Notable analyst calls this week: Humana, EQT and Stellantis among top picks

The S&P500 (SP500) finished in the green on Friday, after an eventful week that saw the U.S. jobs report as well as deepening geopolitical tension in the Middle East, following Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

For the week, the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) fell 1.5%, while Dow (DJI) lost 0.7%.

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

Coherent upgraded by Susquehanna, MaxLinear downgraded

Semiconductor company Coherent (NYSE:COHR) was upgraded to Positive from Neutral by Susquehanna due to the leadership of new CEO Jim Anderson and the upsurge in artificial intelligence demand for its DC transceiver units. The brokerage also increased its PT to $120 from $80.

On the other hand, MaxLinear (NASDAQ:MXL) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive and lowered PT to $15 from $26, citing several pending lawsuits, involving former key customers, creating uncertainty around the near-term future of the integrated circuit and software solutions company.

BofA bullish on Alcoa, Steel Dynamics; hikes PT

Bank of America upgraded Alcoa (NYSE:AA) to Buy from Neutral and raised PT to $52 from $43, citing bullish aluminum price outlook for 2025-26 due to strong global demand and supply constraints.

Analyst Lawson Winder also upgraded Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) to Buy from Neutral expecting greater benefit from the Sinton and Aluminum Dynamics projects and a slight increase in the bank’s forecast for 2025 hot-rolled coil prices.

However, Winder cut Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) to Neutral from Buy with a $139 PT, trimmed from $142, citing the stock’s full valuation and now lower than average growth vs. peers.

Piper Sandler downgrades Humana on Star Ratings update

Piper Sandler downgraded Humana (NYSE:HUM) to neutral from overweight and slashed PT to $274 from $392, citing a sharp drop in members enrolled in its top-rated Medicare plans.

Piper analyst Jessica Tassan noted that while the numbers were preliminary, if finalized without changes, subject to the outcome of four ongoing appeals, the extent of HUM’s Star Ratings decline could undermine the company’s earnings growth in 2026.

The company was also downgraded to underperform by BofA, citing a delay in margin recovery.

BofA said it estimates a “greater than 3.5% revenue headwind to Medicare as a result of lost bonus payments or $23 per share in 2026 before any offsets, which would almost eliminate 2026 earnings.”

HSBC bullish on Morgan Stanley’s investment banking strength

HSBC upgraded Morgan Stanley to Buy from Hold on the expectation that the stock’s underperformance vs. peer Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) could be ending. The brokerage said that a healthy market backdrop should benefit Morgan Stanley’s investment banking and wealth management franchises, boosting financial performance.

HSBC also added that a multiyear recovery in equity issuance and M&A should benefit the bank.

CVS Health upgraded tot Buy by TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) to Buy from Hold, citing an attractive risk-reward setup following several updates related to its Medicare Advantage business.

The brokerage also raised PT to $85 from $59, with Charles Rhyee saying that 2024 could represent a floor for CVS stock and that he has become increasingly confident of the company’s ability to record double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth in 2025.

Stellantis downgraded by Barclays amid leadership concern, merger rumor

Barclays downgraded Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) to Equalweight from Overweight and slash its target price by 46% to €12.50 as the company faces eroding EU and U.S. market share and inventory issues.

The company lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year, driven by sluggish sales, threats of a labor strike, and challenges in its North American market.

“We are still stunned by the magnitude of the cut in the shortness of time,” Barclays analyst Henning Cosman said in their research report, adding that, the UK bank still views the magnitude of the warning as “very large versus the effectively unchanged U.S. inventory reduction ambition.”

EQT upgraded by Citi to Buy, raises PT

Citi upgraded EQT (NYSE:EQT) to Buy from Neutral as the brokerage believes the macro backdrop for U.S. natural gas finally appears to be turning, with the gas market set to tighten in 2025.

Citi’s Scott Gruber sees numerous catalysts for EQT, including two potential near-term asset sales that could raise ~$4B in cash to facilitate deleveraging, and medium-term investment in compression that should drive a meaningful reduction in base decline and thus maintenance capex. Citi also raised PT to $44 from $37.

Other than the companies mentioned above, there were other analysts’ actions includes Mizuho downgrading Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) to Underperform on supply headwinds and silicon carbide pricing.

RTX (NYSE:RTX) was upgraded to Hold from Sell by analysts at Deutsche Bank, saying the U.S. aerospace and defense company is poised to grow faster than defense-industry peers because of its significant aviation business. The firm lowered its earnings estimates for RTX to reflect slower growth at plane makers Boeing and Airbus.

Pivotal Research started on tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) with a Buy rating, saying that Google is in a very strong competitive position with a deep moat around its dominant core search business model, while Meta, with Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership, is the world’s dominant social media company.