(That is CNBC Professional’s stay protection of Wednesday’s analyst calls and Wall Road chatter. Please refresh each 20-Half-hour to view the most recent posts.) Wednesday’s analyst calls embody high picks within the semiconductor and Chinese language e-commerce sectors. Bernstein named Taiwan Semiconductor a “best idea” for 2024, elevating its worth goal on the inventory. In the meantime Morgan Stanley referred to as PPD Holdings a high play following a robust quarterly report. The financial institution additionally hiked its worth goal on shares. Try the most recent calls and chatter under. 5:42 a.m. ET: Piper Sandler strikes to sidelines on Hershey, citing larger cocoa costs Elevated cocoa costs are souring the outlook for Hershey , in response to Piper Sandler. Analyst Michael Lavery downgraded the inventory to impartial from obese and slashed his worth goal by $40 to $200. His new goal displays a perception that shares can climb 5.8% from Tuesday’s shut. These strikes comes as confection corporations grapple with what seems to be larger cocoa costs for a while, Lavery mentioned. A scarcity is tied to heavy rainfall within the Ivory Coast and cocoa swollen shoot virus illness in Ghana. “We don’t know how to best capture all of these elements, but we consider the magnitude of the cocoa cost increase, its likely stickiness, and elasticities to pose enough risk to our outlook to make us cautious,” Lavery mentioned. “Even with HSY’s best in class pricing power, we worry that the consumer environment is too difficult for further significant pricing actions.” The corporate might see a $500-million hit to the price of items bought in 2025 as a result of hiked costs, the analyst warned. That is even though Hershey sources via a number of contracts, he added. Hershey has struggled this 12 months, with shares down greater than 18% in 2023. — Alex Harring 5:34 a.m. ET: Morgan Stanley hikes PDD worth goal, calls inventory a high choose following earnings Morgan Stanley named Chinese language e-commerce title PDD Holdings a high choose following its newest quarterly earnings report. Analyst Eddy Wang mentioned the inventory is the agency’s favourite of the Chinese language e-commerce sector. Wang additionally raised his worth goal for U.S.-listed shares by $30 to $170, implying upside of twenty-two.3% from Tuesday’s shut. The low cost retailer mentioned income soared previous the consensus forecast of analysts polled by LSEG within the third quarter. Wang was notably excited concerning the efficiency of Temu, its world ecommerce enterprise. “PDD’s strong 3Q23 results imply both sustainable market share expansion of its domestic e-Commerce business and strong growth momentum of … Temu,” Wang informed purchasers. “These advantages will sustain into 4Q23 and 2024.” The outcomes come amid a robust 12 months for PDD’s U.S.-listed shares. They’ve already surged greater than 70% since 2023 started. PDD YTD mountain PDD in 2023 — Alex Harring 5:34 a.m. ET: Bernstein calls Taiwan Semiconductor a ‘finest concept’ for 2024, raises worth goal Bernstein analyst Mark Li named semiconductor big Taiwan Semiconductor a “best idea” for the brand new 12 months, calling the corporate a pacesetter within the house and elevating its worth goal on the inventory. He additionally mentioned the chipmaker will be capable of stand up to decrease iPhone orders within the first quarter of 2024. “Though Apple indicated record iPhone sales in China in the September quarter, many third-party market researchers such as Counterpoint, Canalys, GfK, etc. all reported iPhone shipment in China is suffering a YoY drop,” Li wrote. “We attribute that to the share shift to Huawei who is benefiting from the homemade 7nm mobile SoC and patriotism.” “Despite the risk from iPhone, 1Q24 revenue will still grow YoY, reversing the YoY drop seen in all four quarters of 2023, thanks to the inventory restocking broadly seen in many applications, especially in Android smartphones,” the analyst mentioned. “This also explains why the QoQ revenue change from 4Q23 to 1Q24 will be well within the seasonal range, as the drop from iPhone is balanced by the increase elsewhere.” The analyst additionally hiked his worth goal on U.S.-listed shares to $125 per share from $113. The brand new goal implies upside of greater than 27%. Shares are up greater than 31% for the 12 months. — Fred Imbert