Wall Street analysts update ratings on Tesla, SpaceX, Apple and Nio

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Analyst ratings on Tesla, Apple & Nio

Highlights

Jefferies raises Tesla's price target to $400 from $375 and maintains hold, citing higher Q2 EBIT and improved profit expectations.
Citi lifts Apple's price target to $365 from $315 and reiterates buy, expecting market share gains despite a slower devices market.
Goldman Sachs upgrades Nio to buy from neutral, forecasting volume growth, premium margins, and stronger profit and free cash flow in 2026E.

Broker calls span growth, valuation and sector themes

As reported by CNBC, several of Wall Street's largest research firms are issuing new recommendations that touch a wide range of sectors, from electric vehicles and payments to aerospace, streaming and specialty materials.

Jefferies reiterates Tesla as hold and raises its price target to $400 from $375, citing higher second-quarter EBIT and stronger outer-year profit expectations. JPMorgan upgrades American Express to overweight from neutral, arguing the company's affluent customer base leaves its revenue stream relatively insulated from the Middle East crisis and related energy pressure.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Keysight Technologies to overweight, saying broader AI network architectures expand the company's opportunity set. The same firm reiterates SpaceX as overweight and adds it to its Space 60 list, describing the company as the most vertically integrated and now largest constituent in that basket.

Elsewhere, Citi reiterates Apple as buy and lifts its price target to $365 from $315, saying it expects the company to keep gaining market share despite a slower devices market. Goldman Sachs upgrades Nio to buy from neutral, pointing to expected volume growth, a premium margin profile and a stronger profit and free cash flow outlook in 2026E.

Analysts also make a series of fresh initiations in biotech and industrial names. JPMorgan starts Kardigan at overweight, Goldman Sachs launches coverage on Praxis Precision Medicines and Stoke Therapeutics with buy ratings, and Needham initiates Park Aerospace as buy, while Benchmark starts Deep Fission with a buy rating tied to its small modular reactor development.

Sector implications extend from consumer resilience to AI and healthcare

Consumer and retail names feature prominently in the latest round of calls. Jefferies upgrades Deckers to buy from hold, saying investors should use weakness to build positions and highlighting confidence in both HOKA and UGG, while Jefferies also upgrades Shopify to buy on what it sees as durable fundamentals and near-term tailwinds. HSBC upgrades Capital One to buy, saying the stock's underperformance now looks overly discounted.

In media and communications, Oppenheimer reiterates Netflix as outperform but cuts its price target to $100 from $120, arguing that a historically low valuation already reflects near-term advertising and plan-mix pressure. Benchmark initiates Disney as buy, citing the strength of its broader platform, while Mizuho reiterates Nvidia as outperform and says it still sees the chipmaker as the leader in AI training and inference for data center use.

Healthcare and defensive infrastructure also draw support. Wells Fargo initiates Atmos Energy and MDU Resources at overweight, citing infrastructure growth in Texas and a regulated growth profile, and later upgrades Humana to overweight as it sees earnings risk easing. Truist upgrades Biogen to buy based on optimism around its Alzheimer's therapy program, while Guggenheim initiates BrightSpring as buy and Piper Sandler starts Equillium at overweight.

Not all calls are positive. Bank of America downgrades Papa John's to underperform from neutral, saying negative catalysts remain, and Loop downgrades Best Buy to hold from buy on valuation grounds. The mix of calls suggests analysts are favoring companies tied to AI buildouts, selective consumer resilience, regulated utilities and biotech catalysts, while becoming more cautious on names facing turnaround risk or stretched valuations.

Our earlier coverage of AI- and chip-led tech leadership highlighted how investor attention has remained concentrated in technology as AI compute, cloud capacity, and semiconductor demand continue to drive valuation upside. We also noted how moves in names tied to AI infrastructure—alongside developments such as listings and capacity expansion—reinforced the view that tech has clearer catalysts than many non-tech sectors, which have struggled to attract the same momentum.

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