Analyst Calls: Barclays Hits NuScale, Loop Cuts Apple to Hold and BlackRock Wins a TD Cowen Upgrade

Wall Street's research desks delivered 42 rating and target changes Tuesday, Oct. 20, tilted heavily bullish: 33 Buy-equivalent calls, five Hold-equivalent and four Sell-equivalent. The headline cuts are Barclays on NuScale Power, Loop Capital on Apple and JPMorgan on EyePoint, while TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock to Buy. Initiations clustered around AI data-center infrastructure. Stocks trade normally today.

Downgrades and bearish calls

Barclays downgraded NuScale to Underweight and cut its target to $5 from $11, citing commercial execution and project delays. NuScale was down 7.4% premarket at $5.27, per Benzinga. Loop Capital moved Apple to Hold from Buy and cut its target to $330 from $370 on weakening iPhone demand and an elevated valuation. JPMorgan downgraded EyePoint after failed Phase 3 results for Duravyu in wet AMD, and HSBC reiterated Reduce on CoreWeave, warning that projected 8.9% returns on invested capital fall below borrowing costs.

Upgrades

TD Cowen's BlackRock upgrade carried the biggest target move in dollar terms, to $1,405 from $1,212. Two upgrades lean on AI power and infrastructure demand: BTIG on American Electric Power and Wells Fargo on Venture Global, whose target jumped to $21 from $15. Raymond James kept Akamai's $170 target but moved to Strong Buy, calling the recent AI-sector sell-off an opportunity.

New coverage

Data-center demand was the common thread. JPMorgan began nVent Electric at Overweight and Cantor Fitzgerald started Modine at Overweight, both citing data-center cooling opportunities. ADARx Pharmaceuticals drew four initiations at once, from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, UBS and TD Cowen.

Reiterations and target changes

BTIG raised its Rapport Therapeutics target to $89 from $75 after positive Phase 2 results; the stock was up 22.4% premarket at $35.00, per StockAnalysis. BMO raised Alphabet to $480 from $465 and kept it a Top Pick even while projecting $325B in 2027 capital spending. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated Overweight on SpaceX ahead of its third-quarter report after the close.

What else is on the calendar

Netflix, SpaceX, United Airlines, Capital One, Chubb, Alaska Air and Intuitive Surgical report after the close today, and Meta and Tesla report Wednesday after the close. The Fed meets Oct. 27 to 28, and CME FedWatch shows roughly an 83% probability of no change, as reported by Beinsure. Housing starts and permits are also due today; no release time was sourced.