BofA Hikes S&P 500 Forecast, Flags Slowing Tech Profits – But Wall Street Boosts Price Targets For Apple, Meta, Amazon Ahead Of Q2 Earnings

The S&P 500 edged lower as market opened on Tuesday after Bank of America hiked its price target on the index, but the brokerage warned that the market may be running out of steam.

In a note to investors cited by CNBC, Bank of America (BofA) raised its target to 6,300, up from 5,600, representing a potential upside of just 1.1% from Monday’s close. In comparison, the S&P 500 has already rallied by over 5.5% so far this year. 

“It’s hard to identify a positive catalyst for the S&P 500 to continue its meteoric run into Q3,” said Bank of America analyst Savita Subramanian. S&P 500 futures were trading flat after the opening bell, Dow Jones Industrial Average-linked futures were down 0.13%, and Nasdaq Composite-linked futures were up 0.14%. 

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was also tepid after the opening bell on Tuesday, edging lower by 0.03%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the fund dipped into ‘bullish’ territory from ‘extremely bullish’ a day ago, though it remains well above the ‘bearish’ levels seen a month ago.

BofA noted that earnings expectations have largely normalized but flagged slowing tech sector profit growth as a potential headwind. However, other analysts seem to be more bullish ahead of the earnings season. 

On Tuesday morning, Roth Capital raised its price targets for Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL), citing improving visibility into AI cloud trends and e-commerce tailwinds, according to investor notes cited by TheFly. It raised its price target on Amazon to $250 from $215 with a ‘Buy’ rating on the shares. 

For Alphabet, it raised its price target to $205 from $180, also with a ‘Buy’ rating. Alphabet remains the brokerage’s top large-cap pick for the second half of the year despite ongoing antitrust litigation and investor concerns over AI-driven disruption in search.

Alphabet and Amazon also received a price target hike from Wells Fargo. The brokerage hiked its price target on the Google parent to $177, up from $175, with an ‘Equal Weight’ rating on the stock. For Amazon, which kicks off its Prime Day sale today, it raised the price target to $238 from $201, also with an ‘Equal Weight’ rating.

Wells Fargo also upped its price target on Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms (META) to $783 from $664, with an ‘Overweight’ rating, citing the company’s strong fundamentals. 

Elon Musk-led Tesla (TSLA), on the other hand, saw its target lowered by Mizuho, which cited persistent weakness in EV sales in North America and challenges in Europe.

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