Friday’s Biggest Analyst Calls: Nvidia, Apple, Nike, Microsoft, Flutter, Amazon, Arm, Affirm, Abbvie & More

Here’s a recap of the most notable Wall Street analyst calls for Friday:

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Goldman Sachs Initiates Flutter as a Buy

Goldman Sachs began coverage on Flutter Entertainment, an online gambling giant, with a buy rating. The firm highlighted Flutter's FanDuel brand as a key player in the U.S. online sports betting market, emphasizing its dominant position.

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Goldman Sachs Initiates Aecom as a Buy

Aecom, a company specializing in infrastructure management, received a buy rating from Goldman Sachs, citing the firm’s "expanding competitive moat." Goldman assigned a 12-month price target of $130, showcasing its optimism about Aecom's potential.

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Citi Reiterates Apple as a Buy

Citi reaffirmed its buy rating for Apple, noting survey data suggesting a robust performance for the iPhone during the holiday season. The findings showed a 7% rise in purchase intentions and a 6% increase in spending intentions year-over-year for smartphones, with a slight boost in consumer preference for the iPhone.

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UBS Initiates Roku as Neutral

UBS initiated coverage of Roku with a neutral rating, citing a balanced risk/reward outlook. The firm emphasized Roku’s strong market share in operating systems, positioning it as a key player in the streaming ecosystem and a beneficiary of advertising dollars shifting away from traditional television.

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Redburn Atlantic Equities Reiterates Microsoft as a Buy

Investors were urged to buy the dip in Microsoft shares by Redburn Atlantic Equities. The firm highlighted an anticipated rebound in Azure’s growth in the second half of 2025, underpinned by rising investments in data and analytics.

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Piper Sandler Downgrades Sunrun to Neutral

Piper Sandler downgraded solar company Sunrun from overweight to neutral, citing uncertainties surrounding cash generation in a high-interest-rate environment.

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KeyBanc Upgrades RBC Bearings to Overweight

KeyBanc upgraded RBC Bearings to overweight, noting its potential as a defense industry beneficiary. The firm expects growth from aerospace recovery, continued defense strength, and industrial market outperformance.

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Baird Upgrades KinderCare to Outperform

Shares of daycare provider KinderCare received an upgrade to outperform from Baird, which sees favorable risk/reward dynamics following a notable decline in the stock’s valuation.

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Baird Upgrades Bright Horizons to Outperform

Bright Horizons also earned an outperform rating from Baird. The firm praised its strong Back-Up Care business, which contributes significantly to profits, and saw potential for margin recovery in its full-service operations.

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Bank of America Reiterates Affirm as a Buy

Bank of America maintained its buy rating on Affirm, the only pure-play publicly traded “Buy Now, Pay Later” provider. The firm noted potential growth drivers, including a partnership with Apple Pay, its UK launch, and the Affirm Card.

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Phillip Securities Downgrades Nvidia to Accumulate

Phillip Securities shifted Nvidia's rating from buy to accumulate due to valuation concerns, despite raising its price target to $160 from $155 following recent price movements.

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JPMorgan Initiates Carpenter Technology as Overweight

JPMorgan initiated coverage of Carpenter Technology, a specialty alloys producer, with an overweight rating and a December 2025 price target of $220.

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Needham Initiates Nike as a Buy

Needham began coverage of Nike with a buy rating, expressing optimism about the leadership transition to Elliott Hill, a respected veteran of the company. The firm believes management is actively addressing past missteps.

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Wells Fargo Initiates Arm as Overweight

Wells Fargo rated semiconductor company Arm as overweight, emphasizing its dominance in advanced computing. Arm’s CPUs powered over 99% of smartphones globally in 2022 and have supported more than 250 billion chips cumulatively.

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Truist Reiterates Amazon as a Buy

Truist reaffirmed its buy rating for Amazon, noting strong North American revenue performance, which appears to be slightly ahead of consensus expectations for the holiday season.

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Bank of America Initiates Kyndryl as a Buy

Bank of America began coverage of IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl with a buy rating, describing the company as “poised for inflection” and assigning a price target of $40.

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Wells Fargo Initiates NXP Semiconductors as Overweight

Wells Fargo initiated coverage of NXP Semiconductors with an overweight rating, emphasizing the company's strong competitive position and its strategy of hybrid and geographically diverse manufacturing.

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Leerink Upgrades AbbVie to Outperform

Leerink upgraded pharmaceutical giant AbbVie to outperform, advising investors to capitalize on election-related stock dips. The firm maintained its price target of $206.

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UBS Initiates Global Business Travel Group as a Buy

UBS initiated coverage of the travel company with a buy rating, calling it a category leader and assigning a price target of $11.

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Baird Upgrades Elastic to Outperform

Elastic, a software firm, received an upgrade to outperform from Baird due to a turnaround in execution and strong performance in the company’s second-quarter results. Baird also highlighted the firm's validation through its GenAI inflection and improved win rates.

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