Wall Street's Top 10 Stock Calls This Week - Saturday, April 5
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What has Wall Street been buzzing about this week? Here is a quick look at the top 5 buy calls and the top 5 sell calls made by Wall Street's best analysts during the trading week of March 31-April 4, 2025. First, here are the top 5 buy calls of the week.
1. CrowdStrike Initiated With an Overweight at Stephens
Stephens initiated coverage of CrowdStrike (CRWD) with an Overweight rating and a $450 price target. CrowdStrike has evolved into one of the largest cybersecurity platform providers, notes the firm, which believes that "scale matters in general and in cybersecurity specifically."
CrowdStrike's scale provides it with a competitive advantage, and Stephens thinks the company is well-positioned to benefit from an ongoing shift by customers to strategic cybersecurity platform providers.
2. Okta Initiated With an Overweight at Cantor with Demand Inflection Underway
Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Okta (OKTA) with an Overweight rating and a price target of $130. Okta, "a leader in the identity security space," has encountered growth challenges of late, notes the firm, which forecasts "just" 10% growth in FY26.
However, the company's history of aggressive acquisitions and its flexible balance sheet suggest further deals are possible. With "solid margins," Cantor forecasts 25% operating and 26% free cash flow margins in FY26, adding that it believes "a meaningful demand inflection is underway."
3. Daiwa Upgrades Broadcom to Outperform on "Four Strong Drivers"
Daiwa upgraded Broadcom (AVGO) to Buy from Outperform with a price target of $225, down from $275. The firm sees "four strong drivers" for Broadcom in 2025 and going forward into the future.
The drivers are the company's application-specific integrated circuit processors, networking, the VMware acquisition continuing to provide growth, and core semiconductor business, which is getting close to growing after two weak years, Daiwa tells investors in a research note. The firm says that with the shares down 33% from the recent December 2024 high, Broadcom looks "attractive at these levels."
4. Ulta Beauty Upgraded to Buy at Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs upgraded Ulta Beauty (ULTA) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $423, up from $384. The firm believes the bottom has likely been reached regarding concerns with prestige and mass beauty industry growth.
Ulta could report comparable sales momentum in Q1 and fiscal 2025 as its quarter-to-date trends appear supportive of the current comp guidance with some acceleration in sales observed recently, the firm tells investors in a research note.
Goldman adds that the company's monthly active users have been trending higher since November 2024 after a year of little sequential growth. Further, tariff risk is low for Ulta, "while the stock has seen pressure but proved resilient during recessionary periods," the firm adds.
5. Wingstop Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies
Jefferies upgraded Wingstop (WING) to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $270. The shares appear to be oversold with a valuation "now overly discounting" Wingstop's higher unit and EBITDA growth versus peers, the firm tells investors in a research note.
Jefferies says the company's same-store-sales moderation is now well understood and overlooks Wingstop's underlying traffic and low-teens unit growth. The firm thinks visibility into same-store-sales improving and additional drivers in kitchen artificial intelligence sets the company up for potential surprises beyond 2025.
Next, here are the top 5 sell calls of the week.
1. Lyft Double Downgraded to Underperform at BofA on AV Overhang
BofA double downgraded Lyft (LYFT) to Underperform from Buy with a price target of $10.50, down from $17.50, citing what the firm views as "substantial AV risk," especially Waymo's (GOOGL) rapid expansion in San Francisco and Los Angeles and Lyft's lack of scalable autonomous vehicle partnerships launching in the near-term.
The firm still sees long-term potential for Lyft in the AV ecosystem, but given its still-nascent partnerships, BofA is "losing confidence in near-term upside."
2. Nordstrom Downgraded to Sell at Citi
Citi downgraded Nordstrom (JWN) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $22, down from $25. While the stocks in the specialty softlines and department store group declined 15% on average following President Trump's tariff announcement, Nordstrom only declined 2% because there is a pending deal for the Nordstrom family and Liverpool to purchase the company at $24.25 per share, the firm tells investors in a research note.
Citi says that with Nordstrom recently trading at around $23.96, the risk/reward "skews negative." The transaction "may very well go through as planned, but given the circumstances, the probability is not 100%," contends the firm. If the deal does not go through as proposed, Citi sees "significant downside (as much as 30%)."
3. Kroger Downgraded to Sell at Melius on Walmart Competition
Melius Research downgraded Kroger (KR) to Sell from Hold with a $58 price target, citing the fact that Walmart (WMT) is gaining share across most categories due to the latter's "significant" price gaps to conventional operators, "significantly improved" service levels and fresh offerings, and its "clear advantage on digital."
In addition, the firm calls out Kroger's own issues, including a lack of a permanent CEO and a CFO who is "unseasoned in grocery retail."
4. Southwest Downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies on Lower Estimates
Jefferies downgraded Southwest (LUV) to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $28, down from $30, as the firm lowered Q1 and Q2 estimates. The firm sees March exit rates pressuring summer while corporate and consumer sentiment are seen as remaining soft on "swelling macro uncertainty."
Jefferies expects American (AAL), Southwest, and Air Canada (ACDVF) must cut their 2025 outlooks, and that Delta (DAL) likely will too, the firm added in a note on the North American airlines group.
5. Monness Crespi Cut Strategy to Sell, Says Convertible Strategy "Likely Tapped"
Monness Crespi downgraded Strategy (MSTR) to Sell from Neutral with a $220 price target. The firm argues that the lower-than-expected absorption of preferreds "highlights limits" to the company's Bitcoin treasury aspirations, and adds that it has gained "incremental confidence that the convertible issuance strategy is likely tapped."
Monness reminds investors that Strategy this year is expected to more heavily rely upon fixed income issuance to make its planned Bitcoin purchases.
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