Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Alphabet, IBM, Spotify, AT&T, Birkenstock & more

CNBC

24-07-2025

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Goldman Sachs reiterates Apple as buy Goldman lowered its price target on the stock to $251 per share from $253 but says it's sticking with the iPhone maker. "We are Buy-rated on AAPL as we believe that the market's focus on slower product revenue growth masks the strength of the Apple ecosystem and associated revenue durability & visibility." New Street upgrades ASML Holding to buy from neutral New Street says the semiconductor equipment maker is a top idea for 2026. "Consensus expects ASML to grow revenues 2% next year, compared to 6-12% for its peers. That is conservative. If anything, we see room for ASML to outperform, driven by high leading-edge exposure." Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley says Tesla remains a top pick following the company's earnings report on Wednesday. " Tesla is crossing the chasm to autonomy while absorbing slower volume, EV incentive elimination, tariffs and investing in new initiatives that may not make margins for years." Read more. Morgan Stanley reiterates Alphabet as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $210 per share from $205 following Alphabet's latest earnings report Wednesday. "Our EPS ests are largely unchanged but we remain OW as this accelerated pace of innovation sets up GOOGL for more durable multi-year growth." Read more . Bank of America reiterates IBM as buy The bank says says IBM is well positioned for growth following its most recent financial report. " IBM r eported a mixed quarter, where organic software deceleration was offset by strong contribution from better-than-expected Infrastructure results and higher M & A contribution." Deutsche Bank upgrades Hub Group to buy from hold Deutsche says the logistics and transportation company has upside potential. "Given an attractive valuation of only 13x 2026 numbers and conservative Street estimates (we are 10% above for 2026), we believe HUBG shares offer investors a compelling opportunity to capitalize on the intermodal market's long-term growth potential at a reasonable price." Citi downgrades KeyCorp to neutral from buy Citi says the Cleveland-based regional bank's valuation is full right now. "We expect KEY will continue to benefit from [net interest margin] expansion towards 3% as headwind from hedging portfolio abates and asset yields benefit from repricing and remixing. However, we believe these tailwinds are now largely priced in and that the bar is relatively high for further upside..." Wells Fargo upgrades Crown Castle to overweight from equal weight Wells says the cell tower company is a "compelling" top idea. "We're upgrading CCI to Overweight after a compelling Q2 which shows cost-cutting efforts ahead of plan, which provides upside to our 2025-2027 [adjusted funds from operations per share] numbers and makes for a compelling relative valuation story. CCI is our top tower pick." Wolfe upgrades General Dynamics to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its upgrade of General Dynamics that shares of the aerospace and defense company have room to run following its latest earnings. "A good top-line and bottom-line beat with an improved FCF and order outlook prompt our upgrade of shares to Outperform from Peer Perform." HSBC downgrades AT & T to hold from buy HSBC says it sees no near term catalysts for AT & T. "Good 2Q25 results driven by strong net add momentum; higher capex creates some market uneasiness. However, FCF guidance was raised, a function of U.S. cash tax savings and increasing potential for additional capital returns." Mizuho initiates Braze at outperform Mizuho says the cloud-based software company has a platform that's "best-in-class." " Braze offers a best-in-class customer engagement platform purpose-built for real-time, personalized messaging across channels." Oppenheimer upgrades Spotify to outperform from perform Oppenheimer sees a "significant opportunity to monetize ad users." "With shares 14% off their all-time highs, we upgrade SPOT from Perform to Outperform and establish an $800 target as we see many tailwinds ahead. We model 1) the largest [monthly active users] runway in Internet, 2) free tier monetization (either ads or ad-supported monthly fee)..." Jefferies upgrades Varonis to buy from neutral Jefferies says shares of the software cybersecurity company are attractive. "We believe that VRNS is well positioned to address the increasingly important data governance market as Gen AI adoption starts to materialize." Morgan Stanley reiterates Chipotle at overweight The firm says shares of Chipotle remain extremely attractive. "Modest top line miss, EPS in line, FY [same-store sales] trimmed - these likely feed into the more cautious views on the stock and weigh on the multiple, though our numbers don't change much here. We remain OW on the view that nothing is broken here, and growth should pick up, but patience may be needed." Mizuho upgrades Travel & Leisure to outperform from neutral Mizuho sees earnings growth for the timeshare company. "We are upgrading TNL to Outperform from Neutral." Citi reiterates Nvidia at buy Citi says Alphabet's increased capex guidance is a positive for Nvidia. "AI spending remains strong – good for MU and NVDA. Google's capex guidance supports our view that AI spending remains strong. We view this positively for AI-exposed stocks such as MU (17% of sales) and NVDA." Goldman Sachs upgrades Birkenstock to buy from neutral Goldman says the shoe company is attractively valued. "Whilst we navigate a challenging macro backdrop and a highly competitive footwear market, BIRK looks attractive given: (i) a strong product proposition with pricing power; (ii) opportunities to take share in a highly fragmented market underpinned by its iconic footbed..." Piper Sandler downgrades Chubb to neutral from overweight Piper sees a softening insurance cycle for Chubb. "We are downgrading Chubb to Neutral from Overweight after its 2Q25 earnings results." Bank of America initiates Elbit Systems at buy Bank of America says it sees several catalysts ahead for the defense technology company. "We view Elbit Systems as a company well positioned to capture market share and defense funding globally, as Western Allies increase defense spending significantly over the next decade."