DoorDash initiated, Block downgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

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:

• Wolfe Research upgraded Paramount (PARA) to Peer Perform from Underperform without a price target. Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal report portrayed rising odds of a sale of Paramount to Skydance, with Apollo (APO) looking more negotiable as well, the firm tells investors in a research note, adding it expects the secondary transaction, merging Skydance into Paramount, as having a higher likelihood for approval by the company’s independent committee of directors.
• Evercore ISI upgraded Wayfair (W) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $80, up from $65. The firm sees Wayfair as a market share gainer in a “cyclically recovering” home furnishing market.
• Wolfe Research upgraded Capital One (COF) to Outperform from Peer Perform with an $189 price target. Capital One has meaningful upside if the Discover (DFS) deal closes and limited downside if it does not, the firm says.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Avis Budget (CAR) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $130, up from $118. The firm believes its Sell thesis has now played out.
• Wolfe Research double upgraded Synchrony (SYF) to Outperform from Underperform with a price target of $50, up from $36. The firm now sees “clear evidence” that Synchrony’s delinquency rate formations are rolling over.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Block (SQ) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $60, down from $62. The firm’s demographic analysis suggests high market penetration and limited additional opportunity to expand banking and credit services for Block’s Cash App.
• UBS downgraded Southern Company (SO) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $76, down from $78. The firm thinks the current valuation is warranted given the supportive regulatory backdrop, healthy balance sheet and earnings growth, but sees more limited upside at the current price.
• JPMorgan downgraded Celanese (CE) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $160, up from $135. The shares are reflecting the company’s 2026 earnings “and then some,” which may limit capital appreciation potential and lead to underperformance in a market in which cyclical risks rise, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• HSBC downgraded Chubb (CB) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $270, down from $275. The firm says rate momentum appears “incrementally downwards,” implying late cycle is taking hold in U.S. commercial lines.
• Goldman Sachs downgraded Hertz (HTZ) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $7, down from $8. The firm believes the full extent of the company’s pricing, cost and unit pressures have not been priced into the shares.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Benchmark initiated coverage of DoorDash (DASH) with a Buy rating and $165 price target. The firm is positive on the company’s “ever-growing dominance” in restaurant delivery and the subsequent network effects its “massive” user and driver scale afford it to new retail vectors including grocery, convenience, and brick and mortar broadly.
• Bernstein initiated coverage of Reddit (RDDT) with an Underperform rating and $40 price target. The firm says the company’s longer-term promises of growing the advertising base, profits being just around the corner and the “dream of all the non-ad upside – are promises we’ve heard too many times.” Meanwhile, Baird started coverage of Reddit with a Neutral rating and $50 price target, citing the stock’s premium multiple.
• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) with an Equal Weight rating and $210 price target after revamping GAAP/USD model and meeting with FanDuel CFO David Jennings and Director of IR Ciara O’Mullane. Most of the discussion centered on FanDuel, with Flutter reiterating its focus on the long term, particularly its approach to acquiring customers with positive LTVs/attractive payback periods, the firm notes.
• BofA reinstated coverage of Upstart (UPST) with an Underperform rating and $22 price target. Upstart has many hurdles to overcome to regain confidence by lenders and investors, the firm says.
• Vertical Research initiated coverage of GE Aerospace (GE) with a Buy rating and $160 price target. The firm views GE Aerospace as “most appealing” of the three mega-cap U.S. aerospace names.