Nvidia initiated, Starbucks downgraded: 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:
DA Davidson upgraded Airbnb (ABNB) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $155, down from $170. The firm is also adding Airbnb to the D.A. Davidson research team's "Best-of-Breed Bison" initiative, which focuses on long-term best in class companies in its coverage.
Benchmark upgraded Qorvo (QRVO) to Buy from Hold with a $95 price target. Qorvo turned in a "solid" March quarter performance and "gave an equally encouraging June period outlook," the firm tells investors.
Wolfe Research upgraded Ford (F) to Peer Perform from Underperform without a price target. The White House has released an executive order confirming large relief from auto parts tariffs, and among the U.S. car markers, Tesla (TSLA) and Ford would be most advantaged, since they also face minimal to no tariffs on finished vehicles, in light of their high U.S. vehicle production, contends Wolfe.
Scotiabank upgraded T-Mobile (TMUS) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $277.50, up from $275. Heading into reporting season, there was a generalized fear that the U.S. wireless market was slowing down quickly, but now that Mobile Network Operators and Cablecos have reported, the tally shows industry loading actually "remaining quite healthy" at an annual run rate of around 8.5M, the firm tells investors.
Benchmark upgraded Shift4 Payments (FOUR) to Buy from Hold with a $111 price target. The share price jumped by nearly 13% in response to the company's "solid" Q1 print and management's upbeat guidance for the balance of 2025, notes the firm.
Top 5 Downgrades:
Goldman Sachs downgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $85, down from $103, following the company's earnings report. The firm expects a slower path to North America sales recovery with data pointing to incrementally slowing brand momentum.
Wells Fargo downgraded Nike (NKE) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $55, down from $75. The firm says Nike's turnaround is "simply taking longer than hoped," while today's macro concerns "will likely kick the can even further out."
KeyBanc downgraded First Solar (FLSR) to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $100 price target. The company reported Q1 results below estimates and lowered fiscal 2025 guidance and revised bookings downward to reflect the impacts of global tariffs implemented earlier this month, the firm tells investors in a research note. Oppenheimer also downgraded First Solar to Perform from Outperform without a price target following the Q1 miss.
Wells Fargo downgraded Victoria's Secret (VSCO) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $12, down from $25. The firm adjusted ratings in retail cut 2026 earnings estimates well below the Street to reflect current tariff headwinds and assumptions for a mild recession.
BofA downgraded Park Hotels & Resorts (PK) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $11, down from $11.50. Park has navigated several challenges in the last 12-24 months, but the firm thinks Park faces more headwinds, including higher international inbound exposure, less labor and cost flexibility, potentially incremental capex needs and a high current dividend payout ratio.
Top 5 Initiations:
Seaport Research initiated coverage of Nvidia (NVDA) with a Sell rating and $100 price target. Nvidia is one of the leading beneficiaries of the current AI spending boom, but its prospects are "well understood and largely priced into the stock," the firm argues.
Seaport Research initiated coverage of AMD (AMD) with a Buy rating and $110 price target. AMD has demonstrated consistent execution for years, allowing it to pick up share and erode Intel's (INTC) long-time dominance in PCs, the firm tells investors.
Seaport Research initiated coverage of Intel with a Sell rating and $18 price target. Intel lost its manufacturing edge years ago, and this has caused its products to struggle against competitors' as the company is losing share in PCs to AMD and losing share in data center CPU to AMD and internal semis, the firm tells investors.
Seaport Research initiated coverage of Broadcom (AVGO) with a Buy rating and $230 price target. Broadcom is one of the leading beneficiaries of the current AI spending boom, but its prospects are "not well understood by the Street and not priced into the stock," the firm argues.
Seaport Research initiated coverage of Texas Instruments (TXN) with a Sell rating and $130 price target. Outside of China EVs, industrial markets in most markets have not really recovered or began restocking of semis and given that interest rates and recession fears appear to have put a brake on cyclical recovery, with the firm seeing a prolonged downturn in analog semis. Seaport Research also started coverage of Analog Devices (ADI) with a Sell rating and $155 price target.
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Even the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO), which mirrors the performance of the S&P 500, has over 35% of its holdings in just 10 companies. No single company in the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF has more than a 1.1% weighting. Top holdings include semiconductor company Qorvo, medical device company Teleflex, auto parts company BorgWarner, mortgage lender Mr. Cooper Group, and insurance company Jackson Financial, among others. Many of these companies are hardly household names, but their hidden-gem nature could appeal to value investors looking for exposure to companies they don't already own. One of the most appealing attributes of the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF is that it is spread out across stock market sectors. And the sectors it concentrates on tend to be more value-oriented. Here's a look at how its sector concentration stacks up against the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. Sector Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF Vanguard S&P 500 ETF Financials 23.9% 14.4% Industrials 15.5% 8.5% Consumer discretionary 13.8% 10.4% Information technology 10% 30.4% Healthcare 8.2% 10.8% Real estate 7.5% 2.2% Materials 6.4% 2% Utilities 4.1% 2.6% Consumer staples 3.9% 6.2% Energy 3.6% 3.2% Communication services 3.1% 9.3% Data source: Vanguard. The composition of the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF is nothing like the S&P 500, which may interest folks looking for more exposure to value-focused and cyclical sectors like financials and industrials and less exposure to growth-focused sectors like tech. What stands out the most about the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF compared to the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is valuation. The small-cap value-focused ETF sports a mere 13.7 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and a 2.2% dividend yield compared to a 25.9 P/E ratio and 1.4% yield for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. Granted, small-cap stocks arguably deserve to trade at a discount to their large-cap peers because large-cap companies have numerous advantages over smaller companies. For example, Microsoft benefits from its size and exposure to multiple end markets across hardware, software, gaming, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and more. These advantages give Microsoft network effects, meaning more customers who buy into Microsoft's software suite, use tools like GitHub, or join Microsoft Cloud, benefit Microsoft by making these products and services widespread. Network effects support pricing power and lead to margin expansion, which allows Microsoft to grow profits faster than sales and support a growing stock buyback program and dividend. This snowball effect is powerful when compounded over a multiyear time frame. Many small-cap companies simply don't have these advantages and must work much harder to compound in value. Microsoft is the largest company by market cap in the world, so it is a key holding in the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and many growth-focused funds. It's the kind of stock that can have a high weighting in an ETF, and therefore, play into an investment thesis. But the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF contains no such companies. The Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF could be a useful tool for investors looking to put new capital to work in the market and generate passive income from stocks they don't already own. But there is a glaring disadvantage of the fund compared to other Vanguard ETFs like the S&P 500 ETF, Vanguard Growth ETF, Vanguard Value ETF, or even the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF. The small-cap value ETF lacks leadership -- making it difficult to build an investment thesis around companies. With investing, it's important to know what you own and why you own it -- and that applies to individual stocks and ETFs. Even though the S&P 500 ETF contains over 500 components, it's still possible to get a decent grasp of the companies that drive the fund by looking at the top 20 or so holdings. But that's not the case with the Vanguard Small-Cap 600 Value ETF because the fund is ultra-diversified. Again, this structure may appeal to investors looking for general exposure to small-cap value stocks in key sectors like industrials and financials -- but it may not be the best choice for folks looking to build a portfolio around companies they are confident can grow over time. Before you buy stock in Vanguard Admiral Funds - Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Vanguard Admiral Funds - Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $674,395!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $858,011!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 997% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Daniel Foelber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft, Teleflex, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Growth ETF, Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Value ETF, and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool recommends BorgWarner and Qorvo and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Reasons Why Vanguard's Worst-Performing ETF in 2025 May Be Worth Buying in June was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
