The past week produced a string of analyst moves centered on artificial intelligence, with some firms doubling down on infrastructure and cloud leaders while others downgraded application software names seen as most exposed to AI disruption risks. Analysts also adjusted valuations where component costs could hit near-term earnings.
Below are the notable broker actions and the reasoning they provided for their stance on selected technology and travel companies.
Wells Fargo raises Alphabet to Overweight, points to expanding compute lead
Wells Fargo upgraded Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to Overweight and increased its price target to $387 from $354. The upgrade rested on the bank’s view that Alphabet is well positioned to lead the next phase of AI development because of its comparative advantages in customer data, distribution and scale of compute capacity.
Analyst Ken Gawrelski described Google as showing "leadership in 3 key traits of AI winner: customer data, distribution and compute capacity." The firm’s updated capacity analysis underpins the more bullish stance: Wells Fargo said its Project Google model forecasts compute capacity expanding to 35GW by 2028 from 15GW at year-end 2025, indicating Google is extending its capacity lead versus hyperscaler peers.
The bank lifted its outlook for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) sharply. Wells Fargo now expects GCP revenue to grow 60% year over year in 2026, a projection 11 percentage points above consensus, and it set 2027 and 2028 growth forecasts at levels 16% and 12% higher than Street expectations, respectively. The firm also sees GCP compute capacity reaching 16.9GW in 2028, up from 7.6GW in 2025, and raised cloud operating income estimates for 2026 and 2027 to ranges 10% to 15% above consensus.
Beyond raw infrastructure, Gawrelski highlighted subscription potential for Google’s Gemini product, estimating it could reach "$12B ARR from $4B exiting 2025," and noted potential upside related to Apple’s Siri partnership. While acknowledging that a shift toward AI search constitutes a risk, he added that Google has effectively "stalemated ChatGPT at ~13% share since July 2025," with signs of expanding search activity.
Jefferies trims four U.S. application software names amid AI disruption concerns
Jefferies reworked its coverage of U.S. application software, warning that the sector is facing rising AI disruption risks. Using a new AI risk framework combined with company-specific fundamentals and catalysts, the broker downgraded four software firms to Hold.
Analyst Brent Thill moved Workday, DocuSign, Monday.com and Freshworks to Hold, citing persistent risks and softer investor sentiment. On Workday, Thill pointed to execution concerns tied to leadership changes and wrote that the "medium-term growth bar needs to be lowered…again." For DocuSign, he warned that a return to stronger growth will take time and that "double-digit growth reaccel is a ways away," noting the Intelligent Agreement Management platform still needs to demonstrate traction.
Thill also characterized Monday.com’s outlook as "hazy" across both SMB and enterprise segments, and he warned that Freshworks faces AI and competitive pressures within its core customer experience business.
At the same time, Jefferies identified a smaller set of names it views as better positioned for the AI transition, naming Intuit, Procore, Atlassian and Salesforce as constructive picks. Intuit was highlighted as the firm’s top large-cap choice, backed by its data assets and extensive AI deployment across customers. Procore was pitched as an attractive mid-cap vertical software name that could see revenue reacceleration as macro conditions improve. Atlassian was described as a structural beneficiary of AI-driven coding trends, and Salesforce was labeled "best-positioned among apps vendors to deliver on AI agents," with expected execution supporting broader growth acceleration.
Morgan Stanley upgrades Booking to Overweight, trims price target
Morgan Stanley upgraded Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) to Overweight while reducing its price target to $5,500 from $6,150. Analyst Brian Nowak said he expects Booking to remain a crucial player in travel even as agentic AI tools emerge, citing the company’s ability to "own the customer, capture robust traveler data and use those to drive high margin direct business."
Nowak argued that online travel agencies will continue to play a central role in the industry’s long-term structure despite generative AI advancements. He noted that agentic travel offerings to date are largely diverting traffic to OTA apps and websites for final purchase rather than enabling direct in-agent checkout, and that some channels do not wish to act as merchant of record, which preserves OTAs’ position.
