Street Calls of the Week

This week's most notable stock reactions were driven by takeovers, a failed pipeline, and a Medicare scorecard, rather than changes in analyst opinions. The top-rated move came from Stifel, which downgraded PTC (PTC) to Hold from Buy and increased its target from $165 to $205, citing a 42% premium in the agreed cash acquisition. Schneider Electric's offer priced the company at $205 per share, while shares of PTC were trading around $192.99, indicating a potential gain of about 34%.

Rosenblatt made a similar move, downgrading Blaize Holdings (BZAI) to Neutral from Buy with a $0.40 target. The downgrade was attributed to Blaize's stock trading at a deal price after a takeover, leaving little room for upside. Craig-Hallum also reduced its rating to Hold from Buy, and shares of Blaize fell more than 30% in early trading after the company reported third-quarter revenue of just $0.5 million and reduced its 2026 guidance to $32 million to $36 million from $40 million to $43 million. The company also disclosed Department of Justice subpoenas.

Barclays upgraded Fortrea, and its shares rose roughly 8.7%. Caribou Biosciences (CRBU) saw a 35.7% drop in pre-open trading, now at $0.73, as the company discontinues its allogeneic CAR-T programs and explores strategic alternatives. RBC reduced its rating to Sector Perform from Outperform, slashing the target to $1 from $10. Leerink also downgraded the stock to Market Perform, with a $1 target against a previous $4 target, citing investors' unwillingness to fund the Phase 3 trial under dilutive terms. The stock had a market capitalization near $122 million prior to the news.

Citi downgraded Universal Display (OLED) to Sell from Neutral, lowering the target to $71 from $85. The move came with the first-ever Sell rating for the stock, which was below the 52-week low of $73.23. Shares of OLED fell 4.0% pre-open, trading at $74.14. The downgrade was based on second-quarter sales falling 11% year-over-year to about $152 million and guidance to the low end of the $630 million to $670 million range.

Citi cited smartphone weakness for the quarter. Citi also downgraded NXP and Nova, but the moves were smaller in comparison.

Baird upgraded Humana (HUM) to Outperform from Neutral, raising its target to $596 from $390. Shares of Humana closed at $431.87, up 11.56% as of Oct 9, 3:59 PM EDT, following a session high of $456.50. CMS lifted Humana's flagship H5216 contract back to a 4-star rating. Evercore estimates approximately $4.8 billion in bonus payments in 2028.

Two other stocks, Crown Castle (CCI) and Moderna (MRNA), experienced significant gains of 15.60% and 14.21%, respectively, following SpaceX's spectrum deal and Nasdaq-100 inclusion. However, these moves do not qualify as rating changes. Baird cautioned that the profit boost for Humana could depend on reinvestment in member benefits, as its shares have roughly doubled in value over the past six months, suggesting that much of the news may already be priced in.