Earnings season for Q2-2025 has kicked off. Wall Street is making adjustments after earnings reports, but where analyst calls stand out the most are the calls issued before earnings and/or ahead of other key events. Any analyst or investor can adjust price targets and expectations after the major news has been reported. The analyst calls and forecasts made ahead of time is where strategic investors will pay closer attention.
Oggonomics reviews dozens of Wall Street research reports each morning to find hidden gems for short-term traders and long-term investors alike. There are almost always some opportunities that may have otherwise been missed or overlooked.
Investors should always keep in mind that no single analyst report should ever be the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. There has never been nor will there ever be analyst ratings and price targets, even those with the strongest conviction, that will come with any guarantees of profits or money-back guarantees in the event that investors lose money.
Most of the analyst reports covered by Oggonomics from Tuesday, July 22, 2025 are the calls that are ahead of earnings reports.
AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) has recovered much of its losses in 2025 and Barclays is adjusting its target upward as a result. Barclays already had an Overweight rating but raised its target to $14 from $12 (versus $13.69 prior close). AES has a 52-week range of $9.46 to $20.30 and its weak share price has its yield up at 6.6%.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has been seeing its share of price target hikes with a subdued stock performance, and two more price target hikes were seen on Tuesday. Needham (Buy) raised its price target to $265 from $220 and BMO Capital Markets (Outperform) raised its target to $270 from $233. Citigroup also reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $265 from $225 in its call. Amazon closed at $229.30 ahead of the call, and its 52-week range is $151.61 to $242.52.
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE: CLF) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight and it was given a $14 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Cleveland-Cliffs closed at $10.66 and was already above the consensus price target of $8.85. It has a 52-week range of $5.63 to $16.00. The stock is deemed a tariff winner, but despite the (near) doubling from its lows the stock is up only 13% YTD.
Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) saw price target hikes previous as the stock has recovered handily from its oversold lows, but Wells Fargo jumped in the upgrade pool on Tuesday by reiterating Overweight rating and hiking its price target all the way up to $130 from $105 (versus $112.31 prior close). Wells Fargo sees Dollar Tree moving aggressively on price to attract consumers and sees strong comparable sales in the second half of 2025 as last year was weak.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was given two key strategic calls ahead of its July 31 earnings reporting date. It reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $208 from $200 (versus $178.33 prior close) at JPMorgan; and BofA reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective up to $201 from $185. First Solar has recovered about 50% from its 52-week low of $116.56 and the consensus price target is closer to $200. First Solar is down 14% from a year ago on ongoing tax break losses from the new administration, but the stock is actually still up 1% YTD.
STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a price target hike to $50 from $23 (versus $32.81 prior close) at RW Baird. STMicroelectronics has a consensus price target at $30 ahead of the call and a 52-week range of $17.25 to $42.12.
THREE ADVERTISING WINNERS
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) received yet another big price target hike ahead of earnings. Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $845 from $655 (versus $712.97 prior close). Despite the ad market getting off to a slow start in Q2 during the April malaise, Stifel sees it continuing to be an advertising winner ahead of its earnings report.
Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $46 from $40 at Stifel. Pinterest closed at $38.00 ahead of the call and Stifel ranked it as one of the advertising winners in Q2 ahead of earnings.
The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $95 from $87 at Stifel. TTD closed at $80.03 ahead of the call and is considered one of the advertising winners in Q2 ahead of earnings.
TD COWEN GOES CRUISING
TD Cowen was positive on the cruise liners, noting that forward bookings are strong and onboard spending remains stronger than expected. All three of the largest cruise carriers were given new Buy ratings and the price targets are handily above-consensus.
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was started as Buy and was assigned a $36 price target at TD Cowen. Carnival previously closed at $29.79 and has a consensus price target of $30.70.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) was started as Buy and was assigned a $31 price target at TD Cowen. NCL closed at $23.19 ahead of the call and has a consensus price target of $24.75.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was started as Buy and was assigned a $405 price target at TD Cowen. Royal Caribbean previously closed at $346.47 and has a consensus price target of $275.00.
In case you missed Monday’s top strategic upgrades and price target hikes, they included Affirm, Schwab, Dollar Tree, GM Kratos and others.
DISCLAIMERS
Please be advised that the analyst ratings and price targets mentioned above were issued by each firmed named in this reporting. Their ratings and targets may be significantly different that ratings and price targets from other analyst calls. Investors need to always keep in mind that analysts sometimes get their thesis and outlook wrong. And sometimes the fundamentals of a company, its sector or the economy as a whole can change in an instant.
Oggonomics does not issue any formal ratings and does not maintain any price targets of its own in the companies mentioned in this report. Interpretations of how positive or negative the analyst calls are can also wildly vary from investor to investor.
No analyst ratings and their price targets, even those with the strongest conviction or strongest pessimism, ever come with any guarantees of profits. Analysts reports also never have money-back guarantees in the event that investors lose money.
