
Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft, Amazon, Dell & more
Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: KeyBanc initiates Cisco as overweight Key said Cisco has a long runway for growth. "We have seen product order growth remain healthy for several quarters in a row, which bodes well for 2026/2027 revenue growth expectations. In addition, we think the subscription/software mix shift makes CSCO appear relatively attractively valued vs. other software and security peers." Baird initiates Haemonetics as overweight Baird said the plasma collections company is in the midst of a turnaround. "... HAE is poised to remain a beneficiary of an expanding plasma-derived therapeutics market." UBS reiterates Apple as neutral UBS said it sees some risks on reports that Apple could acquire Perplexity AI. "Therefore, given Apple's AI efforts have been a bit underwhelming, we believe a deal would likely be construed as defensive in nature, not a positive catalyst, given the pending Google DOJ case with remedies expected in Aug-25." Citi upgrades Truist Financial to buy from neutral Citi said the banking stock is too attractive to ignore. "Upgrade to Buy – Too Much Value On Table To Ignore Combined With Buybacks And Improving Fundamentals." Bank of America reiterates Alphabet as buy The firm hosted a bull/bear debate with investors and said sentiment seems mixed for Alphabet. "Overall sentiment on the stock was mixed with concerns ranging from share loss and monetization challenges to Apple's reaction to the DoJ trial outcome, but we found that there is strong share of bulls on the stock." Benchmark reiterates Tesla as buy Benchmark said the robotaxi launch "sets the stage for growth." "We are raising our price target to $475 from $350 amidst the successful launch of TSLA's robotaxi business in Austin." Read more. Morgan Stanley reiterates Dell as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's sticking with shares of Dell. "With conviction in DELL' s ability to offset gross margin pressure with cost efficiency in an AI server bull case, we remain OW-rated." Piper Sandler initiates Amer Sports as overweight Piper said the sporting goods company has a "unique portfolio." "We initiate on Amer Sports (AS) with an Overweight rating and $45 PT. AS is a unique portfolio company where all 3 key segments are executing well which is rare in the Consumer space." Citi initiates Sandisk as buy Citi said the global data storage company is well positioned. "Sandisk is a global data storage developer of NAND Flash solutions, including SSDs [solid state drives], memory cards, USB sticks, portable drives and automotive.." UBS reiterates Nvidia and Broadcom as buy UBS said both stocks are key beneficiaries of AI demand. "In terms of stock calls on the back of this demand analysis, we remain bullish on NVDA and would also highlight AVGO as key Tier 1 beneficiaries of compute and networking demand, and would also highlight MU as a peripheral beneficiary of increased memory requirements. Globally, we would also highlight TSMC." Jefferies upgrades Kinross Gold to buy from neutral Jefferies said it's bullish on shares of the gold company. "We upgrade KGC from Hold to Buy and increase our PT from $14.00 to $18.00, implying ~18% upside." RBC upgrades General Mills to outperform from sector perform RBC upgraded the food products stock following earnings. "We are upgrading GIS to Outperform. While we acknowledge investor sentiment around packaged food remains poor and fundamentals have yet to fully turn, we believe GIS's FY'26 EPS guidance embeds enough cushion for it to deliver, despite an ongoing sluggish environment." Read more. Rothschild & Co. Redburn reiterates Amazon as buy The firm said Amazon is "resilient" buoyed by its Amazon Web Services offering. "Amazon shares have underperformed year-to-date, held back by weak AWS performance and tariff-related ecommerce concerns. However, our analysis indicates that AWS growth should comfortably exceed lowered expectations, enabling AWS to deliver its own Azure moment – a surprise reacceleration that resets expectations higher." Citizens upgrades Penn to market outperform from market perform Citizens said the gaming stock is at an inflection point. " PENN Entertainment has experienced several years of well-known headwinds primarily resulting from the build-out of its online businesses. The stock is down 87% from its all-time high, yet we are nearing an inflection point in the story whereby we see 38% upside in shares." Wells Fargo downgrades Trade Desk to equal weight from overweight Wells said in its downgrade of Trade Desk that it's concerned about competition for the ad tech company. "Amazon Competitive Impact Increasingly Likely in 2026; Downgrade to Equal Weight." UBS reiterates Micron as buy UBS raised its price target on the stock to $155 per share from $120 following earnings on Wednesday. "MU delivered against the only real investor expectations we heard into the call - HBM [high bandwidth memory] revenue and gross margin, both of which were in-line to a little better than bogeys." Read more. William Blair upgrades Elanco Animal Health to outperform from market perform The firm said in its upgrade of Elanco that the animal health company has a slew of positive catalysts ahead. "Earlier this week we hosted investor meetings with Elanco's president and CEO, Jeff Simmons. Our meetings and conversations gave us more color around current momentum and pipeline efforts that give us confidence to upgrade shares to an Outperform rating." Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Microsoft to $530 per share from $482. "We update our capex-implied AI revenue analysis and our OpenAI model detailing the contribution to Azure. Core conclusion remains the same: conservatism in our Azure forecasts. With increased confidence in upside to Azure forecasts – our price target moves to $530 and conviction in OW remains." Deutsche adds a catalyst call buy on Anheuser-Busch InBev Deutsche said it's bullish ahead of earnings in late July. "We initiate a catalyst BUY o n ABI ahead of the company's 2Q results on 31 July following the recent pull back in the shares." UBS reiterates Meta as buy UBS raised its price target on the stock to $812 per share from $683. "And as Meta is also not necessarily exposed to the danger of what may be slower-than-anticipated enterprise AI spend – it is after all the primary user of its own technology – we worry less about a potential capacity-demand digestion phase we cite in the broader Q-series report. We maintain our Buy rating on META shares." Barclays initiates NRG Energy as overweight Barclays said shares of the energy company have plenty "more room to run." "We initiate on NRG Energy (NRG) with an Overweight rating and $197 price target." JPMorgan reiterates Apple as overweight JPMorgan lowered its price target on the stock but says it's sticking with Apple shares. "All that said, near-term demand drivers remain robust as a result of the pull-forward as well as support from subsidies in China, and position Apple to report robust results for F3Q25E. We are revising our earnings estimates and our Dec-25 price target to $230 vs. $245 prior." Bank of America reiterates Citi as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $100 per share from $89. "We consider Citi's turnaround as among the most complex in the corporate world, but [CEO]Fraser had undertaken actions (such as international consumer exits, balance sheet de-risking, tech/personnel investments, streamlining businesses, external talent) that gives Citi a fighting chance of becoming competitive, in our view."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why Meta Shares Are Climbing Today
June 26 - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares climbed more than 2% Thursday morning after UBS significantly raised its price target, citing long-term gains from artificial intelligence-related initiatives. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. UBS boosted its target on the stock to $812 from $683, suggesting a potential upside of nearly 15%. The firm pointed to rising consumer and advertiser interest in AI tools, especially in areas like Business Messaging and Meta AI, as key revenue drivers going forward. Analysts at UBS expressed increased confidence in Meta's ability to generate returns from its investment in generative AI infrastructure. They also noted that Meta's direct use of its own AI technology could shield it from broader weaknesses in enterprise AI spending, which has recently shown signs of slowing. The brokerage added that Meta's monetization of AI could help maintain a stronger-than-expected pace in advertising revenue over the longer term. That confidence supports the higher valuation, especially with Meta already gaining 22% year-to-date, far outpacing the S&P 500's 3.6% rise. The bullish price revision reflects optimism that Meta's expanding AI capabilities may enhance engagement and create new monetization opportunities across its platforms, despite a competitive and fast-moving tech landscape. The stock's recent momentum, paired with upbeat analyst sentiment, suggests investors are watching Meta's AI strategy closely as a potential driver of sustained growth. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Forbes
16 minutes ago
- Forbes
Why Companies Need To Institute Stricter AI Policies
As the hype grows around AI and more people try it out, many are using it at work to see how it can help them become more efficient. But there's a real problem: Some employees are using public instances of chatbots, putting proprietary company data at risk by giving an open LLM access. Others use the company's access to AI, but input highly sensitive and personal data, like Social Security numbers and financial data. A new study from technology security company Kiteworks found that 27% of companies reported that nearly a third of all of the data sent to AI systems is the type of information that should be kept private, like company records, employee information and trade secrets. (It could be more; 17% of companies don't know how much private data ends up getting sent to AI.) It's a problem that's growing. A Stanford University report on AI found a 56.4% increase in security incidents with the technology last year. While it may seem obvious to the tech savvy, many employees might not know the risks of this kind of AI sharing, and 83% of companies only rely on training or warning emails to let them know. Kiteworks found that just 17% have automatic controls that keep employees from uploading sensitive information to public AI tools. Further, most companies don't have much of an AI governance structure—only 9%, according to Deloitte research cited by Kiteworks. The study results show that companies need to add policies and infrastructure to control employee use of AI and protect their own data. This kind of use can cause real damage to companies—not to mention their employees and clients. The study concludes that companies need to acknowledge the threat, deploy controls that can be verified, and ensure that they can stand up to regulatory scrutiny. 'With incidents surging, zero-day attacks targeting the security infrastructure itself, and the vast majority lacking real visibility or control, the window for implementing meaningful protections is rapidly closing,' Kiteworks CMO Tim Freestone said in a statement. Many people still haven't grasped how to truly use AI to benefit their company—we all know its practical business functions go beyond asking a chatbot for advice. I talked to Lindsay Phillips, cofounder and COO of tech change coaching firm SkyPhi Studios, about how to bring AI to your company and get people using it. