Notable analyst calls this week: HP, Dell and Enphase Energy among top picks

The S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500#hasComeFromMpArticle=false#source=section%3Amain_content%7Cbutton%3Abody_link%7Cfirst_level_url%3Anews]) closed in the green on Friday, ending at a record high after cooler-than-expected consumer inflation report. For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/COMP:IND]) fell 0.2%.

Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:

J.P. MORGAN CUTS HP RATING TO NEUTRAL

J.P. Morgan downgraded [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4506610-hp-dips-after-jp-morgan-cuts-rating-to-neutral] HP (NYSE:HPQ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HPQ]) to Neutral from Overweight and set a $30 price target on the stock.

"We are downgrading shares of HP Inc. from Overweight to Neutral as we see the company cycling past the favorable part of the volume and commodity cost cycle into a relatively tougher backdrop," said analysts led by Samik Chatterjee.

The analysts noted that the tough backdrop includes — 2026 representing the tail end of the Windows 10 replacement cycle, leading to tough comparisons for Commercial PC growth, continuation of a challenging macro environment, rising memory costs, among others.

PIPER SANDLER SEES POTENTIAL FOR UPSIDE FROM AI, PC REFRESH CYCLE FOR DELL

Piper Sandler initiated coverage [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4506592-dell-in-focus-as-piper-sandler-sees-upside-amid-ai-bump-pc-refresh] on Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DELL]) with an Overweight rating, citing the potential for upside from artificial intelligence and a PC refresh cycle.

The brokerage also set a $172 price target on the stock.

“Positively, Dell should be one of the primary beneficiaries of upcoming enterprise datacenter refresh that looks particularly strong for 2026, AI infrastructure buildouts, and Win-10 end-of-life in which ~50% of units still need to be refreshed or remain vulnerable,” Piper Sandler analyst James Fish said.

However, Fish added that the company will face the secular headwind in the shift towards cloud by enterprises, refresh is a double-edged sword that could lead to market share losses persisting, and PC share has been falling not only in the shift towards Apple, but also to other PC makers.

ENPHASE ENERGY DOWNGRADED BY MIZUHO

Mizuho downgraded [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4507759-enphase-energy-cut-at-mizuho-on-sector-headwinds-lease-adoption] Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ENPH]) to Neutral from Outperform with a $37 price target, reduced from $50, citing the solar company's declining market share in the U.S. amid tax credit changes, with limited offsets from new financial products or technology improvements.

"Our downgrade reflects reduced resi solar demand in 2026, lower solar market share due to lease switching, limited visibility into the success of a new lease+loan financing model for tail end of installers, and as cost declines from IQ9 tech adoption is limited to commercial market," Mizuho's Maheep Mandloi wrote.

MOLINA HEALTHCARE (NYSE:MOH [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MOH]) was downgraded [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4508263-molina-stock-cut-underweight-at-barclays] by Barclays after the stock missed Q3 earnings. Analyst Andrew Mok downgraded the managed care firm to Underweight from Neutral and lowered its price target to $144 from $185 per share, citing risks to the company’s forward earnings per share.

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP (NASDAQ:PFG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/PFG]) stock was raised [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4507557-principal-financial-upgraded-at-morgan-stanley-on-the-current-valuation] to Equal-weight from Underweight by Morgan Stanley, with the price target increased to $81.00 from $80.00, based on the current valuation. "The stock's multiple has compressed. Moreover, mitigated downside risks help ease the concerns about core business outlook," said analyst Bob Jian Huang in a research note.

Roth Capital Partners upgraded [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4507550-core-scientific-raised-to-buy-at-roth-as-coreweave-deal-unlikely] CORE SCIENTIFIC (NASDAQ:CORZ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CORZ]) shares to Buy from Neutral on the view that the odds of a merger with AI infrastructure provider CoreWeave (CRWV [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CRWV]) are getting slimmer.

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