US stocks registered a great start to the week with the S&P 500 index registering a gain of 100 points to close at +1.76%. The Nasdaq index, which had taken a beating recently, also registered a 2.2% gain. The renewed optimism comes as analysts price in rather moderate tariffs, much more lenient than originally thought.
Wall Street analysts continuously evaluate stocks based on recent earnings, market outlook, and economic trends. When they find a stock with a potential upside, they adjust their rating accordingly. 2025 has started off with extreme volatility but analyst upgrades continue to provide investors with a reliable source to pick up their next stock for the year.
We decided to look at what stocks the analysts are looking at and why they are bullish on these stocks. We then looked at the catalysts that could trigger this upside and came up with this list. For this top 10 list, we only considered stocks with a market cap of at least $5 billion.
A financial analyst standing in front of a screen with the ratings of the company provided by the NRSRO.
10. Monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:MNDY)
Monday.com Ltd. operates as a global software applications developer. It offers Work OS which is a cloud-based visual work operating system. The company also provides various products including monday sales CRM, monday work management, monday service, monday dev, WorkForms, and WorkCanvas.
The company’s share price surged 2.5% after it received an upgrade from DA Davidson. They upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy with an increased price target of $350 after a downturn in the tech sector:
“We have always viewed monday.com as a great company whose shares fairly reflected its premium quality. With the recent pullback in MNDY now is an opportune time to take a second look at an attractive entry point. We have confidence in the durability of cash flows moving forward for MNDY and are incrementally positive on enterprise adoption given recent results.”
A similar sentiment was displayed by KeyBanc just a month ago right after the company released its fourth-quarter financial results. KeyBanc upgraded the company from Sector Weight to Overweight with a significantly increasing target price to $420. Analysts were expecting the firm to announce a lower guidance for 2025. But when the company announced that it expects 26.5% revenue growth during the year, its stock shot up by the same percentage in a single day.
According to 27 different analyst ratings, the company has the highest target price of $455 which means it has a potential upside of 71% from the current levels if the bullish scenario proves accurate.
9. DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)
DocuSign, Inc. is an electronics signature solutions provider. It provides Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), an AI-powered intelligent agreement management (IAM) platform, Gen for Salesforce, and Document Generation streamlines. Though the company has been facing a decline in stock prices recently, shares jumped 1.4% after receiving an upgrade.
The upgrade came from the investment firm William Blair on the back of DocuSign’s Intelligent Agreement Management platform. Analyst Jake Roberge raised his rating from Market Perform to Outperform on the stock. He said that moving forward, the company’s Intelligent Agreement Management platform will improve customer relationships, enhance the adoption of new platform features, and drive business growth.
“In DocuSign’s most recent quarter, IAM represented a high-single-digit percent of deal volume for the company’s direct channel and over 20% of direct new customer lands. While it is still early days for the platform, DocuSign expects IAM to represent a low-double-digit percent of its subscription book of business by the end of fiscal 2026, up from a low-single-digit percent of the company’s subscription business in fiscal 2025.”
Analysts expect DocuSign to drive double-digit growth in 2026. The optimism is justified as Citizens also reiterated its target price of $124 and Market Outperform rating on the stock after the company’s strong Q4 2025 earnings results:
“We continue to view DocuSign as an excellent opportunity for long-term capital appreciation for a number of reasons.”
8. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Accenture plc is an industry X, technology & operation, song, and strategy and consulting services provider. The company offers security, infrastructure, data and AI, integration & application management, intelligent platform, software engineering, and automation services.
ACN was upgraded by the Baird Equity Research firm from Neutral to Outperform with a target price of $390. Analysts noted that the company’s stock suffered in recent years due to weak IT demand and fears of Government budget constraints. Despite this, they anticipate a beat in Accenture‘s Q2 2025 earnings and strong Managed Services demand.
