Notable analyst calls this week: Nike, Micron and FedEx among top picks

The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the red on Friday, after an eventful week that saw companies including Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Nike (NYSE:NKE) posting quarterly results. The market also focused on inflation data and the first U.S. presidential debate of the year.

For the week, the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) advanced over 2%, while Dow (DJI) lowered 0.6%.

Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:

Nike shocked Wall Street after quarterly sales and guidance landed short of expectations

Analysts were left concerned after Nike (NKE) forecast a surprise drop in FY25 revenue due to macroeconomic challenges.

J.P. Morgan, which downgraded the sportswear giant to Neutral from Overweight, sees an elongated timeline for NiKE to reaccelerate revenue growth in the midst of a franchise product lifecycle transition, with the global macro backdrop further complicating the path forward.

UBS gave a Hold rating and said that Nike’s quarterly report indicated its fundamental trends are much worse than realized and there is no quick rebound for the company’s earnings.

Meanwhile, Stifel analyst Jim Duffy downgraded Nike from Buy to Hold. The brokerage pointed towards a “severely challenged” management credibility and said it can’t support a compelling upside case until growth inflection becomes more tangible.

Micron disappoints investors with its in-line guidance; analysts have a different view

Even though Micron’s (MU) third quarter results on Wednesday led investors to dump the stock, analysts seems optimistic on the chipmaker’s AI-related opportunity.

Wells Fargo analysts reiterated their Overweight rating, noting they continue to see a “favorable up-cycle set-up,” due in part to the HBM3e ramp, which should be a “multi-quarter upside driver.”

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya maintained his Buy rating and pointed out other than high bandwidth memory, Micron has opportunities in other areas, including high-capacity DDR5 and data center SSDs.

Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley, who has an Overweight rating and $145 price target on Micron, reiterated the same sentiment and said the company’s results came in largely as expected.

BlackBerry rises after quarterly results, but analysts want more proofs

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) gained nearly 15% in extended trading on Thursday, but the stock received lower PTs from several Wall Street analysts.

Canaccord Genuity kept its Hold rating and lowered PT to $2.70 from $3.25, noting that the Canadian company is on track with an improved cost structure, but the brokerage is waiting for more proof in execution, profitable growth trends for the Cybersecurity business, and the potential for upside to their estimates before becoming more constructive on the shares.

Similarly, Baird lowered its price target to $3 from $3.50 and maintained Hold rating.

“Net, we’re encouraged by incremental corporate actions/see glass half-full elements to IoT trends/outlook, but remain patient,” said Baird analysts Luke Junk and Benjamin Schmid.

RBC analyst Paul Treiber also maintained its Sector Perform rating and PT of $3 as he noted that long-term challenges remain for BlackBerry.

FedEx Q4 earnings report delivery elates Wall Street analysts and investors

Investors were thrilled after FedEx posted strong earnings and guidance, leading to the stock gaining over 10% in extended trading on Tuesday. Analysts had the same reaction.

J.P. Morgan, which upgraded the Memphis-based delivery giant to Overweight, said the company is forging a new identity under its first CEO and lauded its cost reduction and profit improvement initiatives.

Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating and increased its price objective to $347 from $340 following results, while Evercore ISI lifted its price target to $339.

Alphabet downgraded by Rosenblatt on multiple areas of transition risk, most notably AI

The brokerage lowered rating for the Google parent (NASDAQ:GOOG) from Buy to neutral, with analyst Barton Crockett pointing out that though the longer-term impact of AI is unknown at this point, there is the likelihood of at least a “transitionally” negative impact on search ad revenue from AI Overviews.

Palantir gets Monness, Crespi, Hardt downgrade on enterprise software worries

Monness, Crespi, Hardt downgraded Palantir to Sell from Neutral, with analyst Brian White noting that results from enterprise software companies that reported recently were “largely downbeat.”

White, who set a PT of $20, added that with companies issuing disappointing outlooks, the supposed benefit from generative AI for enterprise software has shown to be a “revenue illusion” this year.

Nvidia once again in spotlight after Citi hikes PT on GB200 plans

Citi raised its price target to $150 from $126 on the semiconductor giant (NASDAQ:NVDA), citing its plans for 2025 to build its GB200 GPUs in both the NVL36 and 76 configurations. However, the AI darling saw some pullback after it lost over 3% over the past few days.

Other than the companies mentioned above, some other notable analysts calls included Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR), which got downgraded by BofA to underperform from neutral on competitiveness concerns.

Goldman Sachs assumed coverage for payment technology firm Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) with Buy and said it is particularly impressed with the company’s strong track record of achieving well managed credit outcomes.