Best Buy downgraded, Bristol Myers upgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

Best Buy downgraded, Bristol Myers upgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

Wed, August 5, 2026 at 4:40 PM GMT+3 4 min read

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today's research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades:

• Argus upgraded Bristol Myers (BMY) to Buy from Hold with a $75 price target. Bristol Myers is showing signs of a turnaround as growth products and new launches improve margins, while raised 2026 earnings guidance and potential M&A interest from AstraZeneca (AZN) provide additional upside catalysts, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Freedom Broker upgraded McDonald's (MCD) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $305, down from $320. The company reported softer than expected revenue and weaker comparable sales growth in the U.S., the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Humana (HUM) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $370, up from $249. The firm cites improving visibility into Medicare Advantage cost trends for the upgrade.

• JPMorgan upgraded Expeditors (EXPD) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $200, up from $144. The firm believes Expeditors' momentum should be further supported by an "unprecedented restructuring effort" by its new management.

• Bernstein upgraded Elf Beauty (ELF) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $113, up from $60. The firm believes the company has the "most relevant operating model for today's consumer" with social media fluency, "rapid innovation cycles, and a viral-prone approach to new product development."

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Best Buy (BBY) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $85, down from $89. The firm says consumer purchase intentions for Best Buy "reveal a clear downshift" in July, which does not bode well for the hardest compare of 2026 in Q3.

• Stifel downgraded TransDigm (TDG) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $1,405, down from $1,525. The firm views the company's fiscal Q3 report as strong but sees "rising risks" holding back the stock's valuation.

• Citi downgraded Burlington Stores (BURL) to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $380. The firm cites valuation for the downgrade with the shares near the price target.

• UBS downgraded FIS (FIS) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $49, down from $63. The firm cites the company's reduced 2026 revenue and profitability guidance for the downgrade.

• Freedom Broker downgraded Illumina (ILMN) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $185, up from $155. The firm says the company's "strong quarter reinforces Illumina's accelerating fundamental growth story," but believes much of the upside is priced in at current share levels.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of Burlington Stores (BURL) and TJX (TJX) with Overweight ratings, and Ross Stores (ROST) with an Equal Weight. The firm views off-price as one of the highest-quality areas within softlines retail, supported by a structurally advantaged business model that drives more consistent operating performance than traditional apparel retail.

• TD Cowen initiated coverage of Ceco Environmental (CECO) with a Buy rating and $85 price target. The company is in the "sweet spot" of providing critical infrastructure into a broadening and diversifying global power buildout, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Obsidian Therapeutics (OBX) with an Overweight rating and $42 price target. The firm believes the company is well positioned to become the market leader with its engineered, regulatable TIL therapy given the "superior efficacy, safety, and logistics demonstrated to date."

• Raymond James initiated coverage of Civeo (CVEO) with a Strong Buy rating and $51 price target. Australian operations are a stable source of free cash flow, Canadian operations are "shifting from melting ice cube to growth opportunity" and "most exciting" are several large, incremental opportunities across North America to enable meaningful earnings growth, the firm tells investors.

• Roth Capital initiated coverage of Alpha Teknova (TKNO) with a Buy rating and $7 price target. Roth sees a favorable setup for the company's sales growth through 2028 and progress towards breakeven due to Alpha's "strong" gross margins, a recovering biopharma funding backdrop, and the advancement of its customers' clinical solutions toward commercialization.