Texas Instruments upgraded, Avis 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.

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Top 5 Upgrades:

• BofA upgraded Texas Instruments (TXN) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $320, up from $235. The company’s “solid” Q1 report and Q2 guidance increases the firm’s confidence in TI’s ability to benefit from industrial resurgence, take advantage in data-center build, and leverage the last three years of capex in U.S. fabs to potentially gain share in an “everything-is-constrained” chip environment, the firm tells investors. Barclays also upgraded Texas Instruments but to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $250, up from $175.
• Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded McDonald’s (MCD) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $306, up from $260. The firm says McDonald’s has executed its most comprehensive value reset since the Dollar Menu era. income households” for McDonald’s, contends Rothschild.
• Craig-Hallum upgraded STMicroelectronics (STM) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $58, up from $28. The firm sees strength in microcontroller unit pricing as a long-term benefit to STMicroelectronics.
• Nephron Research upgraded Boston Scientific (BSX) to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $85 post the Q1 report. The company reset expectations, which “clears a path” for share outperformance, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• BofA upgraded Murphy USA (MUSA) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $550, up from $350. Fuel prices are volatile again and history shows that fuel price swings create outsized upside opportunity for fuel margins and EPS given Murphy’s low-cost operating model, says the firm, which is raising the firm’s 2026-28 EPS estimates by 26%, 18% and 11%, respectively, as BofA sees continued volatility, higher prices and increased traffic benefitting the company’s fuel operations.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• JPMorgan downgraded Avis Budget (CAR) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $165, up from $123. The shares are trading at an “unsustainable valuation” that is not supported by the company’s fundamentals, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Raymond James downgraded Deckers Outdoor (DECK) to Outperform from Strong Buy with an unchanged price target of $133. The firm cites valuation for the downgrade with the shares up 11% since the January 29 earnings report.
• Citi downgraded MSG Sports (MSGS) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $355, up from $337. The firm cites valuation for the downgrade following the stock’s recent rally.
• BMO Capital downgraded ASGN (ASGN) to Market Perform from Outperform with a $33 price target. The firm is reducing estimates following “disappointing” Q1 results and “weak” Q2 guidance. Truist also downgraded ASGN to Hold from Buy with a price target of $33, down from $60.
• B. Riley downgraded Century Communities (CCS) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $64, down from $75. Century reported Q1 adjusted EPS that beat consensus, but the beat was mostly non-recurring and if one strips out those impacts core EPS was 32% below consensus, the firm tells investors.

Top 5 Initiations:

• HSBC initiated coverage of Oklo (OKLO) with a Buy rating and $96 price target. The firm believes the company is positioned to leverage the new Department of Energy-led licensing process for its 75 MW Aurora powerhouses and fuel foundry.
• Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage of Datadog (DDOG) with a Buy rating and $170 price target. The firm believes Datadog offers a “best-in-class growth profile” and will be a “structural winner.” Rothschild also started coverage of Palantir (PLTR) with a Buy rating.
• Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage of Dynatrace (DT) with a Neutral rating and $40 price target. The firm says that despite trading at a post-optimization low and demonstrating an improving pipeline, it sees no clear near-term catalyst for the stock to work, with near-term earnings risk. Rothschild also started coverage of Elastic (ESTC) with a Neutral rating.
• Northland initiated coverage of USA Rare Earth (USAR) with an Outperform rating and $45 price target. With greater than $3B in liquidity and ownership of one of the few producing mines outside of China, the firm thinks USA Rare Earth is “poised to be one of the first rare earth supply chain solutions fully outside of China.”
• KeyBanc initiated coverage of Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) with an Overweight rating and $572 price target. The firm says Sterling’s “industry-high” margins reflects its pivot to a premier infrastructure services company with exposure to the fastest growing end markets.