Premarket Movers: DELL Slides After Barclays Downgrade, NOW And GOOGL Rise On Analyst Updates

• Dell Technologies fell over 3% premarket after Barclays cut its rating from Overweight to Equal Weight and lowered its price target.
• ServiceNow gained nearly 1% after Citi raised its price target, while maintaining a Buy rating.
• Alphabet rose about 1% after UBS raised its price target while keeping a Neutral rating.

Dell Technologies (DELL) shares fell in premarket trading on Wednesday after Barclays downgraded the stock, citing elevated valuations and a lack of meaningful acceleration in AI-driven demand. Meanwhile, ServiceNow (NOW) gained after Citi raised its price target ahead of the company’s third-quarter results, while Alphabet (GOOGL) edged higher after UBS modestly increased its target and maintained a Neutral rating.

Barclays Turns Cautious On DELL

DELL shares dropped more than 3% before the opening bell after Barclays lowered its rating to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ and cut its price target to $574 from $603.

The firm said it was taking a more cautious view of IT hardware companies with greater exposure to enterprise spending. Barclays pointed to significantly higher valuations and revenue support from commodity costs, while noting that it did not see a meaningful AI-driven inflection yet. The firm downgraded three companies in the group, according to The Fly.

Separately, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won agreed to sell a 1.34% stake in the South Korean conglomerate’s holding company to an investment fund affiliated with Dell founder Michael Dell for $406 million, according to a news report. 

Citi Raises NOW Price Target

NOW stock gained nearly 1% in premarket trading after Citi raised its price target to $170 from $154 and maintained its ‘Buy’ rating. Citi said its confidence in ServiceNow’s upcoming third-quarter report had improved following channel checks. Its fieldwork pointed to a modest improvement in sentiment, particularly around the company’s new AI products and federal business.

The company has denied reports that it was looking to acquire AI customer-service startup Decagon.

UBS Nudges GOOGL Target Higher

GOOGL shares rose about 1% before the opening bell after UBS raised its price target to $380 from $379 and maintained a Neutral rating.

The firm said concerns about potential disruption from ChatGPT advertising and greater AI integration into Google Search had eased. However, UBS did not see a near-term catalyst to prompt a more positive view of the stock.

DELL, NOW, GOOGL Stocks: Stocktwits Retail Sentiment

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Dell was ‘bearish,’ unchanged over the past 24 hours, while message volume was ‘low’ at the time of writing. DELL stock has surged nearly 350% year-to-date.

ServiceNow also had ‘bearish’ retail sentiment, with message volume being at ‘normal’ levels. NOW shares have fallen more than 9% since the start of the year.

Alphabet’s retail sentiment was ‘bearish,’ with ‘low’ message volume on Stocktwits. GOOGL stock has gained nearly 14% year to date.

Also See: Dan Ives’ AI Bull Case Extends To South Korea – With A 9,000 KOSPI Target And 2027 Stock Picks

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