00.
US Foods (NYSE:USFD) shares rose more than 1% pre-market today after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to Overweight from Equalweight and raised its price target to $54.00 from $46.00.
Credit Suisse upgraded Studio City International (NYSE:MSC) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its price target to $11.00 from $7.50.
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