Recap
Analyst Calls: Citi Cuts Adobe to Sell, Goldman Reinstates Skyworks Sell as Arista Targets Climb
AI infrastructure and chip demand drew upgrades, while cloud financing costs, software disruption and weaker outlooks drove the cuts.
Analysts highlighted AI infrastructure growth, semiconductor demand and cybersecurity opportunities on Wednesday, while raising concerns over cloud financing, software disruption and weakening earnings outlooks. The list below covers 15 upgrades and new coverage, eight maintained ratings and target changes, and five downgrades. Price targets and rationales are the analysts' own views.
15
Upgrades and new coverage
8
Maintained ratings and target changes
5
Downgrades
Upgrades and new coverage
| Stock | Firm and action | Target | Reason cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astera Labs (ALAB) | Northland upgrades to Outperform from Market Perform | n/a | Strong earnings and raised guidance |
| Core & Main (CNM) | Jefferies initiates Buy | $53 | Demand for municipal water infrastructure replacement and maintenance |
| Coupang (CPNG) | Citi upgrades to Buy from Neutral | n/a | Expected Q4 EBITDA improvement, smaller losses from newer businesses in 2027, attractive valuation versus Korean e-commerce sales |
| Duolingo (DUOL) | Wells Fargo upgrades to Equal Weight from Underweight; Needham stays Buy | $120 (from $80); $165 (from $145) | Both targets raised |
| Edwards Lifesciences (EW) | Truist upgrades to Buy from Hold | n/a | 10%-11% revenue growth and accelerating EPS supporting its premium valuation |
| Fiserv (FISV) | Argus upgrades to Buy from Hold | n/a | — |
| Fortinet (FTNT) | Daiwa upgrades to Outperform from Neutral | $150 | Cybersecurity opportunity |
| Lockheed Martin (LMT) | Guggenheim initiates Buy | $735 | Long-term growth drivers |
| Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) | Rosenblatt upgrades to Buy from Neutral | n/a | Accelerating high-power chip demand, orders above billings, backlog into mid-2027 |
| On Holding (ONON) | Wells Fargo initiates Overweight | n/a | Expected growth acceleration in 2027 through product innovation and competitor share losses |
| Ouster (OUST) | Cantor Fitzgerald upgrades to Overweight from Neutral | $45 | Physical AI opportunities after shares fell 55% from their 52-week high and 35% in a month |
| Transcat (TRNS) | Oppenheimer upgrades to Outperform from Perform | n/a | Stronger organic calibration-services growth, margin expansion, improving estimates |
| MSG Knickerbockers | Wolfe upgrades to Outperform | $380 | Rising franchise value and potential premium minority investment or privatization amid future cash pressures |
| MSG Rangers | Wolfe initiates Outperform | n/a | Cash burn, limited borrowing capacity and potential minority investment or privatization |
| Netskope | Cantor Fitzgerald initiates Overweight | $28 | Expected valuation rerating at 15x projected 2027 revenue |
Maintained ratings and target changes
| Stock | Firm and rating | Target change (our calculation) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple (AAPL) | Evercore maintains Outperform | n/a | Favors iPhone pricing, product mix and Services over data center spending risks; margin recovery and pricing sensitivity are key tests |
| AMD (AMD) | Barclays maintains Overweight | n/a | Simultaneous CPU and GPU acceleration |
| Arista (ANET) | UBS Buy; Melius Buy; Wells Fargo Overweight | UBS $291 from $259 (+12.4%); Melius $305 from $275 (+10.9%) | AI networking demand and 38%-40% projected 2027 revenue growth; Wells Fargo cuts to $245 from $255 (-3.9%) on supply timing |
| CoreWeave (CRWV) | Deutsche Bank maintains Buy | $125 from $150 (-16.7%) | Higher near-term financing costs; expects financing concerns to ease over coming quarters |
| Freshworks (FRSH) | Piper Sandler maintains Neutral | $15 from $12 (+25.0%) | |
| Palantir (PLTR) | Barclays maintains Overweight | $273 from $265 (+3.0%) | After Q3 earnings |
| SpaceX (SPCX) | Morgan Stanley maintains Overweight | n/a | Nearly doubles 2027 revenue and EBIT estimates, moves free-cash-flow breakeven four years earlier to 2031, trims projected debt issuance by about $280B; says 2028 valuation is below the S&P 500 |
| Block (XYZ) | Bank of America maintains Buy | $117 from $115 (+1.7%) |
Downgrades and negative coverage
| Stock | Firm and action | Target change (our calculation) | Reason cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe (ADBE) | Citi downgrades to Sell from Neutral | n/a | Consensus growth estimates face downside risk entering fiscal 2027 |
| Amdocs (DOX) | Oppenheimer downgrades to Perform from Outperform | n/a | Weak fiscal 2027 guidance, T-Mobile dispute, possible replacement of outsourced telecom systems by in-house agentic AI |
| Flagstar (FLG) | Morgan Stanley downgrades to Underweight from Overweight | $12 from $15 (-20.0%) | Higher rates delay its turnaround and threaten further 2027 guidance cuts |
| Gartner (IT) | Truist downgrades to Hold from Buy | $210 from $235 (-10.6%) | — |
| Skyworks (SWKS) | Goldman Sachs reinstates Sell | $78 | Growth constraints from roughly 60% smartphone exposure despite the Qorvo combination |
Themes
- AI infrastructure and chips. Northland, Rosenblatt, Barclays and the Arista analysts point to accelerating AI demand, while Deutsche Bank's CoreWeave cut shows financing costs weighing on AI cloud names.
- Software disruption. Citi on Adobe, Oppenheimer on Amdocs and Truist on Gartner all flag risk to growth estimates, with agentic AI named as a threat to outsourced services.
- Cybersecurity. Daiwa on Fortinet and Cantor on Netskope see opportunity, with Cantor citing 15x projected 2027 revenue.
- Rates and financing. Morgan Stanley links Flagstar's weaker outlook to higher rates, and Deutsche Bank links CoreWeave's lower target to near-term financing costs.
What to watch
- Estimate revisions. Whether other analysts follow Citi's warning on Adobe's fiscal 2027 growth.
- Financing. Whether CoreWeave's financing costs ease, as Deutsche Bank expects.
- Chip names. How Skyworks and Arista trade against the opposing calls from Goldman Sachs and the Arista analysts.
- Related coverage. See our reports on Arista, Duolingo, Skyworks, Freshworks, Palantir and AMD.
Sources: Analyst ratings and price targets are as published by the named firms and may be revised. Items labeled by our calculation are our own arithmetic. This article is informational only and is not investment advice.
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