Nvidia, Crowdstrike upgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today’s research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades:

New Street upgraded Nvidia (NVDA) to Buy from Neutral with a $120 price target. Since the peak seen in June, Nvidia’s stock has pulled back by 26%, underperforming most other semiconductor stocks exposed to datacenter AI, notes the analyst. While the firm finds the correction “healthy overall” and recognizes some limited and tactical headwinds specific to Nvidia, it views the pullback as “an opportunity to gain more exposure,” the analyst tells investors.
Piper Sandler upgraded Crowdstrike (CRWD) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $290, down from $310. While the scale of the Crowdstrike-caused outage is unprecedented, historically, outages and breaches have had modest impacts on cyber business fundamentals, the firm says.
Piper Sandler upgraded Cadence Design (CDNS) to Overweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $318. The recent selloff presents an attractive entry point “in a premier software asset with an enviable position in the semi-industry,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
BofA upgraded Apollo Global (APO) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $123, down from $124. The firm says the Apollo long trade is now a lot less crowded among hedge funds, and sees two catalysts for the stock, namely the October 2 investor day and potential S&P 500 Index addition.
DA Davidson upgraded Criteo (CRTO) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $58, up from $43. The firm says the news on July 22 that Google (GOOGL) is abandoning its prior plan to deprecate third-party cookies in the Chrome browser “removed the last major overhang” on Criteo shares.

Top 5 Downgrades:

BofA downgraded ZoomInfo (ZI) to Underperform from Buy with a price target of $8, down from $23, after the company reported Q2 results and lowered 2024 revenue guidance to imply growth of down 3.4% year-over-year at the midpoint. DA Davidson, Raymond James and KeyBanc also downgraded ZoomInfo to Neutral-equivalent ratings.
JMP Securities downgraded Teradata (TDC) to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target. The company announced a restructuring affecting 9%-10% of its workforce alongside disappointing Q2 results and guidance, the firm says.
JPMorgan downgraded Thoughtworks (TWKS) to Neutral from Overweight without a price target after the company announced a go private transaction with majority owner Apax Partners for $4.40 per share. Baird also downgraded Thoughtworks to Neutral from Outperform.
JPMorgan downgraded Carlyle (CG) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $44, down from $46. The firm continues to see upside to the shares, but sees greater upside elsewhere.
Argus downgraded Cracker Barrel (CBRL) to Hold from Buy without a price target. The firm is concerned about the declining traffic patterns and notes the company’s average unit volume has decreased over the last several quarters.

Top 5 Initiations:

JPMorgan initiated coverage of Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) with an Underweight rating and $50 price target. The firm says that while the combined company is well positioned in the regional theme park industry driven by geographic diversification and opportunity to deliver an enhanced guest value proposition, it sees the potential benefits and upside reflected in the stock’s valuation.
Stifel initiated coverage of GE HealthCare (GEHC) with a Buy rating and $100 price target. The firm says GE HealthCare “represents a classic MedTech spinoff story” poised to benefit from improved management and commercial execution, stronger cost reduction focus, optimized innovation-related investments, and growth-enhancing acquisitions.
Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of Realty Income (O) with an Equal Weight rating and $62 price target. The firm is constructive on new growth verticals, such as data centers and Europe, but contends that interest cost headwinds are likely to limit growth in 2025 and 2026.
Barclays initiated coverage of Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) with an Overweight rating and $27 price target. The firm expects “significant growth,” especially after construction of Plant II by mid-2026.
TD Cowen initiated coverage of Cartesian Therapeutics (RNAC) with a Buy rating. The company’s mRNA-based CAR-T approach for autoimmune allows for deep and durable responses, but with much cleaner safety and biologic-like administration, the firm says.