Here Are Thursday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Alcoa, AppLovin, Circle Internet, CoreWeave, Datadog, Marvell Technology, Netflix, Texas Instruments, and More

• Stocks exploded higher on Wednesday after a 14-day ceasefire was announced.

• While traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is expected to increase, many on Wall Street think it could take weeks or even months for supplies to return to a balance with demand.

• Most on Wall Street still see oil higher for the rest of 2026 than expected, as supplies reset and demand remains firm, with reserves that were drained needing to be refilled.

• The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks. Get them here FREE.

Futures are trading lower this morning, as many on Wall Street feel the temporary ceasefire may be just that. But what a difference a day can make. After it was announced that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a Pakistan-brokered 14-day cease-fire, with some renewed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, stocks took off and never looked back on Wednesday, as oil prices crumbled. When the closing bell finally rang, all of the major indices closed higher with the Dow Jones Industrials closing up 2.85% at 47,909, while the Nasdaq closed at 22,634, up 2.80%. The S&P 500 finished the session at 6,782, up 2.51%. The winner, and the index that has had the best year so far, the small-cap Russell 2000, was last seen at 2,620, up 2.97%.

For the second day in a row, yields were down across the entire Treasury curve, as buyers continued to snap up U.S government debt. Analysts cited ongoing safe-haven demand, despite the ceasefire, plus shifting sentiment for growth prospects for the rest of 2026. The 30-year-long bond was last seen at 4.88%, while the benchmark 10-year note closed at 4.29%.

READ: The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks

Needless to say, the story of the day was plummeting oil prices as the ceasefire came just before the 8 PM deadline, and you can bet the short sellers were quickly covering after a massive rally that saw prices move to the highest levels since 2022 with the start of the Ukraine-Russia war. Brent Crude finished trading on Wednesday at $96.37, down a whopping 11.81%. West Texas Intermediate, which means the most to U.S. drivers and consumers, closed down a stunning 14.56% at $96.50. Natural gas was down 4.84% to close at  $2.73.

After a very volatile week and with more incoming data suggesting inflation is moving slowly higher, Gold finished a wild Wednesday up 0.20% at $4,718, while Silver was last seen up 1.56% at $74.

Crypto markets rallied strongly on Wednesday, with total market capitalization surging roughly 5% past $2.45 trillion. The move was driven by the announcement of a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire, which sent oil prices tumbling and triggered nearly $600 million in leveraged short liquidations. Bitcoin climbed to approximately $72,700 intraday while Ethereum rose 6% to $2,250 before settling back lower. Morgan Stanley’s new spot Bitcoin ETF (NYSEArca: MSBT) began trading with an expense ratio of 0.14%, the lowest in the market. At 8 AM EDT, Bitcoin is trading at $71,190, while Ethereum is quoted at $2,182.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports daily to identify new investment ideas for both investors and traders. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock.

Here are some of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Thursday, April 9, 2026.

• Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, which lifted the target price to $80 from $64.

• Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim, with a $175 target price objective.

• Instacart Inc. (NASDAQ: CART) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, which has set a $50 target price.

• Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, which boosted the target price to $150 from $105.

• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, which raised the price target for the legacy tech giant to $250 from $215.

• Bullish (NYSE: BLSH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Rosenblatt, which has a $39 target price for the stock.

• Circle Internet Group Inc. (NYSE: CRCL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Compass Point, which trimmed the target price for the shares to $77 from $79.

• Conagra Brands Inc. (NYSE: CAG) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas, which trimmed the target price for the stock to $16 from $19.

• Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan, which dropped the price target to $23 from $28.

• W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE: WRB) was cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald, which lowered the target price to $71 from $74.

• AppLovin Inc. (NASDAQ: APP) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Macquarie, with a massive $710 target price.

• Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.  (NASDAQ: CTSH) was started with a Neutral rating at Wedbush, with a $61 target price.

• CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Cattor Fitzgerald, with a $149 target price for the shares.

• Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ: EVRG) was started with a Buy rating at BTIG, which has a $99 target price.

• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley, which bumped the target price for the shares to $115 from $110.

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