(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Thursday’s analyst calls and Wall Street discussions. Please refresh every 20 to 30 minutes to see the latest posts.) A semiconductor maker and a tech giant were among the stocks discussed by analysts on Thursday. Analysts reacted to Broadcom’s latest quarterly results, which sent shares higher. Meanwhile, Jefferies named Microsoft as its top pick, calling for an increase of around 25%. Check out the latest calls and discussions below. All times ET. 8:05 a.m.: Barclays downgrades NextEra Energy Partners and warns of a possible dividend cut. A looming cash flow crisis at NextEra Energy Partners could harm the utility company’s shareholders, according to Barclays. Analyst Christine Cho lowered NextEra Energy Partners’ rating from equal weight to underweight, saying in a note to clients that the company may have problems paying financings for its convertible stock portfolio, a type of financing hybrid that could block cash flow from parts of the business. “Our deterioration is driven by the lack of visibility on how the company will cope with the imminent repurchases of approximately $3.7 billion from CEPF, expected between 2026 and 2032. With limited debt capacity (if she wants to stay within the limits of her credit ratings) and extremely high debt. payout rate of approximately 95%, we see limited potential options outside of a distribution reduction,” the note said. NextEra Energy Partners has a dividend yield of more than 11%, which could make it a case of a so-called “dividend trap” where the yield increases as traders expect payments to be reduced. The reduction in distributions could be 45% or more, Barclays estimated. “The current yield of around 11% is high and the distribution is likely to be unsustainable, we still believe there is further downside potential if our analysis is in the right direction,” the note said. — Jesse Pound 8:01 a.m.: Bank of America double upgrade Kimberly-Clark Bank of America sees the start of long-term improvement at Kimberly-Clark, doubly upgrading the stock to buy after underperformance The bank also. raised its price target from $115 to $160, suggesting an 18% upside from Wednesday’s close. “KMB is beginning to implement its growth strategy to unlock sustainable organic sales growth and higher margins in the long term through structural improvements to the business, which is expected to translate into higher earnings estimates and an expansion of multiples,” analyst Anna Lizzul wrote in a note to clients. She expects the consumer goods company to achieve more consistent margin expansion as the correlation between pulp and energy inputs and gross margin breaks down. Kimberly-Clark will also begin to increase its market share, particularly in the premium segment, and continue to innovate to grow at or above the market in key categories, she added. Shares of Kimberly-Clark are up about 11% year to date. — Michelle Fox 7:59 a.m.: KeyBanc Raises Price Target for Netflix Netflix’s growth isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. Analyst Justin Patterson maintained his overweight on the stock and raised his price target $2 to $707, implying ~8.8% upside potential. This year, shares have surged 33.5%, far outpacing gains in the broader market. Patterson is optimistic about Netflix’s membership and engagement trends. “We believe Netflix is poised for more balanced growth between subscribers and monetization on MT,” Patterson said in a note Thursday. “Through efforts such as paid sharing and increased ad-supported tiers, we believe Netflix can maintain an LDD% revenue growth profile and annual EPS growth of over 20%.” Based on the company’s latest survey, the analyst believes that Netflix has several positive catalysts, including the fact that consumers who use the streaming platform the most improved for the second consecutive quarter, that Netflix still has the possibility of increasing its prices and that it is reasonable to expect annual growth in membership. over the coming years. — Pia Singh 7:23 a.m.: Bank America raises price target on Boeing Bank of America is assessing the challenges and opportunities Boeing has to navigate a turnaround. For now, analyst Ronald Epstein maintains his neutral rating and raised his price target from $20 to $200 to reflect a market reassessment of a free cash flow yield of 4.5%. This target implies a potential upside of around 9.5% for the stock over the next 12 months. “Boeing remains in a unique position facing the robust air traffic demand environment, with the gap created by the duopoly. However, on the other hand, recovery of operations could take time and uncertainties remain in a near future,” the analyst said in a note published Tuesday. . “Boeing is too big to fail, but is it too big to be mediocre?” Epstein cut his FCF and earnings per share estimates primarily to reflect falling 737 deliveries from Boeing, as the company announced