Investing.com -- Here are the biggest analyst moves in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) for this week.
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William Blair reiterated its positive view on Meta Platforms after the company’s September 17–18 Meta Connect conference, which demonstrated the tech giant’s advances in AI and wearable technology.
The broker described the event as “an evolution on Meta’s wearable AI technology,” pointing to four new smart glasses models developed with Oakley and Ray-Ban.
These additions expand Meta’s AI-driven wearables lineup, which now supports tasks from reading texts and playing music to more advanced features thanks to upgrades in video quality and battery life.
William Blair noted that affordability will be key for mainstream adoption. “For this technology to hit the mass market, the price point likely needs to decrease to around $200,” it wrote, estimating penetration could reach about 30% at that level.
Beyond hardware, the firm remains constructive on Meta’s broader AI efforts.
“We continue to be positive on Meta’s AI adoption and the benefits to both consumers and advertisers, and believe the company will be a long-term AI leader,” it stated.
Based on a discounted cash flow analysis using a 10% discount rate and an 18-times EBITDA multiple, William Blair projected about 25% upside for Meta shares over the next year.
The broker maintained an Outperform rating while cautioning on risks such as privacy issues, regulatory scrutiny, slower user growth, advertising pullbacks, and shifting engagement trends.
Baird on Friday lifted its rating on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Outperform, saying investors are increasingly focused on the company’s role in what it calls a “physical AI” era.
The investment bank raised its price target to $548 from $320, a level it says reflects Tesla’s long-term potential.
“Relatively muted stock reactions following a series of less-than-stellar quarters and investor inbounds regarding long-term initiatives lead us to believe focus has increasingly shifted to the future for TSLA,” analyst Ben Kallo said in a Friday note.
Despite three quarters of softer results, Tesla shares have climbed 24% over the past month, compared with a 3% rise for the S&P 500. “We now expect shares to Outperform as TSLA is increasingly viewed as the leader in physical AI,” Kallo added.
Kallo highlights Tesla’s proposed new pay package for Elon Musk, which links rewards to ambitious operational and financial milestones. The framework includes targets such as producing 20 million vehicles, reaching 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, putting 1 million robots and 1 million robotaxis on the road, and achieving a market capitalization of up to $8.5 trillion.
Baird ran scenarios around these goals. In its minimum case, Tesla could be worth more than $5.5 trillion by 2035, or about $1,400 per share after dilution.
The bull case doubles those targets, suggesting a valuation closer to $12 trillion and a share price above $3,000.
“We outline this scenario to show that IF these milestones are achieved, the volumes and financial profile will almost certainly fall between these two cases,” Kallo wrote.
Upcoming events such as the unveiling of the Optimus humanoid robot, expansion into new robotaxi markets, the shareholder vote on Musk’s package, and the rollout of more affordable cars could all act as catalysts.
The analyst also cited opportunities in Tesla’s energy storage and software businesses, even though they were not factored into the compensation analysis.
He noted Musk’s recent $1 billion stock purchase as a positive sign. While short-term fundamentals remain uneven, Baird sees Tesla’s long-term positioning as compelling.
“Lots of irons in the fire,” Kallo wrote, pointing to growing production, new models like the Tesla Semi, and the scaling of recurring software revenue streams.
Also on Friday, Citi downgraded Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to Sell from Neutral, even as shares jumped after news that Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will invest $5 billion in the company.
The bank raised its price target to $29 from $24 but said the market reaction has overshot fundamentals.
Intel and Nvidia announced a deal under which Intel will supply CPUs for Nvidia’s AI platforms and co-develop PC processors that integrate Nvidia graphics. But Citi analyst Christopher Danely argued the impact will be limited.
“Minimal improvement for Intel as better graphics won’t make Intel’s CPU better than AMD’s, given the processor is the main performance driver,” he wrote.
Danely added that the Nvidia CPU tie-up is unlikely to be meaningful. “This seems aimed at Nvidia’s Grace CPU product, and we believe the market opportunity is roughly $1-$2 billion for Intel or 3% of C26E sales.”
Speculation has also grown around a potential foundry deal with Nvidia, but Citi dismissed the idea.
“INTC stock is up roughly 50% since early August on the Nvidia deal and speculation that a foundry deal is next,” the bank said. “We disagree given our belief that Intel’s foundry is years behind TSMC.”
“We downgrade Intel from Neutral to Sell given our belief the stock is pricing in success in its leading-edge foundry business, which we believe has minimal chance to succeed," Danely concluded.
Wedbush has added Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) to its Best Ideas List, calling it “one of our top cyber security names” as the company pushes forward with its platformization strategy.
The analysts said they have “incremental confidence in the company’s platformization strategy heading into FY26 & beyond following its recent transformational acquisition of CYBR.”
They argued that cybersecurity is a “clear 2nd/3rd derivative play in the AI Revolution,” and that Palo Alto Networks is positioned to gain both market and mind share.
Shares have been under pressure since the CyberArk deal, but Wedbush sees the pullback as an opportunity.
“We view this as a golden buying opportunity as the company completes its platform approach while providing the most complete one-stop shop for cybersecurity within the enterprise as the CyberArk deal will be a game changer for PANW and was the right move at the right time,” the analysts wrote.
The broker also highlighted Palo Alto’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2025 results, which showed beats across revenue, earnings, next-generation security annual recurring revenue, and remaining performance obligations. Guidance for fiscal 2026 (FY26) was also stronger than expected.
The company reported about 150 net new platformization deals, up 40% from a year ago, while AI-related ARR more than doubled.
“We believe FY26 will be an inflection year for the PANW platformization strategy,” Wedbush said, keeping its Outperform rating and $225 price target.
Goldman Sachs has lifted its price target on Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) to $154 from $90 while keeping a Buy rating, citing increased confidence in the company’s non-search businesses.
“The decline trajectory of Baidu’s search business is well understood by the market and reflected in street earnings estimates,” analyst Lincoln Kong wrote. Goldman expects third-quarter 2025 to see the steepest hit, with “a 70% yoy core OP decline” driven by ad weakness.
Still, sentiment has improved. “With a 40% increase in market cap since our Asia Leaders Conference on Sep 3-4, we believe the market is now reassessing the SOTP potential for Baidu,” Kong said.
The bank sees AI as a major growth driver, forecasting non-search revenue will reach 54% of Baidu’s core revenue by 2027, with cloud making up 36%. Baidu Cloud’s strength, the analyst said, is its “full stack capabilities from chips, platforms to AI empowered software applications.”
Goldman also turned more positive on the Apollo Robotaxi unit, pointing to “faster fleet rollout, higher industry TAM, and better profitability of the lower BOM cost RT6 car, as well as its international expansion potential.”
To reflect these trends, the Goldman raised its valuation multiple to 5x price-to-sales, in line with peers. It also noted Baidu’s “proactive measures/views on enhancing shareholder buybacks and dividends” as further support for its sum-of-the-parts valuation.
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