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What has Wall Street been buzzing about this week? Here is a 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 Jan. 6-10, 2025. First, here are the top 5 buy calls of the week.

1. New Street Upgrades Tesla to Buy on Auto Growth, Stabilizing Margins

New Street upgraded Tesla (TSLA) to Buy from Neutral with a $460 price target. The company's growth in autos should reaccelerate with the launch of lower-cost models, and its gross margins should stabilize as Tesla "reduces costs as fast as prices," the firm tells investors in a research note.

Meanwhile, New Street says Tesla's full self-driving progress is accelerating, which strengthens the view that the company could launch a partially unsupervised version and robotaxi test fleets this year. While the road "is still long and arduous towards scale deployments," the stock price will further reflect the opportunity, contends the firm.

New Street sees "significant long-term upside," up to a $4.7 trillion market cap in 2030, if Tesla moves the full self-driving opportunity towards a "dominant fleet of robotaxi." It views the risk/reward of owning the stock as positive.

2. Disney Upgraded to Buy at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic upgraded Disney (DIS) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $147, up from $100. Disney is "finally" at a point where streaming profit growth will more than offset linear TV declines after years of cord-cutting pressures, which is "an important moment" that signals the end of "a structural headwind that has curtailed Disney share price appreciation to just 20% over the past ten years," the firm tells investors.

Management's decision to issue three-year guidance "looks well founded," with a renaissance in content performance and streaming on a more solid footing, Redburn added.

3. Citi Upgrades Carvana to Buy on "Dislocation" Post Short Report

Citi upgraded Carvana (CVNA) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $277, up from $195. The firm believes Carvana is ramping inventory to meet growing demand and is doing so more efficiently. Citi cites improving new-vehicle supply unlocking used demand, and the firm says Carvana inventory is expanding to meet demand.

Citi's website tracking suggests Carvana's sales could come in 7% above consensus. The firm reviewed the recent short report on the shares and post Carvana's organizational changes that began in 2022, and it believes the company is better positioned across most facets of its organization. With the shares down 22% since the recent highs on Dec. 16, investors should "take advantage of the dislocation in shares," contends Citi.

Carvana Upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital

RBC Capital upgraded Carvana to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $280, up from $270. After Carvana's "remarkable turnaround" last year, RBC sees the "controversial pullback" in the shares as an opportunity.

The firm's bottom-up cohort analysis implies retail unit upside at Carvana, particularly as supply improves. It believes the company's gross profit per unit levels are largely sustainable, despite recent concerns, and is "intrigued" at Carvana's marketplace opportunity. RBC expects "marginal" balance sheet improvement going forward as the company illuminates a clearer path to real free cash flow.

4. Autodesk Upgraded to Overweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded Autodesk (ADSK) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $357, up from $311. While the "efficiency narrative" has been building since mid-last year, the post-Q3 pullback in the shares has created an attractive entry point for a stock "that felt a little crowded on the long side" for much of the last six months, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Entering 2025, Piper sees a cleaner path for outperformance in the shares, which it believes are less reliant on better revenue growth via cyclical recovery and instead on Autodesk-specific margin initiatives.

5. Wells Upgrades Snowflake on Favorable Position into 2025

Wells Fargo upgraded Snowflake (SNOW) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $200, up from $150. The firm says the 2025 setup for software is "showing shades" of 2024, leading to questions around if the sector setting up for another first half of the year pullback or more sustained momentum.

Wells' year-end chief investment office survey suggests "incrementally healthier budget growth" in 2025 versus 2024, with 95% of respondents suggesting budget growth in 2025. Snowflake shares appear more favorably positioned heading into 2025, potentially set to benefit from a "budding" product cycle, a possible rotation towards software, and a more attractive entry point with the recent pullback from highs, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Next, here are the top 5 sell calls of the week.

1. MoffettNathanson Says Sell Apple Amid "Steady Drumbeat of Bad News"

MoffettNathanson downgraded Apple (AAPL) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $188, arguing that despite the "steady melt-up" in Apple shares over the past few months, there has "actually been a steady drumbeat of bad news."

The news that the analyst highlights includes a federal Judge having declared the payments Google (GOOGL) makes to Apple each year for default search position to be illegal; Apple's position in China having "steadily weakened;" and the Vision Pro having "disappointed even the low expectations that had been set for it."

The incoming Trump Administration is likely to exempt Apple from import tariffs, but there is "a genuine risk" that Apple will be targeted with retaliatory tariffs in countries negatively impacted by U.S. import duties, the firm added. However, more important than any of this bad news, is the lukewarm response consumers have given Apple's first suite of AI features, concludes MoffettNathanson, which calls the outlook for Apple's shares given this challenging backdrop "decidedly unattractive."

2. HSBC Says AMD Can't Compete with Nvidia in 2025, Double Downgrades Shares

HSBC downgraded AMD (AMD) to Reduce from Buy with a price target of $110, down from $200. AMD shares price have corrected by 24% in the past three months but there remains further downside, the firm tells investors in a research note. HSBC sees additional downside as it now believes the company's artificial intelligence graphics processing unit roadmap is less competitive than previously thought.

HSBC thinks AMD will be able to penetrate the AI GPU market as much as it had earlier anticipated. In particular, the firm sees downside to AMD's AI GPU momentum in the first half of 2025 given "lukewarm demand" for the company's new MI325 GPU. HSBC expects AMD to see lower high-bandwidth memory in MI325 due to Samsung's (SSNLF) ongoing struggles with ramping up its higher spec HBM3e.

AMD is unlikely to have an AI rack solution to compete with Nvidia's (NVDA) NVL rack platform until late 2025 or early 2026, the firm says. As such, it lowered its "previous bullish" fiscal 2025 AI GPU revenue forecast from $12.3 billion to $8.1 billion, which is significantly below the consensus estimate of $9.5 billion.

3. Palo Alto Networks Downgraded to Sell at Guggenheim on Declining New ARR

Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $130. The stock is up 40% from its Feb. 21 low of the last year despite the fact that Palo Alto has reported "several questionable" quarters over the last year or more and even though new ARR for the total business has declined in each of the last five quarters, the firm tells investors.

While Guggenheim says it understands investors' confidence that management will do "whatever it takes to succeed as the leading market share vendor in cyber security," it cannot help but consider its overall business performance, field checks that indicate subtle softening in momentum over the last year, and expected Federal IT spending moderation, the firm added.

4. Salesforce Downgraded to Sell at Guggenheim after Agentforce-Driven Rally

Guggenheim downgraded Salesforce (CRM) to Sell from Neutral with a $247 price target. Salesforce has rallied about 30% in the four months since it introduced Agentforce in late August, notes the firm, which does not believe that Salesforce will meaningfully monetize Agentforce unless it acquires several assets that "have been doing, over the past decade, what Agentforce aspires to do."

Salesforce's status as a system of record "gives it staying power, but in our view doesn't give it any advantage in providing AI solutions that require dynamic data with rich context," Guggenheim added.

5. JPMorgan Cuts Two Air Taxi Hopefuls to Underweight 

JPMorgan downgraded Joby Aviation (JOBY) and Archer Aviation (ACHR) to Underweight from Neutral. While the stocks are "marginally more de-risked" than the 2023 period, the shares are trading as though type certification has already been successfully completed, the analyst tells investors. The firm believes the fundamental story for both appears to be largely unchanged and "still mostly binary," hinging on certification.

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