in May that deliveries to Chinese operators were temporarily halted. Boeing shares are down 29.9% this year. — Pia Singh 6:41 a.m.: Oppenheimer names Ulta as top pick, thinks struggling beauty stock has strong upside potential. Oppenheimer thinks battered Ulta stock is poised for a comeback. Analyst Rupesh Parikh re-added Ulta to “top pick status” and maintained his outperform rating on the stock. His 12-18 month price target of $475 implies shares could gain another 21.8%. This year, the stock has lost more than 20%. “Overall, we see a very compelling risk/reward scenario,” Parikh wrote. “We believe management’s updated guidance for FY24 is now more realistic and are optimistic that new efforts on the innovation front as well as easy comparisons could help accelerate composition as the “year is advancing.” He continues to have a favorable view of Ulta’s long-term prospects for several reasons, including: the retailer’s “differentiated offering and unique value proposition” and Ulta’s “premium merchants” who have a strong history of innovation relative appeals of the beauty category continued market share potential Comments from Ulta management at the company’s consumer conference left analysts with positive sentiment on the stock as the company is happy of its brand launches and optimistic about its innovation pipeline for the second half of the year, Parikh added. — Pia Singh 6:01 a.m.: Morgan Stanley downgrades Corning and believes Corning shares will have a harder time rising after this year’s rise, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Meta Marshall downgraded the company, known for making glass and specialty materials, to equal weight due to improving demand. She maintained her price target of $38, implying that shares could decline slightly from their last close. This year, the stock has significantly outperformed the broader market, gaining about 24.9%. “We like GLW’s positioning to participate in many megatrends in the coming years, but believe the current valuation captures most of NT’s expected upside versus estimates and we are moving away from our OW given our view of a more balanced risk-reward,” Marshall said. in a Tuesday note, adding that it still sees positive results through 2024. The stock’s valuation now factors in expected improvements in service provider spending and a partial de-risking of 2025 estimates on a weaker yen. This also includes some benefits related to fiber demand tied to IA data centers, Marshall said. — Pia Singh 5:45 a.m.: What analysts are saying about Broadcom’s earnings Semiconductor maker Broadcom beat analysts’ expectations for the fiscal second quarter, leading shares to jump 13% in premarket trading. The stock was already up nearly 34% this year. Here’s what analysts had to say about the company after its results: Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley reiterated his overweight rating and raised his price target from $500 to $2,000, implying an upside potential of 33.7%. Broadcom’s profits solidified its position as one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI, O’Malley said, expecting its AI revenue for fiscal 2024 to be more than $11 billion. dollars, which is more of a base case scenario. “AVGO continues to effectively integrate VMware and remains, in our view, one of the best ways to play with AI,” he said. JPMorgan’s Harlan Sur also retained his overweight and increased his price target from $300 to $2,000. He distanced himself from optimistic statements about Broadcom’s future AI-related revenues, which he currently considers conservative, and noted that Google and Meta are among his AI network delivery customers. The stock remains his top pick in the semiconductor sector, Sur said. In comparison, UBS was slightly less optimistic, with analyst Timothy Arcuri maintaining his buy rating and increasing his price target from $125 to $1,735. However, this suggests an upside potential of around 16%. “From here, the numbers still leave room to continue to increase, especially given the scale of GPU demand and the typical attach rate for networking solutions,” he wrote in a note from Thursday. — Pia Singh 5:45 a.m.: Jefferies names Microsoft as a top pick. Microsoft is “going for AI gold,” according to Jefferies. The investment bank named the tech giant as its top pick, maintaining a buy rating. His price target of $550 implies an upside of around 25%. Microsoft shares are up more than 17% this year, building on their 56.8% rise from 2023. MSFT year-to-date MSFT analyst Brent Thill said Jefferies recently held meetings with Microsoft executives. “Our keys are: 1) the investment ramp should continue, but expect efficiencies once it reaches scale; 2) Core Azure continues to be healthy, bolstered by AI halo; 3) M365 co-pilot on track, expect profits in second half of 2025 4) recent (year-over-year), operating leverage is impressive considering; significant investments in AI — Fred Imbert.