The week in analyst ratings: August 31, 2026
4 upgrades, 3 downgrades and 7 new initiations across ~500 US large caps this week, and which firms' calls have the track records to back them.
Wall Street firms published 14 rating changes across StockRank's ~500-stock US coverage this past week: 4 upgrades, 3 downgrades and 7 initiations. Here are the calls from the firms with the strongest measured track records, as of August 31, 2026.
Notable calls, ranked by the caller's record
| Ticker | Firm | Action | Rating | Firm's 12M hit rate | |---|---|---|---|---| | MRNA | Wolfe Research | Upgrade | Peer Perform | 53% (n=136) | | PHM | Wolfe Research | Upgrade | Outperform | 53% (n=136) | | VST | Mizuho | Initiated | Outperform | 38% (n=772) | | EQR | JPMorgan | Initiated | Neutral | 43% (n=1325) | | AMD | Raymond James | Upgrade | Strong Buy | 39% (n=807) | | FIS | Wells Fargo | Downgrade | Equal-Weight | 39% (n=1583) | | DRI | Baird | Upgrade | Outperform | 37% (n=731) | | DPZ | Baird | Downgrade | Neutral | 37% (n=731) | | CMG | Baird | Downgrade | Neutral | 37% (n=731) | | MLM | DA Davidson | Initiated | Neutral | 40% (n=225) | | MAS | DA Davidson | Initiated | Neutral | 40% (n=225) | | CRH | DA Davidson | Initiated | Buy | 40% (n=225) |
Hit rate = share of the firm's historical buy-equivalent ratings that beat the S&P 500 over the following 12 months, computed by StockRank; n = evaluated ratings. Live version on the ratings feed and Top Firms leaderboard.
How to read it
Wolfe Research led the week's upgrades with moves in healthcare and housing, while Baird issued three separate downgrades concentrated in the restaurant and building materials sectors. The firms represented in this week's changes show varied track records: Wolfe Research's upgrades came from an analyst with a 53% accuracy rate over 136 prior calls, whereas Baird's three downgrades all originated from analysts tracking a 37% hit rate.
JPMorgan and Mizuho each initiated coverage this week, though their historical accuracy diverges notably. Mizuho assigned an Outperform rating to VST despite a 38% hit rate across hundreds of prior calls, while JPMorgan took a more cautious stance with a Neutral initiation on EQR backed by a 43% track record. Raymond James upgraded AMD to Strong Buy, marking one of the week's most bullish calls from an analyst whose historical accuracy sits at 39%.
DA Davidson initiated positions on three stocks spanning materials and industrials, all assigned either Neutral or Buy ratings by an analyst with a 40% accuracy rate. These initiations reflect continued analyst activity in cyclical sectors, though the range of conviction levels across the week's calls suggests divergent views on near term momentum.
The necessary caveats
Everything above is a descriptive snapshot of third-party analyst opinions (via Yahoo Finance, delayed), aggregated by StockRank. Ratings and price targets are the published views of the named firms, not StockRank's, and historical accuracy does not guarantee future results. Nothing in this article is investment advice or a recommendation. Methodology (windows, benchmark, minimum samples) is published in full here.
Every rating change across our coverage lands on the live ratings feed daily.