Notable analyst calls this week: McDonald’s, Apple and Enphase Energy among top picks

The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the red on Friday, after investors navigated an eventful week that was dominated by earnings from companies including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL).

For the week, the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) lost 0.7%, while Dow (DJI) fell 1.3%.

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

McDonald’s in Wall Street radar following link to E. coli outbreak

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) was in focus this week after an E. coli outbreak in Colorado and Nebraska was linked to the hamburger chain’s Quarter Pounder.

Baird downgraded McDonald’s (MCD) to a Neutral rating from Outperform.

“While we are confident MCD ultimately can effectively manage through the E. coli issue successfully, the elevated risk related to the near-term demand outlook for the U.S. gives us some pause at the same time we are seeing signs of an increasingly challenging economic backdrop outside the U.S.,” warned analyst David Tarantino.

TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles said it is only natural to expect a short-term impact on sales. The firm sees a worst-case scenario hit to Q4 EPS of $0.37. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan said it is buyers of the restaurant stock.

Apple downgraded on iPhone sale concern

KeyBanc downgraded Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Underweight from Sector Weight, with the brokerage saying that its consumer survey “disproves one major bull case” that the iPhone SE is not purely additive to iPhone sales.

The analysts think this shows the iPhone SE is not incremental, and could possibly be cannibalistic to iPhone 16 sales. The analysts also cited data points surrounding U.S. iPhone upgrades, a reason for the rating cut.

Snap upgraded by JMP ahead of quarterly results

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was upgraded to “market outperform” from “market perform” by JMP Securities. The firm believes Simple Snapchat can drive Spotlight and engagement growth, while impression growth should increase in 2025 with Sponsored Snaps, which would help grow U.S. and North American engagement and drive greater ad load.

JMP sees Q3 revenue for Snap to come in at $1.36B and adjusted EBITDA of $97.9M.

Coherent downgraded by Rosenblatt on valuation concern

Coherent (NYSE:COHR) was downgraded by Rosenblatt Securities to Neutral from Buy, citing the strong run in the stock since the start of the year.

Rosenblatt analyst Mike Genovese said the company’s shares have doubled so far this year, but management may want to be prudent in giving guidance for fiscal 2025, and investors may be disappointed. The brokerage, however, upped PT to $105 from $76.

Texas Instruments in spotlight after third quarter results

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) was upgraded by Summit to Buy following a third-quarter beat, noting it expects the company to outperform its analog peers in 2025. The analysts anticipate earnings outperformance in 2025 as cyclical demand recovery gains momentum.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley kept its Underweight rating, but raised PT to $167 from $154. The brokerage said consensus estimates carried a better-than-seasonal snapback, which the buy side was already discounting. TD Cowen kept a Hold rating and $200 price target on the shares.

Guggenheim downgrades Enphase Energy on Europe challenge

Guggenheim downgraded Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) to Sell from Neutral, after the company reported much weaker than expected Q3 earnings and revenues, and forecast Q4 revenues below Street estimates.

The brokerage set PT to $73 and cited significant challenges in Europe for the downgrade. Guggenheim said that management offered an unconvincing explanation for the weak results and outlook.

Canaccord Genuity cut shares to Hold from Buy and slashed PT to $95 from $140, while RBC Capital lowered PT to $85 from $100.

Canada Goose gets downgrades from both Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo

Canada Goose (NYSE:GOOS) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs to Sell from Neutral on supply disruptions, seasonal patterns, and weaker sales trends.

“We believe a tougher backdrop could weigh on the company’s ability to execute against strategic initiatives, and we see risk to the rate and pace of both sales growth and operating margin expansion within the company’s guidance,” Roach said in Monday’s research note. The company also attracted a downgrade from Wells Fargo to Underweight from Equalweight.

TD Cowen downgraded SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) to Hold from Buy, citing deteriorating demand in Europe and continued uncertainty over the company’s interim CEO and potential for an additional capital raise. The brokerage also slashed PT to $16 from $35.

Wedbush dropped its rating for Alto Neuroscience (NYSE:ANRO) to Neutral and lowered PT to $4 from $29, after the company announced its psychiatric drug ALTO-100 had failed a key clinical study.