Notable analyst calls this week: Sarepta, Cisco and UBS among top picks
Jun. 21, 2025 9:37 AM ET
By: Tiyashi Datta, SA News Editor
The S&P500 ( SP500) closed in the red, with investors keeping a close eye on the escalating tensions in the Middle East.
For the week, Both Nasdaq ( COMP:IND) and Dow ( DJI) declined 0.8%.
Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:
Sarepta downgraded after suspending guidance following Elevidys death
Wall Street analysts downgraded Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) as the company suspended its 2025 revenue guidance following a second fatality linked to Elevidys, its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
H.C. Wainwright was among at least four brokerages, including Bank of America and Piper Sandler, to downgrade Sarepta in reaction to the news.
"While these two deaths occurred in non-ambulatory patients, we view the risk profile as now heightened for all DMD patients," Reuters reported, quoting H.C. Wainwright analyst Raghuram Selvaraju.
William Blair also downgraded Sarepta to Market perform from Outperform saying the company has limited near-term upside as a result of a decline in its peak revenue opportunity.
Deutsche Bank upgrades Cisco to Buy
Deutsche Bank upgraded Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Buy with a $73 price target on the stock.
Analyst Matt Niknam said that their upgrade is based on points including improved visibility towards durable mid-single-digit growth in upcoming years, with tailwinds from AI, more favorable near-term competitive dynamics in Networking and improved scale in Security.
Niknam also noted that high-single-digit (7% to 8%) EPS Compounded Annual Growth Rate, or CAGR and stable margins.
UBS downgraded on uncertainty, capital headwinds
Morgan Stanley downgraded Swiss lender UBS Group (NYSE: UBS) to Underweight from Equal-weight, citing that uncertainty and capital headwinds are expected to continue to weigh on the share price for the foreseeable future.
"We lower our buyback assumption to $3B from 2026 onwards. We also incorporate recent guidance from a sell-side conference. All in, 2025-28e EPS move down by 5% on average," said analyst Giulia Aurora Miotto and reduced PT to CHF26.
Sunrun downgraded by RBC
RBC downgraded Sunrun (NASDAQ: RUN) to Sector Perform from Outperform and slashed its PT to $5 from $12, after the U.S. Senate's latest changes to President Trump's tax and spending bill signalled the potential elimination of residential solar leasing tax credits, causing concerns about the company's cash generation and cost competitiveness.
The analyst noted elevated soft costs in the U.S. solar market, including higher sales and marketing expenses, permitting fees, and overheads, with U.S. residential system costs in the $2.25-$3.25/watt range, well above European benchmarks of $1.50-$2.50/watt.
Pivotal Research gave music streaming giant Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) a $100 price target hike to $900 while maintaining its bullish stance and remaining optimistic about the company's market position. Analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak believes the company continues to excel in the global audio streaming sector with its superior user interface and its best-in-class recommendation algorithm, adding that it still has room for growth and can maintain strong subscriber growth in tandem with price hikes.
Wedbush kept its Outperform rating on Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and raised the price target on the stock to $150 from $130 ahead of the company's fiscal third quarter results on June 25. Analyst Matt Bryson believes memory pricing trends turned more positive in the calendar second quarter. The brokerage also raised PT on International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) to $325 from $300, citing the company's next phase of AI growth.
Citi started its coverage on COVID shot maker Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) with a Sell recommendation and a PT of $6, citing among other issues concerns over the company’s product pipeline dominated by respiratory vaccines. |
