Here Are Friday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Applied Materials, Caterpillar, Home Depot, Microsoft, Shake Shack, StubHub and More

Pre-Market Stock Futures:

The futures are trading lower to close out the week after a dreadful day on Wall Street on Thursday, during which all the major indices were hammered. Once again, as has been the case most of this week, the NASDAQ took the heaviest brunt of the selling, closing down an incredible 2.30% to close at 22,870. The Dow Jones Industrials, fresh off a new all-time high, closed down 1.65% at 47,457, while the S&P 500 was last seen at 6737, down 1.65%. The song remains the same on why the rash of selling persists: The market has been on a massive run since the April lows, with the S&P 500 up 43% and the NASDAQ up a stunning 62% in the same time frame.

By any measure, the market is extremely overbought, as the AI/Hyperscaler data center bubble has entered the stratosphere. Depending on the data used, the price-to-earnings multiple for the trailing S&P 500 earnings ranges from 28.18 to 31.18. The historical median is generally in the 17-18 range, while the historical average is around 19-20. This means the current P/E ratio, which is around 28-31, is significantly above the historical median, suggesting that the market is more expensive than usual by traditional valuation metrics. There is a significant downside risk in stocks, even from here, in returning to the median figures.

Treasury Bonds:

Somewhat surprisingly, yields were higher across the Treasury yield curve, as the move to a safe-haven represents a move to the ultimate haven: hard, cold cash. While nowhere near as dramatic as the equity meltdown on Thursday, it was surprising to see selling spill over to the Treasury complex. The 30-year bond finished the day at 4.72% while the benchmark 10-year bond closed trading at a 4.12% yield. Some theorized the selling of Treasury debt was due to the settlement of the governement shutdown, and stalled economic data when released could pause the Federal Reserve from lowering rates in December.

Oil and Gas:

One positive sector for investors after a terrible Wednesday was energy, with both of the benchmarks closing higher. Brent Crude closed trading at $63.07, up 0.37%, while West Texas Intermediate finished the session at $58.58, up 0.44%. Natural Gas continued to soar towards the $5 level, finishing Thursday up 1.28% at $4.59. Natural gas demand and production in the U.S. are reaching record levels, driven by the expansion of LNG export capacity and a strong global appetite for flexible, lower-carbon fuels.

Gold:

Another sector we thought would perform well on Thursday also failed. Gold closed trading down modestly at $4,176, a 0.43% decrease. This may have been straight profit-taking in the bullion trade, as it had jumped over 11% from the late October lows. Traders noted worries over the staggering U.S. debt as a significant concern for gold investors. Silver continued its huge 40% 2025 run and, after hitting a reported double top at $54, closed the day higher at $53.45.

Crypto:

The cryptocurrency marketplace was also a bloodbath, with Bitcoin falling over 3% to trade below $100,000 at $98,330, while Ethereum was hammered, trading down a massive 7% to $3,179. Some crypto traders and analysts believed that Thursday’s weaker Ethereum move compared to Bitcoin might reflect altcoin-specific risks or broader profit-taking.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports daily to identify new investment ideas for both investors and traders. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. 

Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Friday, November 14, 2025. 

• Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Fubon with a $260 target price.
• Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) was upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Wells Fargo with a $12 target price.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GAP) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with a $30 target price.
• Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Wells Fargo with a $167 target price objective.
• Sempra (NYSE: SRE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, which has set a $106 target price objective.
• Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) was raised to Buy from Hold at Loop Capital, which has a $127 target price objective for the stock.
• TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Mizhou with a $17 target.
• UiPath Inc. (NYSE: PATH) was raised to a Buy rating from Hold at CFRA with a $18 target price.
• Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Stifel, which has a $370 target price.
• Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) was cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, which has a $232 target price for the stock.
• StubHub Inc. (NYSE: STUB) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America and had its target price cut to $19 from $25.
• Vontier Corp. (NYSE: VNT) was cut to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America with a $40 target price.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was initiated with an Overweight rating at Wells Fargo with a $675 target price objective.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was started with an Overweight rating at Wells Fargo with a $543 target price.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Baird, which has set a $600 target price.
• Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII) was started with a Hold rating at Loop Capital, which has a $59 target price.