Notable analyst calls this week: AMD, Adobe and Utilities stocks among top picks

Major Wall Street Indexes closed flat on Friday, after a week that was marked by hotter than anticipated inflation data, as well as strong earnings and forecast from chipmaker Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO).

For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND) gained 0.8%, while Dow (DJI) lost 1.1%.

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

AMD downgraded on AI, PC-related concern

Bank of America downgraded Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) to Neutral from Buy, citing lower estimates for artificial intelligence and PC-related revenue in 2025.

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya said a higher competitive environment, specifically from Nvidia, as well as the “growing” cloud preference for custom chips from Broadcom and Marvell Technology is likely to limit AMD’s market share gain potential.

Arya cut his 2025 and 2026 earnings estimates for AMD by 6% and 8%, respectively, and lowered PT to $155 from $180.

Robinhood, Charles Schwab upgraded by Barclays

Barclays upgraded Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) to Overweight from Equal Weight, with analyst Benjamin Budish seeing a “uniquely differentiated growth opportunity set and an increasingly demonstrated ability to execute.”

Similarly, Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) also received an upgrade from Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight. Budish said the company’s medium-term EPS growth trajectory should one of the “easiest” in his coverage, “with cash sorting and M&A-related attrition likely coming to an end, supporting meaningful NII and NIM improvement over the next few years.”

Meanwhile, some other companies in the payment sector was also in focus as BofA upgraded PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) and TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) to Buy from Neutral, while downgraded SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) and Capital One (NYSE:COF).

Internet stocks in focus after Piper Sandler updates rating

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) was downgraded by Piper Sandler to Neutral, with analyst Thomas Champion saying that after guidance for 15-17% growth in Q4, the company is unlikely to hit 20% growth for the full year.

For IAC (NASDAQ:IAC), Champion “the current asset configuration is not compelling” and downgraded the stock to Neutral.

Meanwhile, Champion reiterated its Overweight rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and named it its top mega-cap pick. Vimeo (NASDAQ:VMEO) was also upgraded to Overweight and was named as top small-cap pick by Piper.

Jefferies bearish on EBay on ad sales slowdown, China headwinds

Jefferies downgraded Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) to Underperform from Hold and said profitability will likely deteriorate as the company’s decelerating ad revenue coupled with increased marketing investments has inflicted a ~12% annual headwind to EBITDA since FY19.

Analysts John Colantuoni and Brent Thill said the reliance on China could also contribute to lower GMV as the country’s slowing economic growth could translate into a ~100 basis point headwind to GMV growth.

Barclays lowers recommendation on home builders on margin downside

Barclays downgraded D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), Lennar (NYSE:LEN), PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM), and KB Home (NYSE:KBH) to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing that “the new construction market has now hit a ceiling” and there is a potential downside to the margins.

“With rising labor and land costs, we expect downside to homebuilder gross margins, and builders will need to balance a trade-off between margins and dialing back starts growth,” said Barclays.

Barclays, however, upgraded Taylor Morrison Home (NYSE:TMHC) to Overweight from Equal Weight on relative valuation.

Utilities stocks lack ‘attractive near-term outlook,’ says Scotiabank

Utilities stocks were in focus after Scotiabank had a slew of upgrades and downgrades this week. The brokerage said it does not see an attractive near-term outlook for utility stocks, despite strong fundamentals.

The stocks which received an upgrade in rating included FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE), CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) and Con Edison (NYSE:ED), while Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES), AEP (NASDAQ:AEP) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) were among the stocks that was downgraded by the brokerage.

TD Cowen downgraded Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Hold from Buy and reduced the price target to $550 from $625, after the company’s fiscal 2025 outlook came below estimates.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs, with analysts saying that the aerospace and defense company faces challenges in its four business segments, especially if the next Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency results in federal spending cuts.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) was cut to Underweight at Wells Fargo on earnings risk for the iconic chocolate maker.

Raymond James and Cantor both released bullish notes on uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) following news that the company has come to an agreement with the FDA over an accelerated approval pathway for its Huntington’s disease therapy AMT-130. Raymond James upgraded uniQure to Strong Buy from Outperform and increased PT to $52 from $20, while Cantor has an Overweight rating on the stock, with a PT of $28.