Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Loop initiates Palantir as buy Loop called Palantir a “game changing software play.” ” Palantir is leveraged to the AI (and GenAI) themes sweeping through the tech sector, which are enormous market opportunities likely to create several multi-billion dollar revenue companies.” KeyBanc reiterates Nvidia as overweight Key raised its price target on the stock to $190 per share from $180 ahead of earnings next week and says the selloff is overdone. “However, we still view AI as a significant market opportunity for NVDA.” Bank of America reiterates Apple as buy The firm said it’s sticking with its buy rating ahead of Apple’s iPhone 16e next week. “We maintain our Buy rating on stable cash flows, earnings resiliency, and Apple being a potential beneficiary of AI use on edge devices.” BMO downgrades SolarEdge to underperform from market perform BMO downgraded the stock following earnings on Wednesday. “Our downgrade is admittedly partly tactical as we believe SEDG shares recent outperformance was largely driven by short-covering around SEDG’s 4Q 2024 earnings update that further suggested the company has sufficient liquidity to retire its upcoming $347.5MM September 2025 convertible notes maturity.” Piper Sandler upgrades Clearwater Analytics to overweight from neutral The firm upgraded the software-as-a-service fintech company following earnings on Wednesday. “We are upgrading CWAN to OW as we believe the combined companies provide a compelling value proposition to expand wallet share with existing clients, and drive a higher win rate with prospective clients.” Baird upgrades Amplitude to outperform from neutral Baird said it sees a “favorable setup” for the software company. “While the macro still represents challenges, AMPL is in a very strong position to capture any increase in spend.” Bank of America reiterates Analog Devices as buy Bank of America said the semis manufacturer has “best-in-class” free-cash flow generation. “We rate ADI Buy on its growth projects in communications, automotive and industrial markets along with best in class free cash flow growth.” Barclays upgrades CMS Energy to overweight from equal weight The firm said the utility company is the “preferred way to invest in Michigan’s premium regulatory environment.” “We reshuffle our preferences in Michigan following 4Q24 earnings for both CMS & DTE, now seeing CMS as our preferred way to invest in Michigan’s premium regulatory environment.” Citi upgrades NXPI Semiconductors to buy from neutral Citi said the analog recovery is underway for the semis company. “Following ADI’s commentary on the recovery in the analog end market we are upgrading NXPI from Neutral to Buy as we believe the analog recovery is imminent and that every analog company will feel it as sales from the analog companies have fallen roughly 30% from the peak.” Wedbush reiterates Tesla as outperform Wedbush said the bear case concerns on Tesla are overdone. “Musk has always been able to balance his countless initiatives better than any other CEO we have seen and the innovation and tech machine at Tesla is accelerating into an autonomous/ robotics future despite growing skepticism around Musk’s DOGE balancing act.” Jefferies upgrades Ormat Technologies to buy from hold Jefferies said investors should buy the dip in the clean energy company. “ORA is trading at ~10x FY26 EBITDA, reflecting a ~1.5-turn discount to 3-yr historical average largely driven by recent shareholder ORIX sell-down and lack of clear data center exposure.” JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as a best idea JPMorgan said it’s sticking with Amazon despite survey checks that showed e-commerce demand decreasing for the company. “We estimate AMZN’s share of US e-commerce decreased -58bps Y/Y to 46.1% in 4Q, though we believe Amazon remains well- positioned as the leader in e-commerce, benefitting from its fast delivery speeds, expansive selection, & competitive pricing.” Jefferies upgrades Roku to hold from underperform The firm raised its price target on Roku to $100 per share from $55. “The bear case has weakened as Roku outgrew many ad peers in the Q, profitability is inflecting, and Roku retains multiple tailwinds to growth in FY25.” BTIG upgrading Snowflake to buy from neutral BTIG said it sees “improving demand” for the stock. “We are upgrading SNOW to Buy from Neutral and introducing a price target of $220/share. To summarize, after two-plus years of dealing with cloud optimization headwinds, our recent fieldwork is pointing towards an improving demand backdrop in CY2025.” Susquehanna upgrades Lam Research to positive from neutral Susquehanna upgraded the semis company following its analyst day. ” Lam yesterday held its first Analyst Day since early 2020, during which it introduced a CY2028 EPS target of $6-$7, while focusing on FCF margin of 30%, the majority of which will be returned to investors.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Toast as overweight The firm named the restaurant payment tech company as a new top pick following earnings on Wednesday. “Q4 broadly beat consensus, falling in-line or slightly below buyside bogeys; however, 2025 top & bottom line guide beat investor expects. W/ momentum well intact across growth vectors, a new bull case fully forms: replicating core US mkt success in new growth mkts. Reit OW; TOST becomes Top Pick.”
