Coinbase initiated, Block 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 Upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Block (XYZ) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $80, down from $87. The firm sees an attractive risk/reward skew following the stock’s recent selloff.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Ralph Lauren (RL) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $286, up from $280. The firm believes improving execution and momentum within the company’s brand elevation strategy will drive additional market share capture opportunities and margin expansion.
• Citizens JMP upgraded Duolingo (DUOL) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $400 price target. The firm expects Max to be a driver of pricing gains in 2025 and for Duolingo to benefit subscriber conversion in international markets in 2026 and beyond as it localizes Max pricing.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Lucid Group (LCID) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $3 price target. The firm believes Lucid can re-rate with new leadership that has the potential to bring forth an executable AI strategy via partnerships.
• UBS upgraded WTW (WTW) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $395, up from $344. The firm sees continued multiple expansion for WTW relative to the insurance brokerage group, saying its operating and free cash flow margins improve faster than peers.

Top Downgrades:

• Barclays downgraded PepsiCo (PEP) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $156, down from $168. The firm believes the ability for PepsiCo shares to re-rate higher is all about the fate of the U.S. snacking business, and it sees a “heavy lift” for the company to shore up Frito-Lay North America.
• UBS downgraded Paccar (PCAR) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $108, down from $124. The firm has a more cautious view around earnings in 2025 and 2026, as well as on the prospects for a rebound in truck demand in 2025.
• Guggenheim downgraded Incyte (INCY) to Neutral from Buy and removed the firm’s previous $92 price target after the company reported topline results from two Phase 3 studies of povorcitinib in moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa. The firm thinks the product is approvable, but it anticipates the “somewhat underwhelming clinical profile” may create potential headwinds to commercial uptake.
• Jefferies downgraded TPI Composites (TPIC)to Underperform from Hold with a price target of 50c, down from $2.30. Given accumulating debt, a future equity dilution event is “the likely only viable option,” the firm tells investors.

Top Initiations:

• Bernstein initiated coverage of Coinbase (COIN) with an Outperform rating and $310 price target. The firm expects strong regulatory tailwinds to drive the crypto industry to the American financial mainstream, as the Trump administration intends to establish a Digital assets framework to position the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the world.”
• Guggenheim initiated coverage of Genius Sports (GENI) with a Buy rating and $12 price target. The firm believes the company has a “robust financial profile,” multiple potential growth catalysts, and a strong balance sheet that should give it significant financial flexibility in the year ahead.
• Mizuho initiated coverage of Bloom Energy (BE) with a Neutral rating and $28 price target. The firm believes Bloom benefits from a faster to market product for data centers, but says the stock has run up on the artificial intelligence theme.
• Wolfe Research initiated coverage of Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) with an Outperform rating and $132 price target. The company’s performance will be driven by Ayvakit earnings, where the firm is bullish and estimates ceiling prevalence at 37K patience instead of 25K diagnosed as estimated by Blueprint, along with Cogent’s (COGT) bezuclastinib topline readout in July and how it compares to Ayvakit and elenestinib, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Evercore ISI initiated coverage of Bio-Techne (TECH) with an Outperform rating and $75 price target. The firm believes that current volatility creates a “nice entry point” for Bio-Techne as “end markets recover and strong OMx story is on deck.”