The company released its Q2 FY 2025 earnings recently and reported 8.5% revenue growth in Euro currency. In terms of USD, the revenue growth stood at 5%. This growth was mainly powered by 11% growth in the Americas segment. Gross margins were slightly down from the last year.
The projected revenue lies between $16.9 billion to $17.5 billion for Q3 FY 2025 considering approximately -0.5% currency exchange rate effect. As per the guidance, the company is planning to invest up to $3 billion this fiscal year in acquisitions, focusing on key growth areas. The expected revenue growth for FY 2025 is 5% to 7% in local currency.
7. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH)
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is a cruise company that operates Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Oceania Cruises brands. Its brand offers multiple dining venues, spas, retail shopping areas, bars and lounges, accommodations, and casinos.
Based on 22 different analyst ratings, the company has the highest target price of $38 which means it has a potential upside of 89% from the current levels if the bullish scenario unfolds. The stock is currently trading at $20.09 which is even lower than the lowest Wall Street price target of $24. This is an ideal opportunity to load up on the stock as it has lost one-third of its value in less than two months.
The travel industry is facing challenges due to shifts in consumer spending but the cruise industry is well-positioned, particularly NCLH, to maintain momentum. Its premium offerings make it stand out among peers, providing a growth opportunity that competitors cannot so easily imitate.
The company received an upgrade recently by J.P. Morgan from Neutral to Overweight and was assigned a price target of $30.
“Importantly, management clarified that while it overachieved in 2024 (in regard to its $300M of cost savings outlined in 2024-2026), there was not a pull-forward of cost savings, but rather an expansion of the cost savings program to $300M.”
6. Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS)
Flowserve Corporation is a designer, manufacturer, distributor, and supporter of industrial flow management equipment. The company operates through the Flow Control Division (FCD) and Flowserve Pump Division (FPD) segments.
Analysts at financial services firm Baird upgraded the company from Neutral to Outperform and assigned it a target price of $71. They think FLS’s current valuation does not fully represent its growth potential. A 530-550 basis point improvement in margins by 2027 could significantly change the company’s profitability. This margin improvement is driven by steady revenue growth, strategic initiatives aimed at enhanced operational efficiency, sustainable pricing, and a strong backlog. The research firm predicts revenue growth to remain strong, fueled by the consistent demand:
“Flowserve’s improving free cash flow conversion and growing track record of operational execution further strengthen the bullish case. The company’s long-term adjusted EBIT margin target of about 16% is increasingly achievable with additional upside potential.”
The company presented a positive future outlook of the company based on the recent Q4 2024 results. As per the guidance, the company forecasts 3% to 5% organic sales growth in 2025. The anticipated adjusted EPS for 2025 is $3.10 to $3.30, representing a 22% growth at the midpoint YoY, compared to the previous year’s result.
5. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Micron Technology, Inc. is a manufacturer, designer, developer, and seller of memory and storage products. It operates in Embedded Business Unit, Storage Business Unit, Compute and Networking Business Unit, and Mobile Business Unit segments.
According to 38 different analyst ratings, Micron Technology has the highest target price of $250 which means it can be nearly triple the current levels if the bullish scenario proves accurate. In a move that helps the company inch closer to that target, Citi upgraded the stock ahead of its fiscal Q2 2025 result. The research firm maintained its Buy rating on the company, causing the stock price to go up by 1.5%.
Micron reported a 47% YoY DRAM revenue growth. NAND revenue grew 18% YoY but fell 17% QoQ because of price decline. The company’s gross margins stood at 37.9%, reflecting the impact of the mix shift and NAND price decrease. The results were according to the analysts’ expectations but they did highlight the concern about NAND revenue:
“We expect the company to post decent results but guide below Consensus driven by worse consumer mix and NAND (26% of F1Q25 sales) underutilization charges.”
4. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Netflix, Inc. operates as an entertainment services provider. It offers documentaries, games, television (TV) series, and feature films including different languages and genres. The company provides its services in approximately 190 countries. The stock is finally clawing back some losses sustained in the last one month.
