Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. MATTEL UPGRADED ON TAKEOVER POSSIBILITY: DA Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser upgraded Mattel (MAT) to Neutral from Underperform and raised her price target to $14 from $12. The analyst noted that while the company underperformed in Q2 as she expected, due to the hard 2017 comparisons driven by last year's Cars 3 release and the impact from the Toys R Us liquidation, investor belief that the company could be sold is supporting the stock. Weiser adds that as long as Ynon Kreiz is at the helm, Mattel's elevated valuation could persist. INTEL GETS MULTIPLE DOWNGRADES AFTER EARNINGS: Citi analyst Christopher Danely downgraded Intel (INTC) to Neutral from Buy and lowered his price target for the shares to $50 from $64. The analyst said he sees a "host of margin headwinds coming" and calls the company's rollout of 10 nanometer a "debacle." He believes Intel's valuation multiple will remain under pressure. BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded Intel to Neutral from Buy and lowered its price target to $56 from $62 following the Q2 report. Analyst Vivek Arya said shares will remain range bound given a deceleration in FY19 earnings growth, a competitive position that is becoming tougher with next-gen 10mn product delays, higher capex from insourcing memory, and potential gross margin declines. Intel is down 8.4% in late morning trading. JPMORGAN DEFENDS SYNCHRONY: JPMorgan analyst Richard Shane believes Synchrony Financial (SYF) shares have been "substantially oversold" relative to the fundamental impact to the business from Walmart's (WMT) decision to go with Capital One (COF). The analyst reiterated an Overweight rating on Synchrony and recommended buying the stock at current levels. He estimated a $625M reduction of 2020 net income to common shareholders, or 17c per share in earnings. Shane lowered his price target for Synchrony to $39 from $41 as a result. He believes, however, that the stock will continue to trade at a discount to these levels until there is more clarity about a strategic outcome. AMAZON PRICE TARGET RAISED AT MULTIPLE FIRMS: After reporting its Q2 results, Amazon (AMZN) saw its price target raised by multiple analysts, including by Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley, who raised his price target for Amazon.com to $2,300. He said last night's Q2 results beat his expectations "almost across the board," and added that Amazon remains his top pick among the large cap Internet names. The analyst kept a Buy rating on the shares. Amazon shares are 1.4% higher to about $1,834 in late morning trading.

BMO Capital analyst James Fotheringham raised the firm's price target on Synchrony to $41 from $40 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares after its Q1 earings beat. The company's lower-than-previously modeled RSA payments more than offset higher expected credit and operating costs, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

UBS analyst Stephen Ju raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $215 from $198 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the Q1 results on April 30. Expectations for revenue seems to be at the high-end of the guidance range of $143.5B, operating income between $13B-$13.5B, and AWS growth is at 15%-16%, the analyst tells investors in a research note. In addition, 2024 will be the first year in some time in which most if not all of the overhangs on Amazon shares should lift to clear the way for the stock to continue to outperform, UBS adds.

Meta (META), Google (GOOGL), Snap (SNAP), and Amazon (AMZN) all benefit from the U.S.' ban of TikTok, The Washington Post's Will Oremus reports. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized TikTok's Chinese roots in 2019, part of Meta's broader campaign, Oremus writes. Reference Link

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Tuesday's total option volume of 40.6 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 5.36 million calls and 4.67 million puts. Tesla (TSLA), AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC), Amazon (AMZN) and Ford (F) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 40k Wal-Mart (WMT) May-24 59 calls, 37k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 8 puts, 36k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 7 puts, 28k Ford (F) 4/26 weekly 13 calls and 26k Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) May-24 20 calls.

Says receivables growth consistent with expectations, payment rate slightly lower than expectations and purchase volume below expectations. Says net interest income growth higher than expectations due to lower than expected payment rate and lower than expected deposit betas. Says credit, RSA and other expense largely in-line with expectations. Says expects typical seasonality in purchase volume, loan receivables, net interest income and in credit performance. Says expects net charge-offs to peak mid-year. Says expects reserve coverage at year-end to be lower than '23 year-end rate. Says expects RSA to align to program performance and function as designed. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $225 from $220 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares ahead of quarterly results. The firm thinks Amazon is well positioned this year with multiple drivers of sustainable margin expansion in place. The company has reported operating income ahead of Street estimates for five consecutive quarters, and Wedbush estimates Q1 operating income of $11.6B, approximately 5% above consensus. Heading into results, the firm is looking for sustained advertising momentum given positive feedback from advertisers in its Q1 Digital Advertising Survey and from digital advertising agencies, accelerating AWS growth and incremental commentary on AI-related demand, and ongoing improvements in both North America and International retail margins.

Reports Q1 revenue $4.8B, consensus $4.45B. Reports Q1 CET1 capital ratio 12.6%. Reports Q1 net charge-offs 6.31%. "Synchrony's first quarter performance highlights the resiliency of our business model and focus on delivering sustainable, strong results for each of our stakeholders," said Brian Doubles, Synchrony's President and Chief Executive Officer.

BofA analyst Alexander Perry raised the firm's price target on Mattel to $26 from $25 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company reported Q1 losses that were ahead of the firm's forecast on significant gross margin upside. Following the report, the firm is raising its calendar 2024 EPS forecast to $1.44 from $1.40, which reflects a 2% sales increase in Q2 as Mattel laps channel destocking from last year, a 3% decline in sales in Q3 given tough Barbie comps, and relatively flat Q4 sales given expected share gains and shelf expansion for key brands at retail through holiday.

Citi analyst Ronald Josey raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $235 from $215 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst "materially" raised operating income projections on Amazon following an analysis of the company's Advertising and Retail businesses. Citi now projects operating income to reach 10% margins in 2025 on continued advertising strength and improving retail efficiencies. Given faster shipping speeds, the firm believes conversion rates are improving as Amazon's retail business benefits from its regionalization approach with shorter transport distances as the overall cost to serve comes down. Amazon remains one of its top picks across the internet sector.