Buy/Sell: Wall Street’s top 10 stock calls this week

What has Wall Street been buzzing about this week? Here are the top 5 Buy calls and the top 5 Sell calls made by Wall Street’s best analysts during the week of August 11-15.

Find all top-rated stocks by the best-rated analysts on TipRanks.

Top 5 Buy Calls:

1. Starbucks upgraded to Outperform at Baird 

Baird analyst David Tarantino upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $115, up from $100. The firm has high conviction that the turnaround strategies under new leadership will transform Starbucks into a better company. Visibility on the transformation will become increasingly clear over the next several quarters, the firm tells investors in a research note. Baird believes the company’s better financial performance will boost investor sentiment and support elevated valuation metrics on the shares.

2. Seaport starts Arm with Buy on expanding market penetration

Seaport Research initiated coverage of Arm (ARM) with a Buy rating and $150 price target. The firm believes Arm is creating “significant value” for the semiconductor industry. The company seeks to extract a larger share of the value as it expands into new markets and deepens its content offerings, the firm tells investors in a research note. Seaport expects Arm’s penetration into its key markets to grow both deeper and wider.

3. Loop Capital upgrades Five Below on merchandise, pricing changes

Loop Capital upgraded Five Below (FIVE) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $165, up from $130. The firm believes the market is underestimating the company’s near-term earnings power following its recent merchandising and pricing changes under the new CEO. In addition, Five Below’s lower shrink will bring tailwinds in the second half of 2025, Loop Capital tells investors in a research note. The firm sees current share levels as an attractive entry point.

4. Palo Alto Networks upgraded to Buy at Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank upgraded Palo Alto Network (PANW) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $220, up from $200. With the stock underperforming the broader cyber space by 15% year-to-date, investor concerns for Palo Alto are overblown, the firm tells investors in a research note. Deutsche cites the health of the business, the quality of the company’s leadership, and its prospects for the CyberArk (CYBR) acquisition for the upgrade.

5. Piper upgrades Chipotle to Overweight after 31% selloff

Piper Sandler upgraded Chipotle (CMG) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $50, down from $53. The firm cites an improved risk/reward for the upgrade as it now sees over 20% in a “base case” that assumes Chipotle posting comp growth of 3% over the next two years. With the shares down 31% year-to-date, the market is already pricing in the company not being a consistent mid-single-digit same-store-sales business, Piper tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Sell Calls:

1. Target downgraded to Underperform at BofA on sales and margin risks

BofA downgraded Target (TGT) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $93, down from $105. Target is now underperforming Walmart (WMT) on a comparable sales compound annual growth rate vs. 2019 and digital trends “look very challenged,” the firm tells investors. BofA sees increasing longer-term sales and margin risks given slowing digital sales growth, a lack of scale in digital advertising and third-party marketplace, elevated tariff, pricing and merchandising headwinds, and increasing competitive threats from both Walmart and Amazon (AMZN), the firm added.

2. Adobe downgraded to Sell at Melius Research

Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes downgraded Adobe (ADBE) to Sell from Hold with a $310 price target. The firm believes the software-as-a-service companies are in the “early innings” of multiple contraction given the shift to artificial intelligence. Melius sees value continuing to shift toward “infrastructure winners” like Microsoft and Oracle at the expense of companies like Adobe. It cut Adobe’s 2026 and 2027 estimates and downgraded the stock to Sell.

3. BofA downgrades Ibotta to Underperform after “big miss”

BofA downgraded Ibotta (IBTA) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $24, down from $57. Ibotta reported “significantly weaker-than-expected” Q2 results and Q3 revenue guidance due to the decision by two clients testing the company’s new performance marketing model to pause spend in the program as well as tough industry conditions constraining promotional supply, the firm tells investors. Visibility on the transition to a performance marketing model being “transformative,” as the company says it will be, is “highly uncertain,” BofA added.

4. Illinois Tool Works downgraded to Underweight at Barclays

Barclays downgraded Illinois Tool Works (ITW) to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $243. The firm believes the company’s cyclical organic sales recovery is now well embedded in investor expectations. As such, Illinois Tool Works has limited scope for further surprise from here, barring a sharp improvement in residential or consumer spending, Barclays tells investors in a research note.

5. On Holding downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies

Jefferies analyst Randal Konik downgraded On Holding (ONON) to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $40, down from $50. The firm believes 2025 will represent the company’s peak sales growth rate. Going forward, On’s U.S. door count expansion will slow and sell-in moderates in 2026 as retailer orders flow back to Nike (NKE), Jefferies tells investors in a research note. The firm also believes the company’s high pricing and “narrow” product assortment limit its total addressable market. It sees On’s valuation moderating as its growth slows.