As previously reported, MKM Partners analyst Rohit Kulkarni upgraded Snap (SNAP) to Buy from Neutral with a $19 price target. The analyst notes that the 30% decline in the stock price has created an attractive buying opportunity with "asymmetric risk/reward" given that the company has "very limited" fundamental exposure to the coronavirus. Kulkarni adds that Snap shares currently trade at 5.4-times expected FY21 revenue, but when Facebook (FB) had revenue growth of over 40% and demonstrated consistent margin expansion, its shares traded at a range of 7- to 10-times next-FY revenue estimate.

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Amid a move to privacy centric social media apps, MeWe added 2.5M new members in the past week, wrote Coral Murphy Marcos of USA Today. The ad-free MeWe says it currently has 16M members, and looks to compete against more well known social media firms that utilize data collection for targeted ads, noted the USA Today story. "MeWe, launched by Mark Weinstein in 2016, also vouches not to censor their users for behavior that might violate the policies of other networks, including Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR)," added USA Today. Reference Link

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Arete analyst Rocco Strauss downgraded Snap to Sell from Buy.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has asked Facebook's WhatsApp to remove changes to its privacy policy that the platform announced earlier this month, alleging that the new terms take away choice from users in the South Asian country, Reuters' Sankalp Phartiyal reports. "The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens," the ministry said to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart. "Therefore, you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes," the ministry added. Reference Link

Since the vaccine confirmation on November 6, 2020, the "FANG names" are four of the seven worst performing stocks in internet space, and they are all down in the first two weeks of the year, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth tells investors in a research note titled "FANG Fatigue...It's Real, and We'd Be Buying." The analyst's conversations with investors suggest "real FANG fatigue and frustration, including tepid ownership and uncertainty as to what turns things around." Anmuth, however, believes the "FANG names are attractive, particularly given the level of appreciation in other parts of the market." All "FANG" names have normalized sales growth of 20%-plus, and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) should accelerate in 2021 on a strong online ad market, Anmuth tells investors in a research note. Meanwhile, Amazon.com (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) will likely decelerate on tough comps, but e-commerce and streaming adoption will remain elevated, with "significant growth headroom on a global basis," says the analyst. He keeps an Overweight rating on all four names and would be buying on the recent weakness.

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Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Facebook (FB) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital with analyst Daniel Salmon saying he sees Apple's (AAPL) rollout of the App Tracking Transparency prompt and subsequent limitations on identifier for advertiser marking as the peak for Facebook's "headwinds from targeting." 2. Carlyle Group (CG) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette with analyst Robert Lee saying he believes demand trends and an improving outlook for performance fees can help drive stock performance into 2021. 3. Eli Lilly (LLY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho with analyst Vamil Divan saying the company surprised to the upside last week with Phase 2 data from their Alzheimer's antibody donanemab. 4. Southern Company (SO) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA with analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith citing the stock's recent underperformance on news of a delay in Vogtle Hot Functional testing, stating that the sell-off appears to be "overstated". 5. American Express (AXP) double upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

WhatsApp plans to delay its new privacy policy by three months following widespread confusion over whether the policy would mandate data sharing with parent Facebook, The Verge's Nick Statt reports. The update does not affect data sharing with Facebook with regard to user chats or other profile information, according to the report. The update will now go out on May 15. Reference Link

BMO Capital analyst Daniel Salmon upgraded Facebook (FB) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $325, up from $270. The analyst sees Apple's (AAPL) rollout of the App Tracking Transparency prompt and subsequent limitations on identifier for advertiser marking as the peak for Facebook's "headwinds from targeting." Apple's move acts as a "clearing event" for the broader issue, Salmon tells investors in a research note. From here, vertical integration for e-commerce and more server to server integrations for advertising should help drive a narrative about Facebook having "greater control over its revenue destiny," says the analyst. He believes that while antitrust and political risk "remain acute," this is better priced into Apple shares after the recent pullback.