(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Wednesday analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Alphabet and a Chinese electric vehicle maker were among the names being talked about by analysts on Wednesday. Analysts reacted positively to Alphabet’s AI-related announcement at a developer conference. Meanwhile, JPMorgan upgraded Nio to neutral from underweight. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:44 a.m.: Alphabet to remain a leader among AI-driven businesses after developer conference, Goldman Sachs says Alphabet’s I/O developer event has Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan convinced that the firm will cement its position as one of the leaders in artificial intelligence-driven businesses. “We came away increasingly constructive on Alphabet’s long-term strategic positioning in a number of key end markets and continue to see the company as the leading collection of AI/machine learning-driven businesses in our coverage universe,” Sheridan wrote on Wednesday. “In our view, as the AI large language (foundational) model layer shows less incremental improvements with each iteration, we see the best-positioned companies as those that can seamlessly integrate AI features into consumer-facing and enterprise-facing products to generate wide-scale adoption,” he cautioned. Google unveiled updates to its Gemini AI model along with new search features, including AI Overviews, which summarize answers to search questions. Sheridan reiterated a buy rating on Alphabet stock alongside a $195 per share price target, which equates to roughly 15% upside from Tuesday’s $170.34 close. Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein also said the event should “assuage fears” over the company’s AI competitive position. “Relative to OpenAI’s limited product demo the day before, we believe GOOG demonstrated its strong competitive position, driven by an essentially unlimited R & D budget, access to the largest user & data library, and 10 years of machine learning focus,” said Helfstein, who reiterated his outperform rating. Brent Thill of Jefferies also noted the company delivered “some gems” at the event. “We believe generative AI will ultimately give GOOGL an expanded role in search, as ‘Google will [now] do the Googling for you.'” Alphabet stock has added 22% in 2024. — Brian Evans 5:44 a.m.: JPMorgan upgrades Nio to neutral The outlook for Nio is improving, but it’s still murky, according to JPMorgan. Analyst Nick Lai upgraded the Chinese electric vehicle maker to neutral from underweight. He also raised his price target on U.S.-listed shares to $5.40 per share from $4.80, though the new forecast calls for a 6% decline over the next year. The stock has been on a tear recently, surging 48% over the past month. However, it’s down more than 36% year to date, as the global EV market faces waning demand. NIO YTD mountain NIO YTD Lai had downgraded Nio to underweight in February due to slowing sales momentum. Now, the analysts sees two catalysts that could continue the stock’s recent surge: “1) Chinese government stimulus policy to boost auto demand including NEV which NIO should also benefit from; and 2) NIO’s latest battery as a service (BaaS) strategy by lowering buyers’ monthly rental fee (by ~25%) has not only successfully boosted store traffic and BaaS take rate … but also driven its sales momentum.” Shares popped more than 3% in the premarket following the rating change. — Fred Imbert
