Notable analyst calls this week: Procter & Gamble, Palantir and Shopify among top picks

The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the red on Friday, after the week saw big banks along with companies including Netflix and Johnson & Johnson kicking off a new earnings season.

For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND) rose over 1%, while Dow (DJI) advanced marginally.

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

Procter & Gamble downgraded ahead of quarterly results

Evercore lowered rating on Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) to In Line from Outperform ahead of the consumer product giant’s Q4 earnings report.

The firm expects Procter & Gamble to issue guidance for 1% to 3% organic sales growth for F2026, including ~50 basis points of attrition from portfolio rationalization, not divestitures.

“Expect a F2026 outlook with a low but broad range of scenarios to be discussed on July 29 in conjunction with the 4Q release. Macro pressures are transient, and unlike prior downturns, Procter’s portfolio now extends into mid-tier flanker brands in its price-sensitive categories, offering alternatives to pressured consumers,” said analyst Robert Ottenstein.

Palantir upgraded by Mizuho on strong revenue growth

Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform by Mizuho Securities as its sustained revenue growth has proven to be stronger than expected and has changed the minds of doubters.

“We also believe PLTR has a legitimate chance to accelerate revenue growth for a 5th consecutive quarter when reporting 2Q results in early August,” Mizuho said and increased PT to $135 from $116. The brokerage said PLTR appears very well-positioned to benefit from long-term trends in AI, government digital transformation, and industrial modernization.

Palantir is scheduled to release its second quarter fiscal 2025 results on August 4.

Morgan Stanley downgrades CrowdStrike on valuation

Morgan Stanley downgraded CrowdStrike to Equal-weight from Overweight, with analysts led by Keith Weiss said they were “stepping to the sidelines given full valuation after ~50% run and rising growth expectations.”

The analysts noted that CrowdStrike is still a compelling long-term story, but the second half acceleration they expect now looks well priced in the shares.

The firm raised PT on the stock to $495 from $490 as they are positive on the longer-term growth potential, with a more balanced risk/reward they are moving to the sidelines awaiting better entry points to build positions.

Shopify attracts new bull rating as Needham

Needham initiated coverage on Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) with a Buy rating as the firm believes the company remains in only the mid-cycle of a durable growth opportunity, with significant recent investments in international and B2B strategies seen as the most exciting of the company’s new growth drivers.

Needham’s price target of $135 is based off a 26.6X EV/FY26 gross profit multiple.

“We are a touch cautious on the current domestic consumer, but consumer spending remains strong and the recent US tax bill can spur near-term consumer spend that can positively impact SHOP’s GMV,” Needham said.

BofA Securities downgraded Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) to Underperform from Neutral, and reduced the price target to $14.60 from $15.50 as the investment bank sees increasing headwinds from cuts to Medicaid and ACA exchanges within the recently passed Reconciliation Bill.

There were also some PT changes this week on megacap companies.

Needham raised its PT on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to $200 from $160 after the company announced that it hopes to resume sales of its H20 chips to China, citing U.S. government assurances that export licenses will be granted. The firm has a Buy rating on the AI giant’s stock.

Needham also raised its earnings estimates and PT on tech giant Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and expects its strategic position and corporate culture to drive valuation upside. For full-year 2025, they estimate GOOGL to report total revenue of $387.2B (up 11% y/y, 0.2% above its previous estimate) and EPS of $9.64 (up 20% y/y, 1.6% above its previous estimate). GOOGL PT was raised to $210 from $178.

BofA raised PT on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $585 from $515 ahead of the company’s fourth-quarter results. The firm has reiterated its Buy rating and its Top Pick tag on Microsoft, with analysts Brad Sills saying the brokerage concluded a round of Microsoft partner checks and commentary suggests largely in line fiscal Q4 deal activity, consistent with the third quarter.