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter. This is the published version of Forbes' CIO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief innovation officers and other technology-focused leaders. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Thursday. STOCK MARKET NEWS Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the VivaTech technology startup and innovation fair in Paris earlier this month. Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images Nvidia is back on top, pulling ahead of Microsoft as the world's most valuable company. A research note on Wednesday from Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah raised his price target for Nvidia's stock from $175 to $250. Baruah wrote that Nvidia will lead the next 'Golden Wave' for generative AI, and will see 'stronger-than-anticipated demand.' The research note—as well as Nvidia's annual shareholder meeting, where CEO Jensen Huang laid out an optimistic view of the company's future—drove the company's stock to hit a record high of $154.43. While share prices dropped somewhat before markets closed, it was a banner day for the chips company. Chips and robotics company, that is. At the annual meeting, Nvidia positioned itself squarely in the robotics and physical industrial AI spaces. In the company's annual report, Huang wrote that so far this year, Nvidia has fundamentally transformed itself from a chip maker to a builder of infrastructure. While AI data centers will continue to be important, AI-powered robots in factories, hospitals, farms and cities will be what moves society forward in the not-so-distant future. 'We stopped thinking of ourselves as a chip company long ago,' Huang said at the meeting, according to CNBC. CYBERSECURITY An Iranian man stands in his apartment in Tehran, which was destroyed by Israeli attacks. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images While it seems for now that the physical conflict between Iran and Israel—which the U.S. inserted itself into by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities—is on hold, the war will likely still be bitterly fought online. Forbes' Thomas Brewster writes that Iran, which has a 'robust cyber apparatus' according to Middle East cybersecurity experts, is likely to launch disruptive attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests. For the U.S. government, this could be especially challenging. Since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency has lost many experienced employees and does not even have a permanent director. Insiders told Forbes that CISA already is stretched thin, but coordinated attacks from Iran could make it much worse. The PR war over how the attacks are seen is also riddled with conflicting imagery. AI-generated Iranian propaganda showing a rocket launch and a convoy of tanks and missiles have racked up millions of views, writes Forbes' Emily Baker-White. These videos, which were seen throughout social media, abruptly disappeared. None of the platforms have any policies against releasing propaganda, and the videos didn't appear to be labeled as AI-generated. NOTABLE NEWS getty AI can be a force for good, but it can also be nefarious. New research from Barracuda, Columbia University and the University of Chicago found that AI writes more than half of all spam email now, writes Forbes senior contributor Davey Winder. This includes the vast majority of messages in your personal account's spam folder—but it's also getting prevalent in business emails as well. About 14% of business inbox attacks, in which often senior people in organizations are targeted with requests for financial transactions, are written by AI. Winder writes that it makes sense to use AI for spam. It tends to do a passable job of writing with proper grammar and spelling across a variety of languages. It can also write in a convincing way to provoke a recipient to respond. The study found that attackers seem to be using AI to draft different versions of spam and hacking emails, searching for the best way to get a recipient's attention. BITS + BYTES How To Get Your Company To Use AI To Its Full Potential SkyPhi Studios cofounder and COO Lindsay Phillips. SkyPhi Studios AI truly can transform the way we do business, but in order for it to make a difference, employees actually need to use it. AI is unlike any other tech shift in recent years, and it can be difficult for everyone at a company to embrace it. I talked to Lindsay Phillips, cofounder and COO of tech change coaching firm SkyPhi Studios, about the best way to get your employees through these challenges. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. What is the biggest hurdle that you see to widespread AI adoption in companies? Phillips: The biggest hurdle is companies approaching AI as a software shift, and AI is really a mindset shift. It's not just about teaching people how to do the same work in a different tool. They have to completely change how they think about work, how they think about the value that they're bringing to the workplace, how they approach their workflows. Companies that are just trying to make tools available and don't help people understand how to use it, how to adopt it successfully and how to integrate it, are running into adoption challenges. How do you get past that roadblock? Understanding how you want people to change to use the tool. Understanding how roles and responsibilities need to change, the RACI [responsibility matrix] that's required so that folks adopt this tool and integrate it into their workflows. You want to also make sure that leadership across the org understands that strategy. Most folks want to get guidance from their manager, so you want to leverage leadership cascades and really make sure they're carrying that message forward and reinforcing it. The other thing that we're seeing with companies