He also suggested OTAs could retain a role similar to paid search, where firms bid for traffic and then work to convert that traffic into future direct customers. Nowak emphasized Booking’s "20+ year history of leading execution" and said he expects that track record to continue.
Goldman Sachs flags persistent volatility and long-term AI disruption concerns
Goldman Sachs cautioned that fresh volatility driven by AI spending and disruption fears is likely to continue as investors confront an uneven technology landscape. The bank pointed to a recent divergence in performance across tech: memory names have rallied while software shares have suffered sizable declines.
Goldman noted that consensus now points to $667 billion in hyperscaler capex for 2026, a figure 62% higher year over year, and said it expects hyperscaler investment to remain robust. Still, analysts led by Ryan Hammond see the pace of growth peaking later in the year and warned that parts of the AI infrastructure complex could be exposed if spending momentum cools.
The team wrote that "a deceleration in the quarterly growth rate is likely in late 2026," and they cautioned that revenue growth and valuations for some infrastructure stocks could prove vulnerable. They also pointed to widening divergence between Nvidia’s share price and earnings as evidence the market is struggling to sustain strong returns amid concerns about "over-earning."
Looking forward, Goldman expects outcomes to diverge further as AI adoption moves from infrastructure toward applications, arguing investors will need deeper analysis of "competitive positioning, barriers to entry, and pricing power" to identify companies with durable advantages. The analysts added that "the concerns about AI disruption will be difficult to disprove in the near-term," and that firms facing disruption fears will likely need multiple quarters of business resilience or materially lower valuations before sizable investor reentry occurs. They said the recent software selloff reflects long-term uncertainty rather than a meaningful deterioration in near-term earnings, and stressed it will be "difficult to disprove long-term disruption risk with near-term earnings resilience."
Bank of America trims Dell Technologies price target amid rising memory costs
Bank of America lowered its price target on Dell Technologies to $135 from $150 while affirming a Buy rating. Analyst Wamsi Mohan warned that rising memory costs are likely to pressure near-term profitability, even as the firm expects a strong fourth-quarter print.
Mohan said memory costs are now up 140% year over year versus roughly 40% previously. Based on updated modeling, BofA sees a potential 489-basis-point hit to gross margin, a 262-basis-point impact to operating margin and a $2.48 drag on fiscal 2027 earnings per share. The analyst stressed these represent downside cases, adding that the true impact may be smaller if Dell implements opex efficiencies, supply chain adjustments, alternate component sourcing and strategic pricing.
BofA now forecasts fiscal 2027 EPS of $10.00, down from $10.86 previously. The bank expects margin pressure across both the Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) and Client Solutions Group (CSG), modeling more than 300 basis points of deleverage in each segment. It said ISG should be relatively more resilient due to its more "mission critical" portfolio and firmer demand, producing a smaller expected year-over-year decline, while CSG margins could face larger near-term strain as Dell works through "pre-contracted pricing."
Despite the near-term cost headwinds, BofA’s analysts said Dell’s longer-term outlook remains supported by enterprise AI adoption, potential AI PC tailwinds and increased attachment of the company’s storage intellectual property, though they noted the spike in component costs adds uncertainty around fiscal 2027 guidance.
As part of the coverage note, the research included a reference to a ProPicks AI tool: it said ProPicks AI evaluates DELL alongside thousands of other companies monthly using more than 100 metrics and highlighted that past winners identified by the tool include Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%).
What these moves mean
The analyst actions this week underline a widening bifurcation between firms gaining from infrastructure scale and those that face uncertain competitive dynamics as AI adoption accelerates. Upgrades to hyperscaler-linked names and select travel platforms reflect confidence in assets that control customer relationships, inventory or large-scale cloud compute. Conversely, downgrades among applications software names and trimmed valuations where component costs have spiked speak to execution and margin risks that could weigh on near-term results.
Investors tracking these themes will likely prioritize granular assessments of compute capacity, data advantages, go-to-market leverage and the potential timing of shifting revenue mixes as AI moves from infrastructure to applications.
Quotes and key figures cited in this piece are those provided by the respective broker reports and analysts.