(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Wednesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Two of Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street centered around a major electric vehicle maker and a newly spun-off energy company. Barclays cut its price target on Tesla. Meanwhile, Raymond James kicked off its coverage of GE Vernova with an outperform rating. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:44 a.m.: Tesla earnings next week might take the stock even lower, Barclays says Barclays expects Tesla’s first-quarter results to be a negative catalyst for the stock. Analyst Dan Levy kept his equal weight rating on the beaten-down electric vehicle maker, which is set to report earnings on April 23. Levy cut his price target by $45 to $180, which implies 14.6% potential upside from Tuesday’s close. “Tesla’s deeply challenged near-term fundamentals are taking the backseat to a much larger issue, as Tesla is facing an investment thesis pivot,” Levy wrote in a Wednesday note. “We expect the 1Q print to be a negative catalyst for Tesla stock for several reasons.” Levy expects Tesla to miss on first-quarter earnings expectations, forecasting gross margins to come out below consensus. He also expects free cash flow may be negative, which last happened during the first quarter of 2020. The company might pivot away from its mass production of Model 2 to instead focus on robotaxi and full self-driving subscription, he added. “While investors will enter the call with significant questions on Tesla’s strategy, we believe many of these questions may be unanswered,” he added. “And with significant uncertainty remaining on the investment thesis, it could lead investors to capitulate.” Tesla shares, which have lost more than 36% this year, traded 1.3% higher in premarket trading. Redburn Atlantic also cut its price target to $130 from $150, reiterating its sell rating on the stock. — Pia Singh 5:44 a.m.: Raymond James initiates GE Vernova as outperform The recently spun-off energy business from General Electric see strong gains ahead, according to Raymond James. Analyst Pavel Molchanov initiated GE Vernova with an outperform. His $160 price target implies upside of 23% over the next 12 months. “Decarbonization of electric power requires not only building clean generation assets but also modernizing the grid. Combining strengths across a broad spectrum of conventional and renewable generation, as well as grid technology, Vernova is involved in practically everything,” Molchanov wrote. GE Vernova was spun off from GE on April 2. Shares have been little changed since the close that day. GEV 1M mountain GEV this month “Diversification has both advantages and drawbacks. Generally speaking, we are fans of the Wind and Electrification segments but less so the Power segment, due to its fossil fuel overweight,” Molchanov added. — Fred Imbert
All the market-moving Wall Street chatter from Wednesday
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