Philip Morris, Intel, Oklo, Arm, Datadog Trending With Analysts

Analysts are intrested in these 5 stocks: ( (PM) ), ( (INTC) ), ( (OKLO) ), ( (ARM) ) and ( (DDOG) ). Here is a breakdown of their recent ratings and the rationale behind them.

Philip Morris is drawing a more cautious stance from analysts, even as it remains one of the strongest names in global tobacco. Jefferies analyst Andrei Andon-Ionita has downgraded the stock to Hold with a price target of $180, arguing that while Philip Morris still boasts powerful cigarette brands, an attractive exposure to slower‑declining emerging markets, and leadership in heated tobacco (IQOS) and oral nicotine pouches (ZYN), the near‑term upside now looks limited. His team has trimmed 2026 growth expectations and earnings forecasts to reflect a slowdown in U.S. nicotine pouch growth and mounting competition in heated tobacco, especially from British American Tobacco in pouches and Japan Tobacco in Japan’s heated segment. Given the shares already trade at a premium valuation and the categories that fueled its re‑rating are decelerating, he sees little room for further re‑rating next year and considers the stock more of a long‑term quality hold than a near‑term outperformer.

Intel, by contrast, is suddenly back in favor with multiple analysts who see AI‑driven demand reshaping its outlook. HSBC’s Frank Lee has upgraded Intel from Reduce to Hold and lifted his target price to $50, highlighting what he calls an “agentic AI” wave that should drive much stronger demand for general‑purpose server CPUs than the market currently expects. He forecasts 2026 server shipments rising 15–20% year‑on‑year, well above Street assumptions, as AI evolves from simple chatbots to autonomous software agents that require more CPU power alongside GPUs. While he remains cautious on the visibility and execution risks in Intel’s foundry business, he notes growing engagement with external customers and believes the potential upside in the core data‑center division is not fully priced in, justifying a higher valuation multiple and a neutral, rather than bearish, stance.

Adding to the bullish drumbeat, Seaport’s Jay Goldberg has gone further and upgraded Intel to Buy with a $65 price target, signaling deeper conviction that the turnaround is gaining traction. Goldberg points to “strong signals” from Intel’s PC products and a notably improving outlook for Intel Foundry Services as key reasons for the upgrade from Neutral. While details of his model are reserved for clients, the tone suggests that both the traditional PC business and the nascent foundry arm are beginning to look less like structural drags and more like future earnings drivers. When combined with HSBC’s view of upside in server CPUs from agentic AI, investors are now seeing a multi‑pronged thesis: a recovering PC cycle, a resurgent data‑center CPU franchise, and a slowly normalizing foundry narrative. That combination has turned Intel into a name being actively re‑evaluated by the Street, moving from defensive avoid to potential AI‑leveraged beneficiary.

Oklo Inc., a much smaller but more speculative name, is quickly becoming one of the most closely watched plays on the future of power for AI and data centers. Bank of America analyst Dimple Gosai has upgraded Oklo to Buy with a raised price objective of $127, following a landmark, binding agreement with Meta to develop a roughly 1.2GW advanced nuclear campus. Crucially for investors, the Meta deal includes upfront prepayments—$25 million already committed for Phase 1—that help fund fuel procurement, site work and early development even before final power purchase agreements are signed. Gosai argues that this is exactly the kind of tangible “execution” evidence investors have been waiting for in advanced nuclear: a major blue‑chip customer willing to commit capital years ahead of delivery, before interconnects, licenses, and PPAs are fully in place, signaling strong belief in nuclear as a core solution to exploding AI‑driven power demand.

The upgrade on Oklo also comes with a defense of the company’s broader pipeline and strategy amid noisy headlines. Some investors had worried that Switch’s decision to add a small geothermal contract might signal waning commitment to nuclear, but Gosai sees that roughly 13MW geothermal PPA, starting around 2030, as incremental rather than a replacement for the multi‑gigawatt nuclear capacity contemplated in the Oklo/Switch memorandum of understanding. In updated forecasts, she models the Meta campus as four phases, around 16 reactors coming online between 2030 and 2036 and total cumulative prepayments of about $170 million over 2026–2029. While the megawatt additions versus prior assumptions are modest, the confidence boost is significant: projected 2036 revenue rises to $5.9 billion, with 6.7GW deployed and 117 units in the field. Combined with higher peer multiples for the broader small modular reactor space, this supports the new $127 target and frames Oklo as one of the most levered public stocks to long‑duration, data‑center power demand.

Arm Holdings is also back in the spotlight as analysts bet that a recent share price slump has gone too far in light of a powerful data‑center and AI roadmap. Susquehanna’s Christopher Rolland has upgraded Arm from Neutral to Positive (effectively a Buy call) and reiterated a $150 price target after the stock suffered a roughly 40% correction amid concerns about higher memory prices weighing on mobile and PC markets. Rolland sees that weakness as an opportunity, arguing that investors are overly focused on cyclical headwinds while overlooking two potentially transformational initiatives: an AI accelerator (XPU ASIC) co‑developed with SoftBank and Broadcom for OpenAI, and a custom server CPU design, likely for Meta, that would be Arm’s first full silicon product. These moves would push Arm beyond its traditional IP‑licensing model into richer, system‑level offerings, expanding both its total addressable market and its royalty pool in the data center. Layered on top of that are ongoing shifts from v8 to v9 architecture, higher royalty CSS‑based smartphone chips ramping at major OEMs, and continued server share gains at hyperscalers, all of which Rolland believes could drive royalty growth well beyond the modest ~10% contribution investors currently model.

Datadog, finally, is emerging again as a growth story that many on the Street may be underestimating, particularly in its core business outside of its high‑profile AI offerings. Stifel’s Brad Reback has upgraded the stock to Buy and lifted his target price to $160, arguing that recent channel checks point to another “larger than typical” quarterly beat for the fourth quarter, powered by accelerating momentum in Datadog’s core observability and monitoring products. He expects non‑OAI (non‑OpenAI) revenue growth to top 23% year‑over‑year, with Datadog likely guiding 2026 sales to around $4.1 billion, implying roughly 19%+ core growth while assuming AI‑related revenues maintain a steady run‑rate. Reback highlights the payoff from ramped‑up sales and marketing spend over the past 18 months, pointing to a reacceleration in large‑customer additions and record new‑logo bookings. With newer offerings—such as CloudPrem, digital experience monitoring, security tools, service management and its Bits AI features—starting to contribute, and with the company signaling it will continue investing aggressively to sustain high growth, he believes current valuation of about 8x 2027 sales and 30x 2027 free cash flow looks appealing for a name showing underlying acceleration.