Wednesday stocks to watch from analyst calls
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Mizuho upgrades Applied Materials to outperform from neutral Mizuho says it likes the semiconductor company’s accelerating growth. “Upgrading AMAT to Outperform, Raising PT to $370 (prior Neutral/$275PT).” Jefferies downgrades BJ’s Wholesale to hold from buy Jefferies downgrades the stock, citing slower growth. “We downgrade BJ’ s to Hold as growth shifts toward competitive markets, raising execution and margin risk.” Oppenheimer names Amazon a top pick Oppenheimer raises its price target on Amazon and says it’s a top pick. “Increasing target to $315 from $305 on higher AWS estimates after analyzing Anthropic impact and view as top mega-cap.” Read more. Morgan Stanley upgrades Johnson & Johnson to overweight from equal weight The investment bank raises its price target to $252 per share from $200 and says it sees a “path to EPS beats.” “We upgrade JNJ to OW from EW and raise our PT to $262 on higher estimates from new products and a higher P/E multiple.” Read more. Piper Sandler initiates Shattuck Labs at overweight Piper says the biotech company is best positioned. “We are initiating coverage on Shattuck Labs, Inc . (STTK) with an OW rating and $15 PT.” Bank of America reiterates Ferrari as buy Bank of America lowers its price target to $360 per share from $415. “FY25 figures are due on February 10, 2026. We expect no major surprises, but Ferrari should remain conservative in its outlook.” Wells Fargo initiates Heartflow at overweight Wells says the medtech company has upside potential. “We rate HTFL Overweight as we believe it is a top AI play in medtech with a strong first mover advantage in AI-based CAD [coronary artery disease] diagnostics. Barclays initiates TPG as overweight Barclays says the capital markets company is best positioned. “A robust fundraising outlook, natural margin expansion opportunities, and solid investment performance, among other factors, set up for a healthy medium-term FRE growth profile and position TPG well against a recovering capital markets backdrop.” KeyBanc upgrades Nextpower to overweight from sector weight KeyBanc sees an attractive risk/reward for the alternative energy company following earnings. “With yet another beat and raise, and solidifying LT growth algorithm, we are upgrading NXT to Overweight with a $142 PT and raising estimates.” JPMorgan downgrades Western Alliance to neutral from overweight JPMorgan sees “upside risk” for the regional bank. “Heading into this year, WAL was one of our lower-ranked Overweight-rated stocks tied to our view that—despite projecting the company to be one of the strongest EPS/TBV growers in 2026—we see upside risk to the company’s ECR [earnings credit rate] deposit costs, especially after three straight ‘guide ups’ for this line item last year after providing the initial 2025 outlook…” Rothschild & Co Redburn upgrades Visa to buy from neutral Rothschild & Co Redburn upgrades the credit card payments company and says it sees greater demand. “Our view is informed by the following: (i) the pricing power from a more fragmented ecommerce world results in a shift away from large merchants back to the card networks and (ii) the increased risk around agentic commerce will result in greater demand for Visa and Mastercard’s cyber and risk offerings.” Bank of America initiates Celestica at buy The firm says the switch company is a beneficiary of the “data center boom.” “We initiate coverage of Celestica Inc. ( CLS US/CLS CN) with a Buy rating and US$400/ CA$543 price objective.” Bank of America upgrades Microchip Technology to buy from neutral Bank of America says the stock has “recovery potential.” “Raise estimates and upgrade peer MCHP to Buy from Neutral as read-across with a $95 PO vs $78 pror,” Barclays initiates Raymond James Financial at overweight Barclays says the financial services company has an “attractive valuation.” “We initiate coverage on RJF with an Overweight rating and $191 PT, driven by our bullish sentiment towards the company’s LT compounding growth potential and attractive valuation given over-extrapolated near-term headwinds.” Wedbush reiterates Apple as outperform Wedbush says it’s sticking with the iPhone maker ahead of earnings on Thursday. “We believe 2026 will be a pivotal year for the tech giant as AAPL will look to transition demand from a strong iPhone 17 sales cycle to the iPhone 18 while managing pressure in key markets like China and keeping the ball rolling on its AI initiatives as it looks to get back into the generative AI game.” UBS reiterates Texas Instruments as buy UBS raises its price target to $260 from $245 following earnings. “Amid investor sentiment on this stock that has been lackluster at best, TXN is starting to sound better with the revenue bias again shifting to seasonal plus and bookings/backlog commentary turning more constructive – all consistent with the read we had across analog coming out of our conference in early December.” Read more.
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