The flow of news in 2025 has suddenly moved from tariffs and trade wars to the United States being downgraded by Moody’s and our ability to fund our ever-growing debt. Now none of the three major credit ratings agencies rate the U.S. among the strongest credit ratings in the world. And to show just how much credence Wall Street is giving it — the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ that were all negative at the open just turned positive on the same day. So, what are long-term and short-term investors supposed to do now?

The daily flow of Wall Street research reports can be a great tool for finding new investing ideas that may otherwise be overlooked or never seen. These analyst reports can move stocks in the immediate and short-term periods, but they can give long-term investors insight that allows stronger conviction about a company’s fundamentals. Tactical Bulls filters through these daily calls, sometimes hundreds of calls in a day, for short-term traders and long-term investors alike. After all, these are often targeted and directed at tactical investors.

The U.S. markets have rallied more than 20% since the April lows. The endless flow of analyst reports cutting their price targets has only recently started to lean toward new Buy/Outperform ratings and higher price targets. Many analysts are actually still cutting targets to address the slower growth and potential impact from tariffs.

Tactical Bulls always reminds its readers that no analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. Analysts can get their thesis wrong like the rest of us. And sometimes the fundamentals can change in the blink of an eye.

Monday, May 19, 2025 showed ten key Buy and Outperform ratings with stronger upside projections than the typical 8% to 10% projections.

AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE: ASIX) was surging by nearly 5% to $24.50 after Piper Jaffray upgraded its rating to Overweight from Neutral and upgraded its target to $32 from $26 in the call. It sees earnings strength in ammonium sulfate business and a small tariff impact; and it likes the nylon and chemical intermediate businesses with EBITDA not having peaked at all. The firm even called it significantly undervalued in a call that entices short-term and longer-term investors alike.

American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) was reinstated with a Buy rating and assigned a $255 price objective at BofA Securities, with a 22% implied total return after its 3%+ dividend was added. Tower stocks have been held down for some time and the analyst believes that their multiples can expand again from pricing power and developments creating a wider moat. AMT was considered the firm’s top pick among the cell tower infrastructure players based on current share price and price objectives. BofA also gave favorable views on Crown Castle (CCI) and SBA Communications (SBAC).

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $250 from $245 at Berenberg. While not a significant target hike was seen, this is after earnings and it implies more than 50% upside if the firm’s thesis plays out. The renewed enthusiasm is that its outlook for semiconductor capital spending is broadly unchanged since January. Similar calls were seen from Berenberg in KLA Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) and Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) as well, with the LRCX target raised to $105 from $90.

ALSO READ: TIME TO PLUNGE INTO EMERGING MARKETS AFTER U.S. DEBT DOWNGRADE!

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) saw its shares rise after news that it was merging with Cox. Loop Capital joined in on positive commentary, upgrading its rating to Buy from Hold. Its $510 price target implies more than 20% upside from $420 price on last look. Loop now views Charter (post-merger) as the largest domestic cable operator in the United States. It also points out that the deal is accretive and actually helps to reduce its leverage while also allowing more scale efficiencies.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was reinstated as Buy at BofA Securities with a $210 price target, which implies a total return of more than 25% after a dividend yield nearing 3%. This was considered the firm’s top pick among the data centers based on current share price and price objectives. A favorable view was also given for Equinix (EQIX) in the call.

The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was reiterated as Outperform with a $400 price target at Evercore ISI, which is only calling for about 10% upside after including dividends. The reason this was featured is that it is a shorter-term outlook as Evercore ISI added HD to its “Tactical Outperform List” right before its first quarter earnings. The analyst expects HD to stick with guidance of a 2% decline in 2025 EPS. Its stock is still down marginally in 2025 and the expected view is expected to give a base to the stock.

Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) received a rare upgrade within the U.S. oil and gas sector as prices have been soft and analysts are generally lowering expectations. BofA Securities issued a new Buy rating and a $56 price objective. BofA’s call implies more than 25% upside if its thesis that this exploration and production outfit’s diverse growth options plays out. The upside is also based on a low-breakeven price, as well as expanding its operational footprint and from continued share repurchases.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) is hard to love as a California utilities provider, but Mizuho reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $21 from $20 (versus $17.75 today). The report noted that PG&E’s electric and gas rate case includes offsets but will maintain that customer bills will be flat from 2025 to 2027, and even a modest rate increase will be an olive branch to state regulators when its image is less than stellar.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $105 from $67 at UBS, implying about 35% upside if its thesis plays out. UBS believes the tariff delays and “likely lower” rates shifts the economy into a stronger position to support travel rather than hurt its stronger international and premium revenue seating. The firm had a similar note on Delta Air Lines (DAL) but UAL was given more upside.

YPF SA (NYSE: YPF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. The firm raised its target to $48 from $44, implying about 33% upside from the $36.00 pre-call level. The oil and gas upstream and downstream player in Argentina is viewed more favorably than peers even with lower oil prices after the nation’s deal with the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Please note that all analyst ratings mentioned above and their price targets were issued by each firm by named in this summary. Those ratings and targets may differ greatly from firm to firm on Wall Street. Tactical Bulls does not issue any formal ratings and price targets of its own on these stocks. Investing involves significant risks, and no analyst reports, even those with very strong conviction, ever come with any guarantees of profits. These research reports also never issue any money-back guarantees in case you lose money.