Netflix was recently upgraded by investment firm Moffett Nathanson, which believes the firm is growing on two fronts: subscription revenue and advertising revenue. The firm raised its price target to $1,100 and forecasts strong growth in its subscription revenues and rapid advertising growth to drive margin expansion.
“As Netflix builds out its ad capabilities, we believe the company will also be able to effectively ramp monetization of this unlocked incremental subscriber ad-tier TAM. We now forecast Netflix will generate over $6 billion in advertising revenue in 2027 and almost $10 billion by 2030.”
Another thing going for Netflix is its competition with TV viewership. In February, cable TV viewership continued to go down with consumers switching to streaming services. This has become a trend especially since Netflix and other streaming services ventured into sports streaming. According to Nielsen, cable TV now makes up for only 23.2% of total viewing time compared to 43.5% for streaming!
3. Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)
Blackstone Inc. operates as an alternative asset management company. It is focused on secondary funds of funds, hedge fund solutions, private equity, public debt, credit, real estate, and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The stock has been experiencing a downturn since the second half of the previous year but it could all change very soon.
The company was upgraded by UBS from Neutral to Buy as the recent 27% slump in the share prices presents an attractive entry point for a leading alternatives platform. UBS also expects that the challenges facing the company’s real estate business will continue to ease, leading to potential fee-related revenue growth starting in 2025.
“This resilience is due to its strong position but also the proactive management of the situation, and when paired with the solid investor experience in BREIT, particularly vs other RE products, suggests upside to WM [wealth management] fundraising (at attractive economics).”
The company’s growth outlook for 2025 seems promising. Analysts project EPS growth of 22% and 16% for 2026 and 2027 respectively. Based on the long-term positive outlook of the company, recent decline in share price should be taken as a buying opportunity.
2. American Tower (NYSE:AMT)
American Tower is one of the leading global real estate investment trusts (REITs). The company is the independent owner, developer, and operator of multitenant communications. Its portfolio consists of over 148,000 communications sites.
AMT was upgraded by Wells Fargo from Equal Weight to Overweight. This upgrade was due to the anticipation that the sector could see an inflection point in 2026. The billings growth is expected to bottom out this year and AMT is well-placed to benefit from a turnaround.
“In a choppy economic tape, we are more favorable on AMT, which has a clean path to ~8%+ AFFO/share growth from 2025-2027, improving organic revenue trends as Sprint churn fades in late 2025, a deleveraged balance sheet giving them flexibility for dividend raises/repurchases, and strategic optionality around the data center segment.”
The company also recently raised its dividend by 4.9% to $1.7, bringing the forward dividend yield to a healthy 3.14%. Investors taking entry at current levels are best placed to benefit from the 2026 growth while locking in an attractive dividend yield.
1. Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN)
Coinbase Global, Inc. manages a crypto trading exchange. The company’s stock was recently initiated with an Outperform rating by Gautam Chhugani. The optimism comes after US President Donald Trump openly supported the development of crypto infrastructure, calling for the US to become the crypto capital of the world.
Coinbase controls 66% of the crypto trading market in the US boasting approximately 10 million users. Analysts in the past have mentioned how competition could erode the company’s moat but being the first major crypto exchange to cement itself in the US, Coinbase’s dominance will likely overshadow any pressure from peers.
“COIN bears worry about rising competition and fee pressure, but they overlook the massive TAM (total addressable market) expansion from re-shoring of global crypto markets back to the U.S.”
Famed investor Cathie Wood also added to her Coinbase holding earlier this month, bagging 64,358 shares as the stock plunged 17% in a single day. It has been recovering slowly since, showcasing the strength of the company.
COIN is not on our latest list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 69 hedge fund portfolios held COIN at the end of the fourth quarter, which was 42 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of COIN as a leading investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as COIN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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