Wall Street Ratings Recap for Tuesday: Apple, Tesla, Palantir, Oracle and More
Claire Weston
Wall Street firms issued a wave of rating changes Tuesday — upgrades in tech and energy, downgrades across mortgage names — a split that reflects opposing bets on interest-rate trajectory and oil prices.
Tech and AI — who got upgraded, and why?
Wolfe Research upgraded Palantir from underperform to peer perform, citing the best product-market fit in enterprise software and industry-leading growth.
Citi maintained a buy on Apple, pointing to margin expansion (ex-tariffs), rising services mix, gradual Apple Intelligence rollout, and a strong balance sheet — four pillars supporting the valuation premium.
Piper Sandler kept Oracle at buy, naming it a top pick for H2; ongoing debt and capital management are key supports.
UBS upgraded Dynatrace from neutral to buy. Channel checks show strong core APM — application performance monitoring, tools that track how software runs — demand, log-business traction, and early AI tailwinds.
Tesla and CoreWeave — no rating change, but the numbers moved?
Goldman Sachs held Tesla at neutral but raised Q2 delivery estimates to 420,000 units (from 405,000). This means → Goldman expects actual deliveries to beat consensus, yet the valuation case hasn't tipped to a higher rating.
Cantor Fitzgerald kept CoreWeave at overweight, citing a 6.2× EV/EBITDA valuation. In plain terms = the stock still looks cheap relative to earnings power ahead of Q2 results.
Energy and real estate — why upgrade now?
BofA upgraded ExxonMobil from neutral to buy, arguing the stock already prices in long-term oil at roughly $65/barrel with limited fundamental downside. This means → if a peace deal fails to materialize and oil rebounds, Exxon benefits — BofA calls it a "free call option."
BofA also upgraded Kilroy Realty to buy the same day, raising the target from $42 to $44 on improving market demand and a discount to peers.
Mortgage names — why the group downgrade?
BTIG cut Rocket Companies, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac from buy to neutral in one move, on a single thesis: persistent rate pressure. In plain terms = high rates are choking mortgage demand with no near-term relief in sight.
Yet BTIG simultaneously initiated Better Home & Finance at buy with a $36 target, calling it undervalued. This reflects a selective call within the sector, not a blanket bearish view.
Other new initiations — where are firms looking?
DA Davidson initiated Lincoln Electric at buy, target $320, framing it as an "industrial compounder."
Wedbush initiated Flutter at outperform, target $138, citing upside from prediction markets.
Melius initiated nVent Electric at buy, target $214, based on 30× its 2028E EPS of $7.15.
TD Cowen initiated Stevanato Group at buy, target $25, arguing the market is too pessimistic on capacity-ramp costs.
Life sciences — who picked up new coverage?
Raymond James initiated Aktis Oncology at strong buy, target $40.
JPMorgan upgraded Camp4 Therapeutics from neutral to overweight, raising the target from $5 to $9 with a December 2027 time frame.
Benchmark initiated Prenetics Global at buy, bullish on the growth runway of its nutrition-supplement brand IM8.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.