Aniket PujariHere are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Evercore ISI reiterates Alphabet as outperform The firm says the search giant remains a top pick. “While our survey suggests Search competition, it also suggests no notable change or slippage in Google’s share of highly commercial intent Search use cases while indicating that Google’s Gen AI innovations are creating an overall better Search Engine for users…” Wolfe downgrades Verizon to peer perform from outperform Wolfe says it senses a lack of “consumer confidence” in the stock. “We downgrade VZ to Peer Perform. Cash flow looks solid, but new guidance adds to extant concerns about the cost of maintaining the largest, highest priced subscriber base in an era of reduced network differentiation.” Edward Jones upgrades Applied Materials to buy from hold The firm says the supplier of electronic equipment for chipmakers is best positioned for semiconductor growth. We believe Applied is well positioned to benefit from continued semiconductor-equipment sales growth….” Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy Citi says it’s sticking with the stock ahead of its Global Tech Conference next week. “That said, we believe investors are looking for a clearance event on the AI restrictions and tariffs impact to gross margins, which we don’t believe Nvidia is in a position to comment currently. Maintain Buy.” William Blair reiterates Palantir as market perform The firm says the stock’s valuation remains “frothy” right now. ” Palantir’ s combination of revenue growth (31% guidance for 2025) and operating margin (45% for 2025) rank among the highest in all software. Palantir’s revenue from 2022 through 2024 grew 50% while headcount increased by only 3%.” Mizuho initiates S & P Global as outperform Mizuho says the capital markets and ratings agency company is best positioned. “MCO’s and SPGI’ s rating agencies are high quality businesses due to their take-rate business model on global debt issuance, strong moat, consistent pricing power due to credit ratings’ value, and high incremental margins.” JPMorgan initiates Ani Pharmaceuticals as overweight JPMorgan says the biopharma company has a “long runway for growth.” “We are launching coverage of ANI Pharmaceuticals with an Overweight rating and a Dec-2025 price target of $85.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Apple to $252 per share from $275 but says it’s sticking with the stock. “The delayed rollout of a more advanced Siri means Apple will have fewer features to accelerate iPhone upgrade rates in FY26, and as a result, we reduce our CY25/CY26 iPhone shipments 1- 5%, to 230M and 243M, respectively.” UBS initiates DT Midstream as buy UBS said in its initiation of DT Midstream that the nat gas company has a “strong pipeline to grow earnings and dividends.” “We initiate coverage with Buy rating and price target of $102/shr.” Morgan Stanley initiates Talen Energy as overweight Morgan Stanley says it sees “multiple transformational opportunities” for the nuclear energy plant operator. “We see an attractively priced core power plant fleet with multiple credible options for upside: Higher power prices, expansion of data center contract with Amazon at the Susquehanna nuclear plant & new data center contracts at TLN’s gas plants.” Evercore ISI upgrades Capital One to outperform from in line Evercore says it sees upside to earnings for the banking and credit card company. “We are upgrading COF to Outperform from In Line as we believe the stock’s valuation does not fully discount L/T upside to earnings and returns driven by the combined Capital One/Discover franchise.” Jefferies downgrades Pepsi to hold from buy The firm says Pepsi has limited upside right now. “Meanwhile, Frito continues to struggle, which will weigh on the multiple. Int’l remains strong, and the resegmentation feels logical, but with the US biz still struggling we lower 1Q. It may be several quarters before Frito inflects, and we don’t understand the drivers. Better opportunities exist elsewhere in Bevs.” Piper Sandler upgrades Myriad Genetics to overweight from neutral Piper says it sees upside potential in the genetics testing company. “That said, MYGN is now down more than 50% in the last six months and still has a leading position and high margins in markets that are consolidating around a profitability paradigm. Meanwhile, the stock has more than rebased and the new CEO Sam Raha has a chance to reset the business, make strategic decisions and provide reasonable expectations to match.” Rosenblatt upgrades Rubrik to buy from neutral The firm upgraded the cyber security software company ahead of earnings on Thursday. “As we remain comfortable with our growth forecast, Rubrik’s strong product position in a growing TAM [total addressable market], and our target price of $77, we are upgrading Rubrik to Buy.” Jefferies downgrades Sunrun to hold from buy Jefferies said in its downgrade of the solar stock that it sees too much uncertainty. “We downgrade RUN to Hold as we acknowledge that lack of recovery in resi solar coupled with persistent IRA uncertainty makes it difficult to underwrite any outperformance among resi peers, even a ‘best in class’ stock like RUN.” Loop upgrades Crocs to buy from hold Loop says the value of Crocs shares are compelling. “We think valuation is attractive, and the company sounded on plan at our conference this week.” Barclays upgrades HubSpot to overweight from equal weight Barclays says the software stock is an AI beneficiary. “Our prior rating was based on our view that HUBS would face expansion headwinds as its more seasoned SMB [small midsize business] installed base would have less seat growth ahead. However, we believe gen AI unlocks additional wallet-spend for HubSpot as AI credit-based monetization allows HUBS to capture more value from power users.” Wolfe reiterates Tesla as peer perform The firm says the first quarter could be “tough” for the automaker. “Q1 is shaping up to be a very rough quarter. Longtime Tesla investors are keenly aware that investor focus, and sentiment, can quickly change. At the moment, the focus is squarely on the Auto business” Bank of America upgrades ACV Auctions to buy from neutral The firm says the online used car marketplace is gaining market share. “We upgrade ACV Auctions to Buy from Neutral & lower our PO to $20 from $22.” Susquehanna upgrades Boyd Gaming to positive from neutral Susquehanna says the Las Vegas casino company has an attractive stock valuation. “We upgraded our rating to Positive (from Neutral) after our lowered estimates suggest BYD’ s trading at an attractive discount to weather both (1) lowered regional estimates in 1Q (from worse Feb. weather than expected & flat March assumptions) and modestly lower in 2Q…” Barclays reiterates Amazon as overweight The firm says it’s sticking with its overweight rating but that AI revenue could be “lumpy.” “There could be some bumps in the road ahead for AMZN bulls (us included) based on lumpy AI revenue. We think both AI and non-AI revenue growth may slow a bit in 1H25.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Robinhood as buy Deutsche says investors should buy the weakness in the stock’s price. “We view HOOD’s February metrics as being reasonably good overall, with continued strong momentum in trading volumes across equities and options, robust traction on new products (particularly on index options with record activity in February, and a faster revenue ramp in futures), as well as robust net deposits and strong growth in margin balances.”
