Moderna upgraded, Baidu downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

Moderna upgraded, Baidu downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 4:38 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:

• William Blair upgraded Moderna (MRNA) to Outperform from Market Perform. The stock is up over 70% following the positive melanoma interim readout that will presumably put both Merck and Moderna in a good position to file with regulators for potential approval, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Jefferies upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to Hold from Underperform with a price target of $135, up from $85. The business has "returned to being simple and straightforward," the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Honeywell Aerospace (HONA) to Overweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $205. The firm cites valuation for the upgrade with the shares down 27% since the spinoff.

• Northland upgraded Ciena (CIEN) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $500, up from $450. The firm sees a larger than expected market for Ciena following the earnings reports from its peers.

• TD Cowen upgraded Dominion (D) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $80, up from $69. The firm says the NextEra Energy (NEE) merger is advancing through the regulatory review process.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Baidu (BIDU) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $80, down from $130. The company's AI cloud infrastructure revenue accelerated quarter-over-quarter, but its core advertising business remained weak at down 18.5% year-over-year, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• JPMorgan downgraded Klarna (KLAR) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $18, down from $22. The firm sees a lack of visibility into the company's medium-term trends and thinks Klarna needs "multiple quarters of clean execution" to establish investor confidence and close the valuation gap to its "best-in-class peers."

• Goldman Sachs downgraded Corsair Gaming (CRSR) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $11, up from $7, after transfer in analyst coverage. The firm says "extreme secular pressures" on the PC market will put downward pressure on Corsair's components, pre-built systems, and gaming peripherals business in the near to medium term.

• JPMorgan downgraded Cogent (CCOI) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $9, down from $22. The company reported "another disappointing quarter," with a slower wave-installation pace and softer revenue and EBITDA, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• Mizuho downgraded Netskope (NTSK) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $16, up from $13. Mizuho says secure access service edge competition continues to intensify while go-to-market productivity remains a key execution question for Netskope.

Top 5 Initiations:

• BofA reinstated coverage of Zoom Communications (ZM) with a Buy rating and $130 price target. The firm believes Zoom's growth recovery is "durable."

• RBC Capital initiated coverage of McKesson (MCK) with a Sector Perform rating and $845 price target. The firm believes the pharmacy benefit channel poses steerage risks and McKesson faces near-term challenges to prescription technology solutions segment income growth as GLP-1 prior authorizations are pressured by coverage reductions.

• Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage of ResMed (RMD) with a Neutral rating and $230 price target. The firm does not see meaningful upside to consensus estimates and views the stock's current valuation as full.

• RBC Capital initiated coverage of Cardinal Health (CAH) with an Outperform rating and $276 price target. The firm views the vertical integration of the company's "higher-growth and higher-margin" services as adding to the "flywheel" that will generate value across its core pharma distribution business.

• Raymond James resumed coverage of Safehold (SAFE) with a Market Perform rating. In currently evaluating Safehold, the firm leans towards "more 'current' metrics including GAAP EPS multiple, an estimated AFFO multiple, and dividend yield" for valuation purposes, and as such, believes shares are fairly valued at current levels.