Wednesday's analyst calls: Salesforce named a top pick, Goldman Sachs gets a downgrade

(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.) Salesforce and Goldman Sachs were the subject of major analyst calls on Wednesday. Shares of Salesforce were named a top pick by Oppenheimer.

On a more negative note, Goldman was downgraded to market perform by BMO, with the firm noting shares could cool down after a strong end to 2023. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:43 a.m.: BMO downgrades Goldman Sachs, cites increasing revenue volatility Shares of Goldman Sachs have run up too much and are due for a pullback, according to BMO Capital Markets.

Analyst James Fotheringham downgraded Goldman Sachs to market perform from outperform, decreasing his price target to $357 from $421. The revised forecast implies the stock could fall 7%. Goldman Sachs rose 12% in 2023, lagging the S & P 500. However, shares, rallied more than 30% from an October low into year end.

GS 1Y mountain GS in past year "We worry more about the potential valuation implications of increasing pro forma exposure to potentially volatile capital markets revenues, as well as pressures on GS's highly coveted corporate culture exerted by shrinking revenue pools in some of GS's key markets," Fotheringham wrote.

The analyst noted that investment banks such as Goldman Sachs are less exposed to credit and liquidity risks than other financial institutions. On the flip side, however, he wrote that they're more exposed to market risks, such as volatility in fees and revenues, and regulatory risks, which come in the form of higher capital requirements.

In fact, Goldman Sachs already derives two thirds of its revenue from its global banking and markets businesses. These businesses are still gaining market share, which means that Goldman will find itself "increasingly exposed to capital markets driven revenue volatility," Fotheringham added.

Meanwhile, the analyst noted that revenue volatility could place downward pressure on Goldman's long standing corporate culture. "Increasingly volatile markets sourced revenues need to keep up with GS's partnership compensation pool; this highlights culture sustainability concerns," he wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han 5:43 a.m.: Oppenheimer names Salesforce a top pick Salesforce is the software as a service stock to own in 2024 as enterprise IT budgets recover. "We are attracted by Salesforce's positioning in 2024 as an enterprise front office supplier, which we expect to increase in prioritization in IT budgets throughout the year as uncertainty about the future macro direction wanes and the business cost optimization cycle enters the later innings for new investments," analyst Brian Schwartz wrote.

The analyst called Salesforce a "good EPS compounder," noting the company can grow earnings by more than 20% in fiscal 2025. He also expects the company to hold an investor day "that raises the medium term operating margin profile of the business, provides support to a durable growth trajectory and is a positive stock catalyst." Oppenheimer has an outperform rating on Salesforce and a price target of $300 per share, implying upside of nearly 15%.

Salesforce shares are coming off a monster year, rallying 98% in 2023. In early 2024, the stock is down slightly. CRM 1Y mountain CRM in past year — Fred Imbert.