Analysts Punish Intuit, Back F5 and Power Plays

Wall Street delivered a notable downgrade to INTU today. Analysts cut the $81 billion fintech giant from Hold to Sell. The consensus target fell to $456, down from $463. With short interest at 5.7% of free float, bears are already circling.

FFIV tells the opposite story. Analysts lifted their average target to $433 from $419 — a 14-point jump. The network technology firm carries a $22 billion market cap. Short interest sits at just 2.2%. That gap between Intuit and F5 sums up the current tech bifurcation neatly.

Power stocks grabbed attention too. VST saw its target nudged higher to $223. The $55 billion power generator now has 18 buy ratings. NRG also got a target price lift. Meanwhile, CEG and NEE saw consensus targets tick down. A recommendation was removed entirely from NEE.

DDOG continued its bullish run. Analysts pushed the average target to $266. The cloud monitoring firm holds 42 buy ratings — among the most in the dataset.

BKR earned an outright upgrade today. Baker Hughes moved from Sell to Hold. Its target rose to $71. The oilfield services firm could benefit if energy capex holds up through year-end.