Recent analyst actions include Snowflake (SNOW) receiving a rare double upgrade from Gary Alexander, who sees the recent pullback as an excellent entry point. Northrop Grumman (NOC) also earned an upgrade on prospects for substantially increased defense funding under a potential $1.5 trillion budget. On the downgrade side, Cash Flow Venue has moved Walmart (WMT) to Strong Sell, arguing the retailer’s valuation has become disconnected from its modest growth profile, while Kenio Fontes shifted Boeing (BA) to Hold, citing execution risks that outweigh the recovery narrative.
Upgrades
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Snowflake (SNOW): Double Upgrade Sell to Buy by Gary Alexander. The analyst sees the recent ~20% pullback from October highs as a buying opportunity, pointing to enormous growth in remaining performance obligations (RPO) and strong AI-driven customer demand as indicators of long-term revenue visibility.
“What makes Snowflake more appealing today is the fact that while its valuation has moderated over the past quarter, many of its peers in the 20%-30% growth software bucket have seen meaningful expansion in multiples as the stock market rallied into 2025’s year-end. Snowflake still sits at the higher end of its peer multiples, but given its RPO growth and potential acceleration in revenue, I find now to be an excellent entry point.”
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Northrop Grumman (NOC): Upgrade Hold to Buy by Dhierin Bechai. The analyst believes a substantially higher defense budget would de-risk funding for the F/A-XX program and that Northrop Grumman is strategically positioned to win the contract given freed engineering resources post-B-21.
“Having a substantially bigger defense budget would substantially increase the chances for the F/A-XX to receive appropriate funding, giving the program a more credible and committed development path. … I also believe that in order to maintain a diverse and competitive industry, Northrop Grumman is the best choice to develop the next generation fighter jet for the US Navy.”
Downgrades
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Walmart (WMT): Downgrade Hold to Strong Sell by Cash Flow Venue. Despite solid business performance, the analyst argues Walmart’s nearly 45x forward P/E multiple is unjustifiable for a company with low-to-mid single-digit revenue growth, especially compared to faster-growing tech giants trading at lower multiples.
“Walmart’s valuation is quite high, as it trades at nearly 45x forward-looking P/E ratio, which I view as more common across businesses growing much faster. At first sight, some could consider WMT’s valuation reasonable given Costco’s valuation (COST), but I don’t see that to be the case.”
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The Boeing Company (BA): Downgrade Buy to Hold by Kenio Fontes. The analyst cautions that despite Boeing’s structural importance to aviation and defense, commercial aircraft execution challenges and legacy contract issues create a risk-reward profile that isn’t compelling at current valuations.
“Putting all this together with the extremely cloudy scenario, it seems to me that Boeing’s case is still not that attractive. There is enormous complexity, and even counting on normalization, the asymmetry does not seem sufficient to justify all the risks and uncertainties of the case.”