that are successful is a community of practice: Creating ambassadors throughout the org, at the ground level, boots on the street, that are supporting their team members and adopting these tools and helping them make that mindset shift. How does the move toward AI compare to other technology shifts in the past, like moving to the cloud and increasing cybersecurity? It definitely feels like we're driving the car while we're building the car, so we need our team members to be very collaborative in helping us figure out how to use these tools. Experts are going to be able to tell you how AI is going to be able to make their jobs more productive and be able to help them do their work better. Leadership's not necessarily going to know that, so it really does need to be a lot more collaborative and agile than it needed to be in the past. In the past, you find requirements, you help people adopt those new ways of working, you meet those requirements. This we're figuring it out as we go, and it's much more experimental. What sets the companies that are most successfully integrating AI apart? A comfort with experimentation and a certain amount of comfort with uncertainty of saying, 'We're going to give it a try. We're going to see how it goes, and we'll pivot as we need to.' Companies that are very attached to clarity and certainty and always having the right answer are going to struggle with AI adoption. It's not a linear straight path. It is going to be something you have to figure out as you go. What advice would you give to executives that are trying to get their employees to use AI? The more accessible we can make it, the better. There's companies doing weekly challenges. Just start to encourage your folks to incorporate it into their daily lives. Encourage folks to share wins. You want to hear about how other people are using these tools so that it can give you ideas of how you can also use it in your day-to-day. It is a massive mindset shift. Approach it with little tiny bites that you can take to start to shift habits daily. COMINGS + GOINGS Defense contractor Lockheed Martin appointed Dr. Craig Martell as its new vice president and chief technology officer, effective June 23. Martell previously worked as chief AI officer for Cohesity, and as the first chief digital and AI officer for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to that. appointed as its new vice president and chief technology officer, effective June 23. Martell previously worked as chief AI officer for Cohesity, and as the first chief digital and AI officer for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to that. Convenience store chain Love's Travel Stops hired Tim Langley-Hawthorne as chief technology officer, effective June 23. Langley-Hawthorne steps into the role after working as Hertz's executive vice president and chief information officer. hired as chief technology officer, effective June 23. Langley-Hawthorne steps into the role after working as Hertz's executive vice president and chief information officer. Newspaper chain Gannett selected Joe Miranda for its chief technology and data officer role, effective June 23. Miranda joins the firm after working as executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer of Herbalife, and has also held leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and Voya Financial. STRATEGIES + ADVICE As more companies adopt enterprise AI packages, several trends in what they are using and how are coming to the surface. Here are 10 trends that are shaping enterprise LLM use today. While part of business advancement today is all about personal branding and showing the world your expertise and strategic viewpoint, you may feel more comfortable quietly sitting in front of a screen. The good news is that you don't have to be an extrovert. Here are some tips for shy people who want to build personal brands. QUIZ After Meta's deal to take a 49% stake in data-labeling company Scale AI, another company with a very different main business stepped up as a potential giant in data labeling. Which company is it? A. Priceline B. Uber C. Instacart D. Electronic Arts See if you got the answer right here.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Meta Rises on UBS Price Target Boost Amid AI Revenue Optimism
June 26 - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares climbed nearly 2% Thursday morning after UBS significantly raised its price target, citing long-term gains from artificial intelligence-related initiatives. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. UBS boosted its target on the stock to $812 from $683, suggesting a potential upside of nearly 15%. The firm pointed to rising consumer and advertiser interest in AI tools, especially in areas like Business Messaging and Meta AI, as key revenue drivers going forward. Analysts at UBS expressed increased confidence in Meta's ability to generate returns from its investment in generative AI infrastructure. They also noted that Meta's direct use of its own AI technology could shield it from broader weaknesses in enterprise AI spending, which has recently shown signs of slowing. The brokerage added that Meta's monetization of AI could help maintain a stronger-than-expected pace in advertising revenue over the longer term. That confidence supports the higher valuation, especially with Meta already gaining 22% year-to-date, far outpacing the S&P 500's 3.6% rise. The bullish price revision reflects optimism that Meta's expanding AI capabilities may enhance engagement and create new monetization opportunities across its platforms, despite a competitive and fast-moving tech landscape. The stock's recent momentum, paired with upbeat analyst sentiment, suggests investors are watching Meta's AI strategy closely as a potential driver of sustained growth. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.