The S&P 500 (SP500) closed in the green on Friday, after the latest inflation data increased optimism among investors.
For the week, both Nasdaq (COMP:IND) and Dow (DJI) lost 1.7% and 0.9%, respectively.
Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:
J&J upgraded by Guggenheim on Innovative Medicine pipeline
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was upgraded by Guggenheim to Buy from Neutral, citing potential in its Innovative Medicine unit to offset an ongoing patent cliff for its blockbuster drug Stelara.
Analyst Vamil Divan also boosted PT on JNJ to $206 from $167, welcoming how the company has faced the loss of exclusivity for the Crohn’s disease therapy, which is currently facing U.S. generics after accounting for more than 10% of the company’s sales in 2024.
“With the company now close to annualizing the negative impact of this loss, we see the potential for even stronger top-line and bottom-line growth going forward,” Divan wrote, highlighting multiple JNJ products as reasons for his bullish thesis.
Seaport Global upgrades Intel on investments, ‘stop-gap solutions’
Seaport Global Research upgraded Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), citing recent investments from external companies and “stop-gap solutions.”
“We think Intel is on the wrong path with a shrinking window to save their fabs,” Seaport analyst Jay Goldberg said. “That being said, in the near term, the stock is likely to be driven by follow-on investments and the potential for a stop-gap solution for the fabs. We are upgrading to Neutral (from Sell) on those near-term factors, but remain cautious on the company’s longer-term fundamentals.”
Applied Materials, Lam Research in focus after analysts change ratings
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) was in focus after Morgan Stanley upgraded ratings to Overweight from Equal-weight and increased PT on the shares to $209 from $172.
“AMAT currently trades at a 25% discount to LAM vs 10% average since 2023, and our new PT implies a 15% discount. With a 3:1 bull:bear skew, the most leverage to greenfield DRAM in our coverage, and our view that China, ICAPS [Internet of Things, Communications, Automotive, Power, and Sensors], and leading edge logic are derisked, we think risk reward is skewed to the upside,” said analyst Shane Brett.
The brokerage also upgraded Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) to Equal-weight from Underweight and raised PT to $125 from $92. The analysts said memory end markets have turned for the better and they were wrong here, noting that they have raised their 2026 EPS forecast to $5.43 from $5.12.
However, KeyBanc Capital downgraded Lam Research to Sector Weight, while separately raising PT on Applied Materials. Morgan Stanley also downgraded KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) to Equal-weight while revising its 2026 Wafer Fab Equipment market forecast.
Tesla lands a Street-high price target from Wedbush
Wedbush Securities hiked its PT on Outperform-rated Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to $600 to reflect the firm’s view that an accelerated AI path for the company is now on the horizon. Analyst Dan Ives noted that investors are underestimating the transformation underway at the company.
“We believe Tesla is taking major steps in advancing its AI Revolution path with autonomous and robotics front and center heading into 2026 that will be a game changer and define Tesla’s future,” wrote Ives.
The Wedbush view is that Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap in early 2026 in a bull case scenario and $3 trillion by the end of 2026 as full-scale volume production begins of the autonomous and robotics roadmap.
Adobe downgraded over concerns of gen-AI monetization
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was downgraded to Equal-weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley due to unknowns surrounding the software company’s ability to effectively monetize generative artificial intelligence.
Morgan Stanley also reduced its PT to $450 from $520, saying that direct gen-AI monetization has proceeded slower than investors anticipated and is not affecting annual recurring revenue as much as expected.
“Our prior OW thesis on Adobe was predicated on the ability for the company to successfully innovate on, deliver, and eventually monetize Generative AI functionality across the customer base, leading to an inflecting in Digital Media ARR growth to the ~mid-to-high teens,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss. “Since that upgrade, we have seen the Digital Media ARR growth directionality diverge from the pace and quality of innovation being embedded within the product portfolio.”
BofA raised PT on Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) to $215 from $180 while maintaining its Buy rating on the shares, citing stronger growth across the company’s applications.
Morgan Stanley upgraded ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) to Overweight from Equal-Weight and put a $1,250 PT on the stock, saying the company’s overall business fundamentals have remained sound despite a more volatile backdrop. Despite that, the analysts said concerns about generative artificial intelligence-related risks and federal government spending concerns have weighed on shares, which have lagged the broader market.
Wedbush raised PT on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to $310 from $270 noting that the iPhone 17 is turning into a real upgrade cycle.
Wells Fargo upgraded CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised PT to $170 from $105, noting that “demand signals are growing too strong to ignore.”