Wall Street Analysts' Latest Stock Ratings: Upgrades, Downgrades, and New Coverage

by : Mariana Mazzucato

This compilation provides an overview of the most influential and widely discussed analyst recommendations from Wall Street. It details recent upgrades, downgrades, and new coverage initiations that are essential for investors to understand current market perspectives and potential shifts in stock valuations.

Significant Analyst Upgrades and Their Driving Factors

Bank of America Global Research elevated Intel's rating, citing increased confidence in the semiconductor giant's capacity to address industry supply constraints in advanced wafer and packaging technologies, alongside its potential to capture a larger share of the burgeoning agentic CPU market. Similarly, Jefferies upgraded General Dynamics, attributing the positive revision to the consistent double-digit growth in the company's marine segment over the past few years. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group, projecting that the company stands to gain significantly from the structural tailwinds of retail trading, prediction markets, and ledger technology efficiencies, suggesting a substantial upside for the stock.

Further reinforcing positive market sentiment, BTIG upgraded Henry Schein, noting the overall health of the dental market and the company's successful cost-reduction strategies that led to improved margins in the first quarter. Jefferies also raised its rating for Arthur J. Gallagher, recognizing that while its organic growth has normalized with pricing moderation, it remains robust and positions the company at the top end of its peer group in terms of performance through 2028. These upgrades reflect strong underlying business fundamentals, strategic market positioning, and favorable industry trends that are expected to drive future growth and profitability for these corporations.

Key Downgrades and New Coverage Initiations Impacting Market Dynamics

MoffettNathanson initiated a downgrade for Chewy, moving it from Buy to Neutral, following the company's first-quarter results and a weaker-than-expected guidance. The firm expressed concerns over unimpressive organic growth, heightened macroeconomic sensitivity, customer acquisition rates falling below prior estimates, and a more conservative margin outlook. Rothschild & Co Redburn also downgraded MarketAxess, citing increased competition from Tradeweb and Trumid, which has eroded its market dominance in electronic trading of U.S. credit, reducing its market share to approximately 38% in 2025.

Leerink downgraded Procept BioRobotics to Market Perform as its stock approached the firm's previous price target, with discussions with key opinion leaders suggesting potential headwinds from increasing competition in prostate artery embolization. Morgan Stanley issued downgrades for both Alexandria Real Estate and Healthpeak Properties. For Alexandria Real Estate, the downgrade was due to anticipated headwinds in life science occupancy and an expected decline in Funds From Operations (FFO) per share due to asset sales and rising interest costs. Healthpeak Properties' downgrade, despite expected improvements in life science occupancy, was attributed to elevated leasing costs and potential downtimes, which are likely to impact earnings in the coming years. Additionally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage of SpaceX with an Outperform rating ahead of its IPO, foreseeing significant potential from leveraging terrestrial compute expertise for scale and cost advantages. Other notable initiations included Wolfe Research covering Super Micro with a Peer Perform rating, highlighting both AI-driven opportunities and various risks such as margin pressure and governance issues, and Piper Sandler initiating coverage on several life science tools companies with Neutral ratings.