Stocks were recovering after three days of weakness as inflation is not rising above 3% as some economists have projected under tariffs and higher costs. The S&P 500 is still up over 12% so far in 2025 and the market is trying to shake off a government shutdown as a buying opportunity. One additional boost is that the Fed’s rate-cutting cycle has only just begun.

Investors need to look past the current noise and start planning how they want their capital invested for 2026. Tactical Bulls digs deep into the daily flow of Wall Street analyst research reports to look for new ideas and hidden gems that investors may have otherwise missed. This effort can be useful for short-term traders and longer-term investors alike.

Investors should always keep in mind that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. That is particularly true if the latest analyst report has the most aggressive calls for implied upside compared to other analysts. Also worth consideration is that analysts sometimes get their thesis wrong, and fundamentals can change in the blink of an eye.

Tactical Bulls has highlighted 9 stocks seeing positive analyst reports ahead of catalysts other than just valuation or news reactions. These initiations, upgrades and price target hikes stand out above and beyond other analyst calls because they are preemptive calls rather than just reactionary calls after earnings.

Please note that all of the analyst ratings and price targets mentioned in this report are from each firm named in this reporting. Tactical Bulls does not maintain any formal ratings and price targets on any of the stocks in this report.

Here are the 9 top catalyst-driven and tactical analyst calls seen on Friday, September 26, 2025.

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was hiked to $44 from $42 at RBC Capital Markets. Despite some selling around recent narcolepsy trial data, RBC expects clinically meaningful benefits and sees a buying opportunity for an undervalued stock. Alkermes was up 4% at $28.20 on Friday morning.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $290 from $260 at Evercore ISI. The firm surveys nearly 4,000 U.S. consumers annually around iPhone releases and it sees a stronger iPhone refresh cycle with iPhone 17 sales exceeding initial expectations. Apple was down less than 1% at $255.25 on Friday morning.

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Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) is being touted as a stealthy AI data center winner at Rosenblatt, with an upgrade to Buy from Neutral and a price target hike to $175 from $127.50 (versus $140.00). The call is following Ciena’s Innovation Day where it highlighted networking multiple AI data centers into clusters. Rosenblatt even noted that Ciena’s recent hyperscaler win may be $200 million revenue opportunity. The firm sees Ciena as just getting started and that there is an embedded call option on its move inside data centers into components. Just keep in mind that Ciena has a 52-week range of $49.21 to $141.43.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was put on “upside 30-day catalyst watch” by Citi. While the firm has only a Neutral rating and a $173 target (versus $168.32), Citi expects that upcoming release of Battlefield 6 on October 10 is likely to drive EA shares higher. That sounds like an “under the table upgrade” despite the rating not changing. EA has a 52-week range of $115.21 to $180.90.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) wasn’t upgraded beyond the current Overweight rating and $452 price target at JPMorgan, but the firm added it to the prized Analyst Focus List. This makes it a top growth idea at the firm with a call for positive earnings estimate revisions and multiple expansion as “one of the best stories in retail” at the current price. Home Depot was last seen closer to $408.50.

Mirion Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: MIR) was started as Overweight with a $28 price target at JPMorgan. The call implies about 30% upside if its thesis plays out — stronger revenues, earnings and value creation, all stemming from nuclear protection/detection gear as more emphasis is put on adding nuclear energy capacity now and in the years ahead.

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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has at least two calls for catalysts ahead. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities has raised his price target on Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) to $600 rom $500 with the same Outperform rating, not an accelerated AI autonomous path for 2026. Ives sees investors currently underestimating Tesla’s major transformation and he sees “the biggest growth chapter in Tesla’s history.” Deutsche Bank’s Edison Yu maintained his Outperform rating and raised his target to $435 from $345. Deutsche Bank’s call points to Tesla’s Q3 deliveries report being above consensus, but he also noted that Musk’s compensation package has removed an overhang that will allow Tesla to be a leader in embodied artificial intelligence.

Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE: VMI) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $480 price target (versus $364) at JPMorgan. The catalyst here that the infrastructure momentum should drive earnings above expectations in 2026 because of structural megatrends like electrification, grid hardening, renewable integration and sustainable agriculture.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was reiterated as Overweight with a $82 price target at JPMorgan that is around the current share price, but the firm issued a “Positive Catalyst Watch” as it expects higher estimates in the coming quarters driving upside to consensus estimates.

If you missed out on Thursday’s top tactical and catalyst-driven analyst calls, those were in shares of NVIDIA, CrowdStrike, uniQure, Levi Strauss, CSX, CME Group and others.