Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Piper Sandler initiates Couchbase as overweight Piper said in its initiation of Couchbase that the selloff is overdone for the cloud database services software company. “Secular drivers for multi-cloud databases remain compelling.” Bernstein reiterates Tesla as underperform Bernstein says it’s standing by its underperform rating on the stock. “We don’t believe that Tesla will be able to regain share or grow materially until it launches all new, lower priced offerings – likely only in 2026 and 2027 – and believe the company’s valuation is increasingly disconnected from prevailing fundamentals.” Wolfe upgrades Newmark Group to outperform from peer perform Wolfe says the commercial real estate advisory company is well positioned. “NMRK is an overweight to capital markets, which we think is the most advantaged current business line.” Williams Trading upgrades Nike to buy from sell Williams said in its upgrade of Nike that it likes management changes. “Upgrading to Buy. Raising PT from $67 to $93. It is not that we believe a major directional change for the business is imminent, but rather that the recent rehire of Tom Peddie, as the VP of Marketplace Partners (AKA: The head of U.S. wholesale) indicates that change is brewing.” Barclays upgrades CF Industries to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of the ag company that it sees “sustainable profit.” “We upgrade CF to OW from EW, based on its total return potential — given a propensity towards buybacks — and investment in low carbon assets that will give them a superior edge going forward.” JPMorgan upgrades Sphere to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said it sees an attractive risk/reward for the Las Vegas entertainment company. “We are upgrading our rating on SPHR to Overweight (from Neutral) and establish a Dec-25 PT of $57 (up from our prior Dec-24 PT of $37).” Piper Sandler upgrades Microchip to overweight from neutral Piper says it sees a slew of positive catalysts ahead for the semiconductor chip company. “We are upgrading shares of MCHP as we see numerous growth levers set to turn on in the near term.” Wells Fargo downgrades Lumen to underweight from equal weight Wells says it sees declining revenues for the internet services provider. “We are downgrading shares of LUMN to Underweight but raising PT to $4 ($1.75 prior).” Raymond James upgrades Kimco Realty and Kite Realty to strong buy from market perform Raymond James says it’s getting bullish on several shopping center real estate investment trusts. “We are upgrading KIM and KRG to Strong Buy as we see more upside in the lower multiple shopping center REITs and/or those trading at discounts to NAV [net asset value].” Morgan Stanley names FTAI Aviation a top pick Morgan Stanley said the aviation company has “underappreciated” growth prospects. “We move FTAI to our Top Pick in Aerospace. We increase our PT to $140 from $105 as we continue to see FTAI’s growth prospects underappreciated by the market.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Walmart as buy Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Walmart to $82 per share from $75 following earnings on Thursday. “Another quarter validating the market share gaining, higher margin growing profit story.” BMO reiterates Netflix as outperform BMO says Netflix is well positioned for on-demand video streaming for the long term. “We are incrementally positive on TTD (OP, $100.50) and NFLX (OP,$663.22), both well-positioned against emerging CTV [connected TV] opportunities.” Mizuho reiterates Alphabet as outperform Mizuho says the hurdles seem high for a breakup of Alphabet. “Recent press reports suggest that DOJ could pursue a break-up of Alphabet after the company lost the anti-trust case related to search advertising. While we are not legal experts, we believe the hurdle for a break-up is quite high given the precedent established by AT & T in 1982.” Evercore ISI adds a tactical underperform on Palo Alto Networks The firm says its sticking with its long-term outperform rating on the stock, but that it’s cautious going into earnings next week. “Our core L/T thesis on PANW as the dominant cyber vendor remains unchanged; however, thinking through the setup into the print (8/19), we believe F4Q could serve as a clearing event to reset numbers, potentially offering a better buying opportunity post-EPS.” Cantor Fitzgerald upgrades Teradyne to overweight from neutral Cantor called the stock one of the “sneakier” AI plays in semiconductors. “Given the profile of the company’s exposure, scarcity value in AI-leverage, path for upside to consensus estimates and earnings power tracking towards the high-end of the company’s target model in CY26, we are upgrading TER to Outperform and adding to our Top Picks list.” Bank of America downgrades Estee Lauder to neutral from buy Bank of America downgraded the beauty company due to China weakness. “We are downgrading shares of EL to Neutral from Buy to reflect the reality of weaker than expected beauty category performance in China (historically around a third of sales).” New Street upgrades Cisco to buy from neutral New Street upgraded the stock following earnings earlier this week. “Cyclical headwinds are now behind us and Cisco is returning to growth.” Jefferies reiterates Nvidia as buy Jefferies says it’s sticking with its buy rating on the stock despite concerns about delays in Nvidia’s Blackwell chip. “Off the back of our call on NVDA Blackwell Delays we have heard a host of feedback from investors trying to handicap what this means for earnings. Our key takeaway is that confidence in the magnitude of upside to NVDA estimates has dipped, but a beat is still required.” Wells Fargo upgrades Fox to overweight from equal weight Wells says it likes the media company’s sports strategy. “We think FOXA has the right approach to navigate a changing TV ecosystem.” BMO reiterates Microsoft as a top pick BMO says it’s sticking with the tech giant. “We believe that Microsoft’s leading AI position and breadth of portfolio make MSFT deserving of our top pick designation, along with SAP.” Bank of America reiterates Salesforce as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $316 per share from $288. “Recent discussions with nearly a dozen key Salesforce partners suggest inline activity, with deal activity largely holding from Q1 levels.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Live Nation as buy Deutsche says demand remains “healthy” for the concerts and live events company. “Venue Nation, Live Nation’s owned and operated venue portfolio, represents a growing piece of the business with attractive returns, and we see further runway for expansion of this opportunity.” Bank of America reiterates Applied Materials as buy The firm says growth drivers are “on track” for the chip company following earnings on Thursday. “In our view, the combination of AMAT’s scale and balanced portfolio positions it to be a key beneficiary of growing demand for all chips in a data-driven economy.”
