Reddit initiated, Target 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:

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Lockheed Martin (LMT) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $575, up from $525. Concerns over the trajectory of U.S. defense spending and potential Department of Government Efficiency headwinds have kept defense investors largely on the sidelines, but a number of developments over the past few weeks point to an improving sector backdrop, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Caterpillar (CAT) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $283, down from $300. To reflect the “dynamic macro backdrop,” the firm adjusted 2025 machinery and construction estimates lower, moved bear cases to reflect a recession, and make key ratings changes reflective of an updated risk/reward analysis, tariff risk and demand conditions.
• Mizuho upgraded Cloudflare (NET) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $135, down from $140. The firm’s recent channel checks on Cloudflare were more favorable than expected, and included strengthening pipelines, large-deal activity, and growing traction with Workers AI.
• Needham upgraded Boston Scientific (BSX) to Buy from Hold with a $113 price target. Needham’s latest electrophysiologist survey shows the threat of pulsed field ablation competition appears less severe than previously anticipated, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Redburn Atlantic upgraded Union Pacific (UNP) to Buy from Neutral with a $259 price target. The company has made “material progress” over the past 18 months, improving service, trimming headcount, and growing volumes, the firm says.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Goldman Sachs downgraded Target (TGT) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $101, down from $142. The firm cites concerns around seeing a recovery in growth for discretionary categories, more downside risk in earnings than upside given possible sales deleverage and tariff risk, and recent data indicating Target’s sales may be slowing for the downgrade.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded General Dynamics (GD) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $305, down from $315. Morgan Stanley sees General Dynamics as relatively more exposed to tariff headwinds versus its prime peers given its Gulfstream business and higher DOGE risks from its Technologies business.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Ecolab (ECL) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $240, down from $265. The firm expects Ecolab to guide down organic constant currency growth but maintains its earnings outlook from lower-than-expected currency headwinds and “aggressive” cost cutting.
• Piper Sandler downgraded Epam Systems (EPAM) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $170, down from $251. The firm believes the company’s Q1 results will likely be in-line, but sees greater risk for second half numbers
• JPMorgan downgraded U.S. Steel (X) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $38, down from $43. The firm views U.S. Steel shares as relatively fairly valued, and says the stock is likely to see a “knee-jerk pullback” when and if and Nippon deal is blocked.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Reddit (RDDT) with an Outperform rating and $125 price target. Following 49% stock pullback since February 19, the firm believes investors are properly discounting medium-term risks, reliance on Google (GOOGL), difficult Q2 daily average users comparison, weak international engagement, and risk of monetization wall.
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Lyft (LYFT) with an Outperform rating and $15 price target. The firm expects rideshare will continue to challenge the rising cost of car ownership, sustaining double-digit growth for multiple marketplaces.
• Argus initiated coverage of Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) with a Buy rating and $40 price target. Given its large-scale retail distribution and broad selection of products that appeal to a variety of tastes and times of day, Keurig Dr. Pepper provides investors an opportunity to profit from the growing domestic non-alcoholic beverage market, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Scotiabank initiated coverage of Paylocity (PCTY) with a Sector Perform rating and $190 price target. The firm leans positive on the company’s upcoming fiscal Q3 earnings print, but says the company’s organic recurring revenue growth could slow to low double digits exiting fiscal 2025.
• RBC Capital initiated coverage of Ascendis Pharma (ASND) with an Outperform rating and $205 price target. The stock has outperformed the S&P Biotech ETF XBI lately, but the firm sees more upside from here given that its extensive checks with multiple docs suggest that Yorvipath will be an EUR 3B drug.