(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Monday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Early analyst calls featured one firm calling for more gains for Nvidia and an upgrade to a major beverage and snacks maker. HSBC raised its price target on Nvidia to $1,050, which implies upside of nearly 20% for the chipmaker. Elsewhere, Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo to overweight, noting that prior headwinds have now subsided. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:43 a.m.: Morgan Stanley upgrades PepsiCo It’s time to buy shares of PepsiCo , according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Dara Mohsenian upgraded the beverage and snack giant to overweight from equal weight, calling it a top pick. His price target of $190 indicates upside of 15.4% over the next 12 months. Shares climbed about 2% in the premarket following the rating change. PEP YTD mountain PEP year to date “Post Q2 of 2023 EPS, we downgraded Pepsi’s stock to an [equal weight] … concerned that valuation was priced to perfection and consensus/PEP guidance on [organic sales growth] was clearly too high with an unrealistic volume rebound as pricing dissipated. Both of these issues have now played out, and we would be aggressive buyers here ahead of a powerful inflection in H2 after PEP bottoms fundamentally in Q1, and returns to above consensus and peer OSG, with PEP’s valuation compression overdone.” PepsiCo shares have lagged this year, losing 3%, while the S & P 500 has ripped more than 7% higher to record levels. — Fred Imbert 5:43 a.m.: HSBC hikes Nvidia price target ahead of GTC Conference HSBC sees more upside in store for shares of Nvidia as the chip giant defends its AI position and reaches new markets. “We are encouraged by Nvidia’s AI product roadmap which focuses on moving beyond GPUs and towards owning the entire value chain,” wrote analyst Frank Lee, adding that the company’s GB200 AI platform and AI roadmap should help Nvidia gain more pricing power and reach new total addressable market opportunities. Given this backdrop, analyst Frank Lee boosted the firm’s price target to $1,050 from $880 a share, reflecting nearly 20% upside from Friday’s close. The stock rose about 2% before the bell. NVDA YTD mountain NVDA year to date The price hike from Lee comes as Nvidia readies for its GTC Conference , where the chip darling is expected to announce a slew of AI updates, including its latest graphics processing unit. The stock has already rallied 77% in 2024. To be sure, Lee does anticipate a transition period for the company that could create uncertainty as it moves from its older generation H100 GPUs to its B100 model. This could create some capacity tightness that prevents Nvidia from beating estimates over the next few quarters. “That said, next year is a different story,” he wrote, adding that AI GPU revenue could hit $4.4 billion by the 2026 fiscal year. “We see Nvidia widening its gap again with B100 and GB200 AI roadmap.” — Samantha Subin
