Wall Street analysts refresh ratings across tech, energy and AI stocks

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Wall Street analysts refresh ratings

Highlights

Bank of America raises Microsoft price target to $630 and reiterates buy after Azure growth and strong earnings guidance.
StoneX reiterates Nvidia as buy, citing large-scale AI deployment supported by customer financing and capital partnerships, while Seaport highlights capital and governance risks at Anthropic.
JPMorgan adds Palantir to focus list with overweight rating, Mizuho upgrades Hilton to outperform, and Citizens downgrades Alphabet on slowing search growth.

Brokerage calls span earnings, AI and new coverage

As reported by CNBC, Thursday's analyst notes include a mix of reiterations, upgrades, downgrades and initiations led by major banks and brokerages reacting to company results and strategic developments.

Bank of America reiterates Microsoft as buy and raises its price target to $630 from $600 after earnings, citing Azure growth above expectations and stronger guidance. Goldman Sachs reiterates ServiceNow as buy after earnings, while Morgan Stanley names Carvana a top pick on improving growth visibility. William Blair initiates Chevron as outperform, arguing the oil major's portfolio and cash margins support continued earnings and free cash flow.

Goldman Sachs also reiterates Apple as buy, pointing to new MacBook, iMac and iPad launches and pricing support. JPMorgan initiates Palantir as overweight and adds the stock to its focus list, while Mizuho upgrades Hilton to outperform from neutral. Wells Fargo reiterates Oracle as overweight after its AI World event, saying the company gave investors more clarity on funding, capital spending and a path to positive free cash flow.

Elsewhere, Citizens downgrades Alphabet to market perform from outperform on slowing search growth, even as JPMorgan reiterates Alphabet as overweight after earnings. UBS upgrades Wintrust Financial and Ares Capital Corp to buy, Morgan Stanley initiates Rubrik as overweight, and Jefferies starts Absci with a buy rating. JPMorgan also upgrades Constellium to overweight, while BTIG initiates MSG Rangers as buy and Cantor Fitzgerald starts Kardigan at overweight.

AI themes drive attention across public and private markets

Several of the calls center on how artificial intelligence is reshaping company prospects, especially for infrastructure, software and model developers. StoneX reiterates Nvidia as buy, arguing that customer financing structures and capital partnerships are increasingly supporting large-scale AI deployments rather than relying only on buyers' balance sheets.

That theme extends to private AI company Anthropic. Seaport initiates coverage of Anthropic with no rating, describing the company as unusual and saying it will wait until a potential IPO before assigning a recommendation, while noting both the strength of its AI model capabilities and the risks tied to capital intensity and governance complexity.

Morgan Stanley also initiates Fervo Energy and Ormat Technologies as overweight, reflecting investor interest in power and infrastructure tied to future computing demand. In the electric vehicle space, Bank of America reiterates Tesla as buy and says a potential combination with SpaceX could add optionality, while StoneX upgrades Prosperity Bancshares and Bank of America upgrades Afya, showing that Thursday's call sheet extends well beyond the AI trade into banks, education and industrial recycling.

Our earlier article on the U.S. AI data center boom explained how soaring buildout costs, construction delays and power constraints are starting to challenge the pace of capacity expansion. We noted that only a minority of planned projects look truly credible, while tighter financing conditions and local pushback are forcing developers to prove they can deliver on timelines and budgets without eroding investor confidence.

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