Bay Area Ideas has double-upgraded Chevron from “sell” to “buy,” citing the company’s dominant position in the Permian Basin. Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) received an upgrade from Sungarden Investment Publishing as potential options strategies, particularly collars, to manage risk while maintaining upside exposure following its historic 30% single-day rally driven by AI momentum.
Meanwhile, Amrita Roy has downgraded Snap from “hold” to “sell” due to disappointing financial performance, declining user metrics in North America, and increasing competitive pressure from Meta. JR Research has shifted their rating from Buy to Hold in Alibaba even as the analyst acknowledges the strong momentum in Chinese tech and AI stocks but suggests the rapid valuation recovery warrants caution.
Upgrades
- Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX): Upgrade Sell to Buy by Bay Area Ideas. The upgrade is driven by Chevron’s strong strategic positioning in the energy sector, including its dominant position in the Permian, the successful Hess acquisition, and ongoing efficiency initiatives supporting long-term growth. “Chevron has a dominant position in the Permian, the Hess acquisition strengthens their upstream business, and the company’s efficiency efforts are a good direction… While the valuation is a bit elevated, I do believe that a premium for an increasingly well-operated energy company is justified. As a result, Chevron is around fairly valued at current levels, in my view.”
- Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL): Sungarden Investment Publishing discusses option strategies rather than providing a formal rating, focusing on technical analysis and options-based risk management approaches following ORCL’s historic 30%+ single-day gain. “The stock is way overpriced technically. But that only means the risk of loss is high. That NEVER means there can’t be more upside. Here in September of 2025, similar to the dot-com bubble, the global financial crisis and other pivotal eras in stock market history, I consider this to be a case of high risk AND high reward. So my chosen route is to own the stock. But as they say, not without a net!”
Downgrades
- Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP): Downgrade Hold to Sell by Amrita Roy. The analyst cites missed revenue and earnings targets, declining North American DAUs, flat global ARPU, and contracting margins, all while facing increasing competitive pressure from Meta. “I don’t see a path forward for Snap to reaccelerate its revenue and earnings growth, especially as Meta continues to eat its lunch… In fact, when we look at forward consensus estimates for revenue growth across both companies, we can see that Meta is expected to grow its revenues at roughly double the rate of Snap’s in FY25, while being 30x+ in size.”
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA): Downgrade Buy to Hold by JR Research. Despite strong cloud business growth and improved commerce performance, the analyst cites the stock’s rapid valuation recovery and overbought signals as reasons to move to the sidelines. “With the recent stellar recovery, BABA’s valuation has moved much closer to its 10Y forward EBITDA average of 15.7x, marking a phenomenal advance that has taken four years before the recent breakthrough. Hence, the valuation re-rating has come at a time when co-founder Jack Ma has reportedly gotten more involved in company strategy… However, we also know that the surge in BABA does seem to suggest the run-up appears too fast, too furious for my liking (a vertical spike could precede a digestion phase).”