Apple downgraded, Alibaba 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:

• Erste Group upgraded Alibaba (BABA) to Buy from Hold. The firm says the company is “developing very well” in artificial intelligence applications.
• Fox Advisors upgraded Instacart (CART) to Outperform from Equal-Weight. The firm thinks the 24% decline in the stock since August 11, including 16% over the past month, on “overblown” competitive concerns has made shares “oversold,” the firm tells investors.
• Gordon Haskett upgraded Zillow (Z) to Buy from Hold with a $90 price target, citing the belief that the negative sentiment weighing on the shares over the past two weeks creates “a favorable risk/reward.”
• Wells Fargo upgraded Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $212, up from $170. The firm says its concerns around pharmaceutical tariffs, pricing risk and Stelara’s loss of exclusivity are now largely behind Johnson & Johnson.
• Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Coinbase (COIN) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $417, up from $325. The firm still expects compression in the company’s take rate over time, but believes its retail volume growth will help to mitigate this.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Apple (AAPL) to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $205.16, down from $205.82. Better demand for iPhone 17, likely driven by no price hike in the Pro and Pro Max models and “an effective price cut” on the 17 base model, is already in the price, which has led to “excessive expectations” on the replacement cycle and prospects of the 18 Fold, the firm tells investors.
• Piper Sandler downgraded Instacart (CART) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $41, down from $62. The firm cites the company’s rising competitive pressures from Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), Uber (UBER) and DoorDash (DASH) for the downgrade.
• Wolfe Research downgraded PayPal (PYPL) to Peer Perform from Outperform with a fair value range of $70-$80. The firm believes the shares will be range-bound with investors requiring further proof of branded execution before getting more constructive.
• KeyBanc downgraded Corteva (CTVA) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target after the company announced its intent to separate into two public companies.
• Goldman Sachs downgraded Bumble (BMBL) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $7, down from $8. The stock’s risk/reward is more balanced at current levels, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Initiations:

• TD Securities resumed coverage of Shopify (SHOP) with a Hold rating and price target of $156, up from $130. TD believe the shares could see an “outsized pullback” should the company’s growth slow amid the macro uncertainty.
• Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage of Circle Internet (CRCL) with a Neutral rating and $136 price target. The firm says Circle’s ongoing need to invest in distribution, its expectations of heightened competition in the stablecoin market as real-world use cases develop, and the stock’s current “high valuation” warrant a Neutral rating.
• BofA initiated coverage of Astera Labs (ALAB) with a Neutral rating and $230 price target. The firm flags potential deceleration in Astera’s growth on increasing competition from Nvidia’s (NVDA) “NVLink” and Broadcom’s (AVGO) “Scale-Up Ethernet” based switches.
• Jefferies initiated coverage of Gen Digital (GEN) with a Hold rating and $31 price target. The firm sees execution risk in the near term and finds the stock fairly valued at current levels.
• TD Securities resumed coverage of Descartes Systems (DSGX) with a Buy rating and price target of $121, down from $135. The firm believes Descartes is well positioned when the macro backdrop improves and customers begin to invest in tools to navigate continued trade volatility.