CVS Health upgraded, Occidental 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:

• UBS upgraded CVS Health (CVS) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $79, up from $67. The company has posted two strong quarters of execution and early signs are emerging that its healthcare benefits segment fixes are on track, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Cogent (CCOI) to Overweight from Underweight with an unchanged price target of $45. The company is past the worst of the Sprint legacy declines and the stock’s risk/reward now skews favorable, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• KeyBanc upgraded Duolingo (DUOL) to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $460 price target. The shares have underperformed on fears that a deceleration in engagement is a sign that the business is peaking and that artificial intelligence will contract its total addressable market, the analyst says.
• Guggenheim upgraded Nextracker (NXT) to Buy from Neutral with a $74 price target. The firm believe that Friday’s safe-harbor clarifications from the IRS were “good news for tracker suppliers,” the analyst tells investors.
• RBC Capital upgraded Sunrun (RUN) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $16, up from $12. The firm believes the shares deserve a higher multiple as the Treasury guidance clarification provides greater certainty on its longer term opportunity.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Occidental (OXY) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $52. The firm is shifting to a more defensive stance in oil exploration and production following the stocks’ outperformance relative to oil over the past two weeks.
• Roth Capital downgraded Range Resources (RRC) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $35, down from $44. The firm downgraded a host of gas stocks, saying Henry Hub natural gas prices may remain challenged well into 2026 due to oversupply conditions.
• Ladenburg double downgraded Nano Nuclear (NNE) Energy to Sell from Buy with a price target of $9, down from $51, following the company’s fiscal Q3 business update. The firm’s hope was that management would streamline its strategy and prioritize core initiatives, particularly the Kronos reactor, but the company instead continues promoting a broad, diversified model, the analyst tells investors.
• DA Davidson downgraded Alta Equipment (ALTG) to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $8. Despite Alta’s expense and overall efficiency efforts and plans to potentially monetize additional fleet, the firm does not see a material, incremental catalyst for the shares at this time, the analyst tells investors.
• BMO Capital downgraded CSX (CSX) to Market Perform from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $38. The firm sees “significant uncertainty” around a takeover deal involving CSX.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of McGraw Hill (MH) with a Buy rating and $18 price target. The company is well positioned to take advantage of artificial intelligence as its content, data and learning science help deliver personalized learning experiences, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Carlsmed (CARL) with an Overweight rating and $18 price target. The firm believes the capital from the initial public offering will Carlsmed with its sales force expansion efforts, driving further surgeon adoption and market penetration.
• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of NIQ (NIQ) with an Overweight rating and $21 price target. The company is well positioned to benefit from rising demand for data and analytics across consumer retail, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Accelerant (ARX) with an Equal Weight rating and $28 price target. The firm says the company is benefiting from the shift of risk into specialty markets with a risk exchange platform, but Accelerant’s current valuation reflects most of its growth opportunities, the analyst says.
• MoffettNathanson initiated coverage of Live Nation (LYV) with a Buy rating and $195 price target. While acknowledging that Live Nation already commands a dominant share of the North American market, the firm sees “multiple growth levers to pull at home” and an overseas footprint that is expanding rapidly.