Wall Street analysts update calls on Nvidia, SpaceX and Apple

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Analyst calls on Nvidia, SpaceX, Apple

Highlights

HSBC upgrades Apple to buy from hold, citing a strong product pipeline and improved AI capabilities supporting hardware and services revenue growth.
Bank of America reiterates Nvidia as buy, calling it the most-owned semiconductor among S&P 500 fund holdings, emphasizing ongoing AI-driven investor focus.
Bernstein reiterates SpaceX as outperform despite Starship launch delays, modeling timelines to 2031 that trail company plans by just over a year.

Brokerage actions span technology, media and industrial names

As reported by CNBC, analysts on Friday publish a wide set of recommendations, including upgrades, reiterations and initiations across major U.S.-listed companies.

Wells Fargo upgrades SBA Communications to overweight from equal weight and says investors should buy the dip after shares fall on collapsed take-private headlines and a broader pullback in tower stocks. Bank of America reiterates Netflix as buy, although it cuts its price target to $105 from $125 after earnings, saying results are largely in line but not strong enough to shift the broader debate around the stock.

William Blair upgrades BJ’s Wholesale to outperform from market perform, citing sales momentum and potential upside to consensus expectations this year and next. Jefferies initiates Moody’s with a buy rating, while Citi names Fox a top pick and says recent weakness after the Roku announcement is overdone.

Mizuho initiates Zentalis as outperform, describing the biopharma company as being at an inflection point. BMO also starts coverage on Silgan Holdings with an outperform rating, pointing to a business mix that has shifted toward faster-growing, higher-margin dispensing categories, specialty packaging and pet food.

HSBC upgrades Apple to buy from hold, saying a strong product pipeline and improved AI capabilities should support hardware and services revenue growth. JPMorgan upgrades Emerson Electric to overweight from neutral ahead of earnings, and also raises Arcos Dorados to overweight from neutral on expectations for improving same-store sales in Brazil.

Stephens initiates Dutch Bros as overweight, calling it a high-growth drive-through beverage platform. Raymond James upgrades EchoStar to strong buy from market perform, arguing the shares trade at a steep discount to its sum-of-the-parts valuation, while Bank of America upgrades PPG Industries to buy from neutral on expectations for organic growth.

AI and earnings remain central market themes

Several of the day’s calls center on artificial intelligence and its effect on revenue growth, investor positioning and long-term strategy. Bank of America reiterates Nvidia as buy and says the company remains the most-owned semiconductor stock among S&P 500 fund holdings, while BMO reiterates Alphabet as outperform and calls it the best way to own AI, lifting its target price to $455 from $435.

Bank of America also reiterates Tesla as buy ahead of earnings next week, saying investor attention remains on robotaxi deployments, especially the pace of fleet scaling and entry into new markets. In the private space sector, Bernstein reiterates SpaceX as outperform and tells clients to remain calm after the delay of the Starship launch, saying scrubbed launches are not unusual and that its modeling already assumes a timeline extending through 2031 that trails company plans by a little more than a year.

The mix of upgrades and target changes suggests analysts continue to favor companies with visible growth drivers, even as they turn more selective following earnings updates and recent share-price weakness. The recommendations also show that AI-linked demand, cash flow resilience and recovery potential remain key themes shaping equity research across U.S. markets.

Our earlier coverage of the pullback in AI-linked chip and tech stocks explained how investors began reassessing stretched valuations as earnings season approached, leading to unwinding of leveraged positions and sharper volatility. We also noted that even solid results and continued AI spending plans from major players were no longer enough to reliably support the sector, with inflation and energy-price concerns adding pressure to sentiment.

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