Notable analyst calls this week: Roku, Nvidia and Biogen among top picks

The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the green on Friday, with companies including Walmart, Nvidia and Gap stealing the limelight with their earnings reports during the week.

For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND) and Dow (DJI) rose 1%.

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

Baird sees favorable trends for Roku

Baird upgraded Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) to Outperform from Neutral, and the research firm thinks the company’s shares are not reflecting the meaningful changes in the business and the attractive long-term opportunity.

The brokerage hiked PT to $90 from $70, saying their optimism for the upside is pegged on increasingly favorable industry trends, positive developments in the company’s strategy, and encouraging early indicators in recent results.

Palo Alto upgraded by Rosenblatt following quarterly results

Rosenblatt upgraded Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to Buy from Neutral, citing strong fiscal first quarter performance and the success of the company’s platformization strategy, which is driving larger deals and impressive NGS Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, growth.

Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating and said first quarter results were mostly solid. Bernstein also kept its Outperform rating and raised PT to $430 from $399.

Barclays, which also maintained Overweight and $425 PT, said the stock is selling-off moderately because billings missed.

Nvidia receives rare downgrade from PhillipCapital

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) was downgraded to Accumulate from Buy by PhillipCapital due to recent price movements as it awaits the Blackwell ramp.

The investment firm expects Nvidia’s profit after tax and minority growth to slow beyond mid-FY26e following the shipment of Blackwell products. However, it hiked PT to $160 from $155.

Earlier in the week, Nvidia’s third-quarter results and guidance impressed Wall Street analysts, with many reiterating bullish ratings and PT for the stock.

AstraZeneca upgraded despite China headwinds

UBS upgraded AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) to Neutral from Sell, arguing that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker continues to enjoy long-term support in China even as a key AZN executive remains in detention there.

“While we recognise the potential impact of the ongoing investigations, we believe that recent approval actions of the China National Medical Products Administration indicate that longer-term support for AZN in China remains,” analyst Matthew Weston said.

Needham sees no near-term catalysts for Biogen

Needham has downgraded Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) to Hold from Buy, citing a lack of near-term catalysts and slow uptake for the company’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi.

The brokerage said it sees Leqembi’s sales projection “likely to continue to be a slow grind, rather than see an inflection point” and said it doesn’t expect the company to return to growth until 2026. Needham further added that it sees revenue declining in the low single digits in 2024.

HP Enterprise in focus after Raymond upgrades on Juniper deal

HP Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was in the spotlight as Raymond James upgraded the IT provider on the basis of the Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) deal closing shortly, along with its artificial intelligence prospects.

The brokerage also raised PT to $29 from $23 and said it expects an in-line quarter when HPE reports on December 6, with risk from the federal vertical coupled with improved growth in FY25.

“We have refined our model to break out AI platforms and traditional servers, and this leads us to increase our FY25 sales estimates,” analyst Simon Leopold said.

Neeham upgraded Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) to Buy from Hold, as its stock trading app stands to benefit from changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission under a second Trump administration.

Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLX) was upgraded to Outperform at Baird on favorable outcome expectations from avexitide, the recently acquired GLP-1 receptor antagonist from Eiger BioPharmaceuticals.

Oppenheimer downgraded JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) to Perform from Outperform as the stock now roughly trades in line with the firm’s fair value after a post-election bank stock rally.

J.P. Morgan upgraded Newmont (NYSE:NEM) to Overweight from Neutral, saying the $810M sale of its Musselwhite gold mine in Ontario came in well ahead of the bank’s $485M valuation, and three remaining U.S. asset sales anticipated by the end of Q1 2025 are positive catalysts.