The Federal Reserve has lifted the $1.95 trillion asset cap imposed on Wells Fargo since February 2018. The cap had restricted the bank’s growth for years due to past misdeeds, including the cross-selling scandal of the 2010s. This is excellent news for shareholders.
Several Wall Street firms, including Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler, and Evercore ISI, have lifted their price targets. Despite a fine quarterly report on Monday, multiple analysts downgraded CrowdStrike after a significant surge. The stock is now being compared more to Okta and Palo Alto than Zscaler.
Goldman Sachs has upgraded Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral.’ The upgrade is due to the restaurant stock’s superior growth trajectory compared to its peers. President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that it remains “extremely hard” to make a deal with China’s Xi Jinping. Hopes for a call this week between the two largest economies to ease rising trade tensions have once again been dashed.
JPMorgan has raised Amazon’s price target to $240 from $225 after better-than-expected Q1 earnings and guidance.
Federal Reserve lifts Wells Fargo cap
The firm also raised its target for Meta Platforms to $735 from $675.
Citi raised Honeywell’s price target to $265 from $242, citing the resilience of its automation division despite the uncertain macro environment. Emerson Electric and Rockwell Automation saw similar upgrades. Needham has downgraded Apple to ‘hold’ from ‘buy,’ citing near-term threats to the company’s revenue and earnings growth, including AI innovations that pose a threat to its iOS devices.
Citi has raised Dollar General’s price target to $112 from $101 after the discount retailer reported Q1 earnings beat and raised its full-year guidance. Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold.’
UBS has upgraded Snowflake to ‘buy’ from ‘hold,’ highlighting that the stock still has room to run despite being up 35% year-to-date. The firm also praised the prospects of Palantir and Databricks.
Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery voted against the 2024 pay packages for CEO David Zaslav and other top executives. Zaslav’s total compensation rose 4% in 2024 to $51.9 million.
