Top 10 Newsworthy Upgrades and Downgrades

In this article, we will discuss the Top 10 Newsworthy Upgrades and Downgrades.

With tariffs, trade wars, and real wars upending the global economy, the path of equity markets is still uncertain as we enter H2 2025, according to Capital Group, the leading active fund manager. Cheryl Frank, an equity portfolio manager for American Mutual Fund and CGCV — Capital Group Conservative Equity ETF, believes that as the new trade landscape comes into focus, the broader markets may stabilize, and a new set of investment opportunities is likely to emerge.

Domestic Companies Likely to Provide Shelter

The fund manager believes that multinationals are not the only potential winners in the current environment. There are domestic companies that are positioned to mitigate an uncertain environment. For example, the new growth potential was visible in the utilities sector. Also, domestic utilities are not subject to the Trump administration’s tariffs, and the sector is known to provide stability amidst downturns.

As per Frank, the risks to the broader economy and markets have increased. That being said, the portfolio manager believes that opportunities are broadening too. For long-term investors, it is important to seek balance in portfolios and maintain flexibility.

Amidst such trends, let us now have a look at the top 10 newsworthy upgrades and downgrades.

A financial planner carefully scrutinizing company’s investment portfolio.

Our Methodology

To list the Top 10 Newsworthy Upgrades and Downgrades, we sifted through several online rankings to get a list of stocks that were recently upgraded and downgraded. Next, we chose the ones that are popular among hedge funds. Finally, the stocks were arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiments, as of Q1 2025.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Top 10 Newsworthy Upgrades and Downgrades

10. LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 2

LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) is one of the stocks that made it to our list of top 10 newsworthy upgrades and downgrades. On June 11, Morgan Stanley upped the company’s stock to “Equal Weight” from “Underweight” with a price objective of KRW 9,500, up from the prior target of KRW 8,600, as reported by The Fly. As per the firm, the weak end markets and an uncertain cyclical outlook have been de-risked in valuation and earnings. Furthermore, it expects that a strong OLED contribution and fixed cost reduction will drive a turn to profit and improved earnings from Q3 2025 onwards.

As the market for LCD panel-based products reached a maturity stage, LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) believes that the increased adoption of OLED panels throughout numerous segments, aided by their differentiated advantages, can help create new opportunities.  The display panel industry is anticipated to continue to grow. LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) continues to strengthen its business competitiveness based on customer value and developing new markets under the strategic plan to pivot its business to center around OLED, which possesses robust growth potential in the display panel industry.

Coming to the large-sized display panels, the company continues to focus on expanding the OLED market via differentiated products and technology and strengthening business with new customers.