Core Scientific upgraded, HP downgraded: 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:

• B. Riley upgraded Core Scientific (CORZ) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $30, up from $17. The firm sees a high likelihood that Core Scientific shareholders will vote down the pending takeover by CoreWeave (CRWV).
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Hyatt (H) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $168, up from $147. The firm likes the company’s sale of Playa real estate and commitment to selling owned and leased hotel assets.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded 3M (MMM) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $160, up from $130. The firm sees a “more constructive” share setup due to lessened expectations.
• Stifel upgraded Badger Meter (BMI) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $215, up from $208. The firm believes the advanced metering infrastructure upgrade cycle is driving secular growth for Badger while the company’s non-metering businesses will contribute to further growth.
• Wolfe Research upgraded Paccar (PCAR) to Peer Perform from Underperform without a price target. The firm cites increased visibility into the company’s margins troughing in Q4 with new Section 232 clarity for the upgrade.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• KeyBanc downgraded Global Payments (GPN) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target following a transfer of coverage. The firm believes the Worldpay integration and the post-acquisition growth timelines may limit the stock’s gains in the near-term.
• JPMorgan downgraded HP Inc. (HP) to Neutral from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $30. The firm says the company is “cycling past” a favorable volume and commodity cost cycle “into a relatively tougher backdrop.”
• Guggenheim downgraded Nextracker (NXT) to Neutral from Buy and removed the firm’s prior $74 price target. The stock price has moved above the firm’s previous target, and it does not see significant revisions to the company’s outlook for the intermediate term, leaving the shares “fairly valued,” the firm tells investors.
• Barclays downgraded Gartner (IT) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $270, down from $320. The firm sees near-term estimate risk after its chief investment officer survey “turned even more negative.”
• Jefferies downgraded Commercial Metals (CMC) to Hold from Buy with an unchanged price target of $70. The firm cites valuation and its near-term preference for flat-rolled steel producers for the downgrade.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of PayPal (PYPL) with an Equal Weight rating and $74 price target. The firm says the Payments space has suffered from rotation to AI-centric stocks, as well as multiple instances of subpar execution by various companies, but it thinks “too many stocks have been painted with the same brush.” Wells also started coverage of Shift4 (FOUR) and Fiserv (FI) with Equal Weight ratings.
• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Block (XYZ) with an Overweight rating and $91 price target. The Payments sector has “been a minefield for investors,” but the firm sees some “particularly attractive opportunities.” Wells also started coverage of Global Payments (GPN), FIS (FIS), Visa (V), MasterCard (MA), Affirm (AFRM), and Circle Internet (CRCL) with Overweight ratings.
• Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of AppLovin (APP) with a Buy rating and $705 price target. The firm says the company has built “best-in-class” advertising technology and is expanding into e-commerce advertising, which is multiple times the size of mobile game in-app advertising.
• Needham initiated coverage of First Solar (FSLR) with a Buy rating and $286 price target. The firm views First Solar as one of the “most policy-advantaged ways” to play U.S. utility-scale solar following the One Big Beautiful Bill.
• Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Dell Technologies (DELL) with an Overweight rating and $172 price target. Dell should be one of the “primary beneficiaries” of a “particularly strong” enterprise data center refresh for 2026 as well as AI infrastructure buildouts, the firm says. Piper also started coverage of HP Enterprise (HPE) but with a Neutral rating.