Electric vehicle maker Tesla and sprawling food giant Campbell’s Soup were getting analyst attention Wednesday, as was Federal Express following big news from the shipping giant. Stifel opened coverage on Tesla with a buy rating and an ambitious price target as it sees multiple growth opportunities for the company. Elsewhere, JPMorgan swung to an overweight rating on Campbell’s Soup for the first time in about 15 years, while strong earnings and cost-cutting measures at FedEx drew praise from JPMorgan. (This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Tuesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) 6:01 a.m. FedEx can rally 40% amid strategic freight initiatives, JPMorgan says JPMorgan moved off the sidelines on FedEx coming off earnings with a potential transformation of its freight business underway. Analyst Brian Ossenbeck upgraded shares of the delivery company’s stock to overweight from neutral and hiked his price target by $63 to $359. Ossenbeck’s fresh target implies about 40% upside over Tuesday’s closing level. FedEx on Tuesday posted $5.41 in adjusted earnings per share and $22.11 billion in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter. That topped respective expectations of $5.35 a share and $22.07 billion from analysts surveyed by LSEG, sending shares higher by almost 14% in Wednesday’s premarket trading. More interesting for Ossenbeck than those numbers is a fuel surcharge amid strategic initiatives underway for the freight business. A potential spin-off of the business also still appears on the table, he noted. “We expect some pushback that the FY25 revenue guide is too aggressive or macro dependent,” Ossenbeck said. “But we think that overlooks the changes to the recent fuel surcharge tables that we highlighted in our F4Q24 Preview, which will flip to a tailwind in FY25 from a headwind in FY24.” “This strategic announcement adds an idiosyncratic angle that is hard to ignore and should support the stock for the next six months while the review is underway,” he added. Heading into earnings, FedEx shares underperformed the market with a rise of just over 1% in 2024. — Alex Harring 5:42 a.m. JPMorgan moves to overweight on Campbell Soup for the first time since 2009 JPMorgan turned bullish on Campbell Soup on Wednesday for the first time in about a decade and a half. Analyst Ken Goldman upgraded shares of the food maker to overweight from neutral, a rating the bank hasn’t had on the stock since…
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