Street Calls of the Week

Monday - Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) received a downgrade from Baird to Neutral with a reduced price target from $44 to $40. The downgrade stems from the company's need to invest more to achieve low-single-digit sales growth, resulting in margin recovery challenges. The broader fast-casual industry is also struggling due to high gas prices, economic uncertainty, and a decline in the lower-income demographic.

However, certain competitors are maintaining strong performance despite these headwinds. Baird attributes this to consumers being more selective, potentially driving market share to brands that offer value and strong operational discipline. The notion of the fast-casual boom being eternal appears to be unfounded.

Tuesday - Benchmark upgraded Zoom Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) to Buy, citing its strong enterprise customer base and operating margin of 24.6% as protective factors against downside risks. Additionally, Zoom's substantial net cash balance and its early equity investment in Anthropic provide significant upside potential. With Anthropic set to potentially go public, Zoom's balance sheet assets may see a re-rating, unlocking value for shareholders that current consensus models overlook.

Wednesday - Raymond James upgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) to Strong Buy, raising its price target to $641. The upgrade is driven by the company's reliance on data center revenue, which centers around server CPUs. While GPUs were initially anticipated to surpass CPUs by late 2026, unexpected demand for CPUs has pushed back that crossover.

Despite Intel's expected decline in server CPU revenue, AMD's data center segment sales are projected to double in 2027 before stabilizing with a moderate 50% growth rate for 2028. Raymond James predicts that CPUs will make up more than a third of AMD's total revenue, solidifying the company's position over Intel in server CPU revenue.

The report acknowledges that the perceived demise of x86 architecture was premature. Although short-term FY27 estimates are adjusted downward, the company's long-term outlook is more optimistic, revealing substantial value as the CPU and accelerator ramps mature.