Wall Street spent the week swinging between relief and worry. Stocks rallied hard on Monday, then slipped on Tuesday, when a hotter-than-expected inflation report arrived just as Federal Reserve officials were openly talking about raising interest rates again.
The swings followed the S&P 500’s biggest weekly drop since April 2025.
Hot Inflation Data Revives Rate-Hike Bets
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in October, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.3% gain. Core prices, which leave out food and energy, rose 0.3%, against a forecast of 0.2%.
Traders now put the odds of a quarter-point Fed rate hike in December at 84%, according to Yahoo Finance, and the odds of a half-point move jumped from 0% to 15% in a single day. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the central bank should raise rates in December even if inflation cooled last month, and should consider a half-point hike if the picture worsens. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said the Fed needs at least two more quarter-point increases.
Not every official sounded that hawkish. Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said he thinks the current policy rate is “fairly accommodative,” while Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman stopped short of calling for hikes but called inflation the central bank’s top priority. You might also be interested in reading our piece on stocks that Wall Street analysts see as affordable.
Stocks Rebound, Then Stall
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.30% on Tuesday, the S&P 500 lost 0.38% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.74%. Declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 2.27-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. That wiped out part of Monday’s rally, when the S&P 500 rose 2.35% for its biggest daily gain since April 8 as falling oil prices eased inflation fears. After the report, shorter-term Treasury yields jumped and the US dollar strengthened.
Last week’s selloff came after a sweeping Democratic victory in the US midterm elections, which stirred worries that new regulations could hurt the AI trade. For another angle on where analysts see room to run, see our list of NYSE stocks with huge upside potential.
James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones, told Reuters that “there are some fears that underlying price pressures are starting to build again.” The Labor Department releases producer prices on Friday, and CME FedWatch showed the odds of a December rate hike above 80% even before Tuesday’s report.
Our Methodology
To compile this list, we reviewed analyst rating upgrades and initiations announced on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, as reported by financial news sites. We have ranked these stocks in ascending order of their average upside potential, as of November 10. We also list each stock’s number of hedge fund holders as of Q2 2026, from our database of 1,006 hedge funds.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with what hedge funds do. 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. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 612% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 375 percentage points (see more details here).
10 Stocks Analysts Are Upgrading Right Now
10. Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO)
Market Cap: $147.64 billion
Average Upside Potential: 1%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
UBS raised Southern Copper to Neutral from Sell on Tuesday, saying risk and reward look balanced at current prices while the firm stays positive on copper. Southern Copper, which is majority owned by Grupo Mexico, mines copper in Mexico and Peru. Sales and profit hit records for the second quarter in a row, but higher metal prices drove the gains: net sales jumped 39.1%, while copper volume slipped 0.4% as ore grades fell at its Peruvian mines.
After credits from silver, molybdenum and zinc sales, a pound of copper cost just $0.09 to produce, so there is little left to squeeze. Growth has to come from new tons instead. The Tia Maria and El Pilar projects are set to add 156,000 tons of annual output by 2029, and management is weighing a larger mill at its Cuajone mine in Peru. Those projects take years to build and depend on local permits. UBS’s rating reflects a view that, at today’s share price, the risks and the rewards roughly offset each other.
9. Millicom (NASDAQ:TIGO)
Market Cap: $15.02 billion
Average Upside Potential: 10%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
UBS lifted Millicom to Buy from Neutral on Tuesday and raised its price target to $109 from $100, saying new evidence on the company’s operating drivers gave it more confidence in the path of free cash flow. Millicom sells mobile and home broadband under the Tigo brand across Latin America, and its equity free cash flow rose 27% to $316 million. Management says it is on track for about $1.1 billion this year.
That cash is going to shareholders and to debt. The board declared dividends for the first two quarters of next year, and half of each payment is extraordinary. In Colombia, where Millicom bought the Coltel business this year, the profit margin reached 44.2%, the highest the company has reported there, even with integration costs still running. The worry is the gap between cash and reported earnings, since severance and restructuring charges keep weighing on the income statement. A recent piece we wrote on why Millicom’s reported profit fell while its cash flow set a record shows how far apart the two can drift.
8. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET)
Market Cap: $111.94 billion
Average Upside Potential: 10%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 87
DZ Bank upgraded Cloudflare to Buy from Sell on Tuesday with a $300 price target. Cloudflare runs a global network that speeds up and protects websites and, increasingly, hosts the code behind AI applications. Revenue grew 39% to $782.5 million, its fastest pace in nearly four years, and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Prince called it the best quarter in the company’s history. The number of developers on its platform grew from 7 million to 10 million in a single quarter.
Management also expects to reach GAAP profitability in the fourth quarter, years earlier than it said at its investor day. Gross margin slipped to 72.4%, down from a year earlier, because building out the network adds cost before the sales arrive, and free cash flow came to 10% of revenue against 13% a year ago. Whether the free users filling that network will ever pay is the question behind our look at how Cloudflare makes money when most users pay nothing.
7. American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL)
Market Cap: $9.27 billion
Average Upside Potential: 12%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Gavin Tennant upgraded American Airlines to Buy from Neutral on Tuesday with a $17.50 price target, writing, “We have found it increasingly difficult to justify a Neutral rating on American.” He points to an improved network, investment in its hubs, a richer mix of premium seats, disciplined capacity, and room for margins and free cash flow to grow in later years, with fares expected to stay elevated through 2027.
American’s operations center on hubs such as Dallas Fort Worth, where it has been investing. Total unit revenue, which is what the airline earns per seat mile flown, rose 14.5% across every cabin and geography, and revenue from managed corporate accounts rose 28%. Higher fuel prices tied to the Iran war added $1.9 billion to third-quarter operating expenses, which is why the shares have lagged this year. Management says it is on pace for nearly $1 billion in annual savings by year-end to help offset that. We recently looked at how much work American’s premium push is doing for the rest of the plane.
6. Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)
Market Cap: $76.35 billion
Average Upside Potential: 15%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst John Kernan initiated coverage of Ross Stores at Overweight on Tuesday with a $276 price target. He expects comparable-store sales and earnings per share to come in above consensus in the coming quarters, and argues the company is taking share in off-price retail, with room for roughly 1,220 more Ross and dd’s stores based on how many people each store serves in the best-penetrated states.
Ross sells brand-name clothing and home goods at discounts through those two chains across the United States. In the second quarter its comparable sales rose 10%, but earnings of $2.66 a share included $0.60 from tariff refunds, so the underlying beat was smaller than the headline suggests. Management guided comparable sales growth to slow in the second half, and it plans to keep opening stores this year while buying back shares. UBS upgraded the stock in late October, so Cantor is joining a bullish crowd rather than leading it. The next report is due on Nov. 19. Our earlier piece asked whether Ross’s blowout comp growth signals a bigger market share opportunity.
5. British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI)
Market Cap: $129.80 billion
Average Upside Potential: 17%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41
JPMorgan analyst Edward Hockin reinstated coverage of British American Tobacco at Overweight on Tuesday, after the firm previously rated it Neutral, with a price target of 5,300 pence on the London shares. JPMorgan calls the company an earnings-per-share compounder and argues that share gains in nicotine pouches and U.S. vapes can bring sales growth back to 3% to 5% at constant currency.
British American, which sells Lucky Strike and Newport cigarettes alongside Vuse vapes, says the U.S. volume share of its Velo pouch brand rose from 4.4% in January 2024 to more than 30%. Management guides to adjusted earnings per share growth of 5% to 8% over the next several years and has planned £1.3 billion of share buybacks for 2026. The company expects global volumes of combustible products to fall about 2.5% a year through 2030, with price increases and a richer mix keeping revenue growing. Management wants smokeless products to make up most of the business by 2035. Readers weighing the payout can find our look at whether its business can sustain a 6% dividend.
4. MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB)
Market Cap: $27.31 billion
Average Upside Potential: 35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69
BTIG analyst Gray Powell initiated coverage of MongoDB at Buy on Tuesday with a $417 price target. He sees a large and growing market for its database software and share gains against legacy vendors. BTIG’s checks with partners pointed to stable demand and partner practices growing at a healthy clip, and he expects the new product cycle, led by MongoDB 9.0 and a product called AMP, to keep revenue growth above 20% over the next few years. Agent Engine and Atlas Infinite are longer-term upside, and BTIG expects a new three-year revenue target.
MongoDB sells a database that stores information as flexible documents rather than rigid tables, and revenue growth reached 25% over the past 12 months. The chief executive left in late September, the shares tumbled that day, and guidance for the current quarter also disappointed investors who were already paying a premium multiple. BTIG’s note answers that worry with demand data rather than management commentary. The next report is due in early December. We looked at whether MongoDB can hold its guidance after losing its chief executive.
3. Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY)
Market Cap: $6.22 billion
Average Upside Potential: 42%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32
Gerdes Energy Research upgraded Magnolia Oil & Gas to Buy from Neutral on Tuesday with a $29 price target. Magnolia produces oil and natural gas in Texas, and it reported its first results since closing the Wildfire acquisition. Adjusted free cash flow came to $223.7 million. Net debt of about $1.9 billion put leverage below 1 times projected 2027 EBITDA, a goal management had planned to reach a year later or more. Management is capturing cost savings on the acquired acreage faster than planned, having already swapped in its own rigs and crews.
Chief Executive Officer Christopher Stavros said the shares have felt pressure because the seller of Wildfire received stock in the deal and may sell some of it. Magnolia’s answer is to keep returning cash: it plans to buy back at least 1% of its shares every quarter, and it has raised its quarterly dividend by a cumulative 20% this year. Our recap of JPMorgan’s bet that Magnolia can break to new highs gives more on how analysts see the stock.
2. Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX)
Market Cap: $40.39 billion
Average Upside Potential: 63%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 83
Initiating coverage on Tuesday, JPMorgan analyst Michael Fairbanks rated Comfort Systems USA Overweight with a $1,700 price target and added it to the firm’s U.S. Equity Analyst Focus List. He credits its ability to mobilize skilled labor at scale, with more than 50 operating units across the country and a traveling workforce, and sees more upside if it signs further deals with frontier AI labs or colocation providers. He says its margins, growth, cash conversion and acquisition record justify a premium multiple.
Comfort Systems installs and services mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, increasingly inside data centers. Its factory-built modular systems have grown into a much larger share of revenue since 2022, and capacity keeps expanding through late 2027. Third-quarter revenue rose 54%, and backlog reached a record $17.8 billion, nearly double a year earlier. Several analysts have trimmed targets over margin pressure, data center stocks fell after the midterms, and Chief Financial Officer Bill George retires at year-end. We recently examined how much of the $1.5 billion in cash the company generated is already spoken for.
1. Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT)
Market Cap: $7.01 billion
Average Upside Potential: 71%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55
Jefferies analyst Jonathan Petersen upgraded Riot Platforms to Buy from Hold on Tuesday and more than doubled the price target to $28 from $13. Riot started as a bitcoin miner and now rents out power and land for AI data centers. At its Corsicana site it signed a deal that Petersen finds highly favorable, because it earns money from the property with less execution and financing risk than building the data center itself.
The 15-year initial term is expected to bring in about $28 billion, the tenant pays nearly all operating costs, and management puts the yield on the project’s cost at about 33%. Riot sold 20,264 bitcoin this year to fund the build and says it does not expect to issue equity for announced projects. The company still plans to line up $6.1 billion to $7 billion of non-recourse project debt, and KBW downgraded the shares to Market Perform on Wednesday. Whether Riot can fund the build after signing a large lease is a question we took up in an earlier look at its data center plans.
READ NEXT: Riot Platforms (RIOT) & CleanSpark (CLSK): Bitcoin Miners are Becoming AI Landlords. Riot Just Signed a $9 Billion Lease to Prove It and Can Cloudflare (NET) Become the Gatekeeper of the AI Web?
