Wells Fargo tweaks signature picks list, sells AMZN, STZ while upping MSFT

Wells Fargo’s equity research team led by Christopher Harvey announced an update to its “signature picks” list on Tuesday as it removed Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ), while increasing its positions in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), AvalonBay (AVB), and Vertex Pharma (NASDAQ:VRTX).

See below what the San Francisco headquartered bank had to say about each of the five names that were impacted in the firm’s signature picks list:

Amazon (AMZN): “We are selling our 7.6% AMZN position, as the stock was downgraded this week to equal weight by WFS’s Ken Gawrelski on limited visibility into further positive estimate revisions. Since its reintroduction into the portfolio in July 2023, AMZN shares are +40% (SPX: +31%), contributing ~20bps of SigPix outperformance.”

Constellation Brands (STZ): “We are selling our 3.5% stake in STZ, which is +18% since entering SigPixin Sep 2021 (SPX: +34%), contributing ~90bps of SigPix underperformance.”

Microsoft (MSFT): “We raised our MSFT position from 3.9% to 8.9%, flipping our ~2.5% stock u/w to a ~2.5% o/w.”

AvalonBay (AVB): “We raised our AVB position from 2.1% to 4.1%, adding stability and yield to the portfolio.”

Vertex Pharma (VRTX): “We raised our VRTX position from 3.9% to 4.9%, narrowing our Health Care sector u/w.”

Year-to-date performance of the above-mentioned stocks: AMZN +18.9%, STZ +0.5%, MSFT +8.9%, AVB +16.4%, and VRTX +10.2%.