Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Lyft, General Electric, Comcast & more

“The company reported robust 2Q results, and yet the stock has been weak around: (1) an early release from the IPO lockup, (2) heightened regulatory uncertainty stem-ming from the California AB 5 legislation and concern this could spread nationally,(3) a decreased appetite for unprofitable companies trading on revenue multiples, and (4) concerns around whether or not ridesharing is a good business.”

“We have increased confidence in the trajectory of the turnaround following PZZA‘s appointment of former Arby’s President, Rob Lynch, as CEO last week. We expect Lynch will leverage his experience with the Arby’s turnaround to develop a strategy for PZZA, including a focus on improving franchisee relationships and profitability, enhancing the marketing strategy, increasing the pipeline of new menu innovation and leveraging data analytics to drive decisions.”

“We have argued in the past that strategic changes could unlock value for BLMN and, while the probability is unknown, it is higher following the disclosure last Friday of Jana’s 9% stake. We updated and expanded our prior analysis of various strategic opportunities to assess the potential upside to BLMN shares. “

“We think cable can become a 50%-plus EBITDA margin business on lower CAPX, while still growing broadband share and pricing with superior service. CMCSA has 1 gig availability in nearly 100% of its network, and we expect CMCSA to continue to increase ARPUs 4% per year. Negatively, we expect carriers to roll out 5G aggressively, which adds competition but not until 2021 or later. We are moving to Outperform with a $54 PT.”

“While the APC acquisition does increase OXY‘s near-term risk profile somewhat, we think the acquisition ultimately strengthens the company’s capital efficiency and flexibility along with improving the longer-term durability of its dividend.”

“Positive intra-quarter app traffic and revenue trends for MTCH‘s myriad of brands across several geos show sustained positive momentum quarter to date, causing us to raise our ests and upgrade the stock to Buy from Hold. We expect Tinder to once again print one of its best quarterly net adds ever, with further headroom to grow.”

“Risk/reward appears reasonable, but comes with an unfavorable catalyst timing and unresolved risks outside the core business, particularly in Long-Term Care. The Power story could be positive in the near term, while Aviation’s golden age is just outside our time horizon.”

“Coming free cash flow inflection at the Aero businesses unmasked by S-4 filing on RTX merger, along with upcoming separation of Otis and Carrier should unlock sum-of-the-parts value, with Form 10 filings for standalone franchises in 4Q19 and ultimately 1Q20 spinoffs potential near-term catalysts.”

“RDS has peer leading exposure to international gas prices; lower forecast prices through YE20 could limit FCF growth. Cash generation through ’20 post-divestments could fall $8B short of shareholder returns, with dividend increase unlikely before ’21.”

“Our upgrade is based on the pull back in the share price, resulting in slight upside to our price target of 7% vs. the average in our coverage of 14%, and a resetting of investor expectations around the company’s growth trajectory. This, coupled with the company’s consolidation of Kubernetes management-related products to benefit from the containerization of workloads as customers migrate to the cloud, as well as traction around their hybrid cloud and multi-cloud management tools, are factors in our upgrade.”

“We believe 2019 numbers are now de-risked due to the successful launch of WoW Classic and the announcement of a Nintendo Switch port for Overwatch. We anticipate further positive announcements at BlizzCon (in November) on the company’s upcoming game slate. Further, we are encouraged by Activision‘s commitment to reinvigorating core franchises through an increasing pace of content updates, which is already showing signs of early success.”