The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the green on Friday, after a week full of headlines on tariff policies and corporate earnings from companies including Walt Disney and Advanced Micro Devices.
For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND) gained 0.9%, while Dow (DJI) lost 0.5%.
Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:
Spotify upgraded after recent share pullback
Phillip Capital upgraded Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) to Neutral from Reduce after a recent pullback in its shares following the online music and podcast platform’s second-quarter results.
The analysts noted in the Q2 report that strong user growth and improving gross margins across both premium and ad-supported are indicators of the company’s healthy fundamentals.
“SPOT’s guidance for 3Q25e is soft due to strong currency headwinds, high social charges, and SPOT’s priority to drive long-term strategic initiatives,” Phillip Capital said in their analysis. The brokerage kept SPOT’s price target unchanged at $600.
JPM upgrades Fox after Q4 results
J.P. Morgan upgraded rating on Fox (NASDAQ:FOX) (NASDAQ:FOXA) to Neutral from Underweight following its fourth-quarter results.
“Fox’s F4Q print outperformed Street estimates across all topline metrics,” JPM said, adding that “outperformance was driven by significant ad revenue growth, bolstered by record FOX News viewership, the Super Bowl LIX broadcast, and an aggressive election cycle.”
Wells Fargo, which has an Overweight rating and a PT of $62, also added to the praise.
“While Fox News, the cash cow, faces pressures from cord cutting, FOXA’s sports rights should see added reach and higher ARPUs as the ecosystem shifts to streaming,” Wells Fargo said.
Caterpillar downgraded by Morgan Stanley on valuation concerns
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley as analyst Angel Castillo lowered the stock to Underweight from Equal-weight, warning that the stock is “priced for perfection” amid deteriorating pricing trends and margin pressures.
The move comes on the heels of Caterpillar’s Q2 earnings miss and a mixed FY25 outlook.
“We view deteriorating price/margin as more important KPIs of underlying health of demand and fundamentals,” Castillo wrote, adding that “sequential volume/orders improvements in 2Q are a notable positive, but in our opinion a head fake with potential pull forward.”
Fortinet receives downgrades on firewall refresh ‘revelation’
KeyBanc downgraded Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Sector Weight from Overweight to Sector Weight, following its second quarter 2025 financial results and outlook as new information on its firewall refresh cycle was revealed.
“Management noted it is already 40-50% of the way through the 2026 end-of-service refresh cohort, while also downticking on the 2027 refresh cohort. The progression through the refresh was more than we anticipated, and the underlying product revenue growth excluding the refresh benefit of flat-to-down y/y in 1H25 is worse than we expected,” said KeyBanc analyst Eric Heath.
Similarly, Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal-weight from Overweight and reduced PT to $78 from $110, while Piper Sandler downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight and lowered its PT to $90 from $130.
“While results appeared to be a step in the right direction, the disclosure of FTNT being 40-50% of the way through the 2026 renewal cohort will likely do much to shake investor confidence,” said Piper Sandler analysts.
Baxter (NYSE:BAX) has been downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel, with a revised target price of $25, down from $36 after the company’s recent decision to lower its full-year outlook following a weak second-quarter earnings report. The analysts said that despite Baxter’s recent efforts to streamline operations, the pace of consistent, mid-single-digit sales growth and meaningful margin expansion is proving slower than previously anticipated.
Citi upgraded Klaviyo (NYSE:KVYO) to Buy/High Risk from Neutral/High Risk and raised PT to $50 from $40. The analysts believe Klaviyo has become increasingly underappreciated by investors against the broadening disdain for application software.
Craig-Halluum upgraded Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) to Buy from Hold and increased its PT to $10 from $8, following its Q2 result. “Reaccelerating topline, reduced cape, cost controls including reduced capitalized software, improving margins, and improved working capital are all combining to drive the second sequential $10M upward revision to the FY’25 FCF guide, with the company on track to produce their first year of positive FCF ever,” said Craig-Hallum analysts Jeff Van Rhee and Daniel Hibshman.