Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street:
UBS reiterates Micron Technology as buy
UBS raises its price target to $400 per share from $300.
“This week we hosted a series of bullish investor meetings/dinners with MU management (CEO, CFO, and IR). The company struck a positive tone - particularly around the durability of the cycle and we are raising estimates and PT yet again.”
Jefferies downgrades First Solar to hold from buy
Jefferies sees limited visibility for the solar company in 2026.
“We are cautious on FSLR’ in ’26 due to limited booking visibility and emerging strategic questions.”
Citigroup initiates Natera at buy
Citi says the molecular diagnostic and bioinformatics company is best positioned.
“We are initiating coverage on Natera with a Buy rating and a target price of $300.”
Citizens initiates Toll Brothers at market outperform
Citizens says the housing stock is resilient.
“We initiate coverage of Toll Brothers with a Market Outperform rating and $175 price target.”
Baird upgrades Albemarle to outperform from neutral
Baird sees lithium strength for Albemarle.
“We are incrementally positive given the recent increase in lithium prices (now over $15/kg) and our view that demand strength stemming from stationary storage will continue to propel ALB higher.”
Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy
Citi says it walked away from the Consumer Electronics Show more bullish on the stock.
“We attended NVIDIA CEO keynote/financial analyst Q & A and hosted CFO Colette Kress for an investor meeting at CES. Overall, we walked away positive on reasoning led agentic and physical AI demand inflection in 2026.”
BMO downgrades Union Pacific to market perform from outperform
BMO downgrades the railroad due to “elevated regulatory risk.”
“The proposed UNP–NSC merger represents one of the most consequential developments in the rail industry in decades, with the potential to reshape competitive dynamics and the regulatory framework governing U.S. railroads.”
Oppenheimer upgrades McDonald’s to outperform from perform
Oppenheimer says McDonald’s is well positioned for EPS growth in 2026.
“Shares have long been stuck in the ~$300 trading range, and we identify golden opportunity for a break-out. Pushback will center on ‘health trends,’ but mgmt’s work to reposition value perception and create a catalytic innovation pipeline enables a powerful setup.”
Piper Sandler upgrades Colgate-Palmolive to overweight from neutral
Piper sees “improvement coming” for Colgate-Palmolive.
“We expect soft top- and bottom-line momentum to have continued in 4Q25 (especially in the US), but believe growth can accelerate in 2026, with early signs of improvement in EMs. Current pressure looks priced in, and valuation should prove attractive if improvement is coming, as we expect.”
Piper Sandler upgrades Hershey to overweight from neutral
Piper says it sees EPS growth ahead.
“Continued easing of cocoa costs (now no longer inflationary in 2026) and the removal of cocoa tariffs give HSY significant flexibility to both reinvest for growth and grow EPS ahead of its algo.”
Bank of America upgrades Regeneron to buy from underperform
The firm says it’s bullish on Eylea, the company’s treatment for retinal disease.
“Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of antibody therapies for the treatment of eye disorders, inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases.”
Bank of America names Amazon a top idea for 2026
Bank of America says it sees a favorable first half setup for Amazon shares.
“Amazon (Cloud accel., AI deal progress, retail margin expansion).”
Canaccord reiterates Meta as buy
Canaccord says the Instagram and WhatsApp stock is underappreciated.
“META stock pulled back in the latter part of last year, which we believe reflects less direct visibility into AI investment monetization. That said, we believe the market may be underappreciating the impact AI investments are having, and should continue to have, on the core advertising business.”
Evercore ISI reiterates Apple as outperform
Evercore says Apple remains a top idea for 2026.
“AAPL remains our top pick across our hardware coverage, as we believe it’s poised to outperform NT expectations on a strong iPhone cycle and the potential around an AI Siri upgrade.”
Morgan Stanley upgrades ArcelorMittal to overweight from equal weight
Morgan Stanley says the metals and mining company has “compelling operating leverage.”
“We upgrade ArcelorMittal to Overweight, reflecting its compelling operating leverage to a European earnings re-base.”
Barclays upgrades Lowe’s to overweight from equal weight
Barclays says home improvement demand is strengthening.
“We upgrade LOW to OW, from EW, as another way to gain exposure to improving home improvement demand; at ~19x FY26 EPS, it trades in the bottom one-third of our retailers, below all other home improvement/furnishings retailers.”
Barclays upgrades Wayfair to overweight from equal weight
Barclays sees an attractive setup.
“We are Overweight W, as we believe it is now set up to gain market share and deliver better operating leverage, driven by its tech replatforming efforts and shift to various growth initiatives (verified, loyalty, changes to marketing and customer experience), as well as its limited tariff impact and potential to benefit from tax refunds.”
Barclays downgrades BJ’s to underweight from equal weight
The firm sees too many negative catalysts, warranting a downgrade of BJ’s.
“We downgrade our rating to UW, from EW. Our ratings are relative, and while we don’t see a lot of EPS or valuation downside, our concern is around the top line momentum, with difficult comparisons and comp growth lagging peers.”
William Blair initiates Vertical Aerospace at outperform
William Blair says it’s bullish on the urban air mobility company.
“We believe Bristol, U.K.-based Vertical Aerospace is strategically positioned to capture significant share in the nascent but potentially large urban air mobility (UAM) market.”
Baird adds a fresh pick on Under Armour
The research firm sees more upside ahead for the stock.
“We further are initiating a new Bullish Fresh Pick for UAA which we view as a positive trading idea based on expected bottoming fundamentals during the December quarter, low sentiment and valuation ...”
Wells Fargo downgrades Humana to equal weight from overweight
The firm sees a rough backdrop for hospitals in 2026 affecting insurers like Humana.
“We are more cautious on achievability of HUM’s margin objective in 2026 given lack of benefit cuts and downgrade to EW. We would plan to revisit HUM thesis with greater clarity on underwriting.”
Truist upgrades Bank of New York Mellon to buy from hold
Truist says the investment bank deserves a “premium valuation.”
“In our view, BK is increasingly justifying a premium valuation for proven ability to balance growth, investment, & efficiency, and see further runway to improve.”
