Sell Alert: 5 High-Profile Stocks Just Dumped by Top Analysts

Wall Street had one of its roughest sessions of the year this week. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52% on November 5, its deepest one-day drop in 19 months, Reuters reported that day. The index closed more than 10% below its October 6 record, which confirmed a technical correction.

The S&P 500 slid 4.36% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.44%, wiping about $3 trillion off the value of S&P 500 companies.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index plunged more than 12%, and trading volume reached 26.9 billion shares, well above the 20-session average of 17.7 billion. Chipmakers and other AI-linked stocks took the brunt of the damage.

The trigger was politics. Democrats won control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, including in states where opposition to new data centers has grown. Investors worried that tougher rules could slow the buildout of AI infrastructure, according to the Reuters report.

Melissa Brown, global head of investment decision research at SimCorp, said any slowdown would raise concerns because AI growth has leaned on rapid construction of supporting infrastructure. Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, said, "This feels like the capitulation phase for the data center capex beneficiary stocks," though he thinks the size of the moves is outsized.

The drop followed a strong run. The S&P 500 had posted its biggest one-day gain in three months the day before, and it is still up 7.4% for the year. We recently rounded up ten stocks you are selling and insiders are buying.

Friday's jobs report did little to calm nerves. Employers added 165,000 jobs in October, more than twice what economists expected, and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, Reuters reported on November 6.

Traders raised their bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike in response. Markets priced about a 78% chance of a quarter-point increase at the central bank's December 8-9 meeting, up from about 67% on Thursday, and they now expect a final hike in April rather than June. For a look at the other side of the analyst picture, see our ranking of affordable stocks Wall Street analysts like.

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Richmond Fed chief Thomas Barkin had already hinted at possible future rate hikes, Reuters reported on November 5. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said last month that policymakers would watch the accumulation of data to decide whether more tightening is needed. Fitch Ratings analyst Olu Sonola said "the economy remains on firm footing" despite recent AI-related concerns, while Raymond James analysts wrote that they expect the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points in December.

We shared the expanded list of the 10 High-Profile Stocks Just Dumped by Top Analysts here. You can find the top 5 stocks below.

Photo by Robb Miller on Unsplash

For this article, we reviewed analyst downgrades issued on Friday, November 6, 2026. We picked the 10 with the largest market caps and ranked them in descending order of average upside potential, based on analysts' average price target, as of November 6, 2026. We also list each stock's number of hedge fund holders as of Q2 2026, from our database of 1,006 hedge funds.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41

Wells Fargo analyst Chris Carey cut Molson Coors to Underweight from Equal Weight on November 6 and lowered his price target to $36 from $38. He cited ongoing inflation compressing gross margins and concern about market share erosion, and he sees more than 20% downside risk to consensus earnings estimates. Wells Fargo said the stock's valuation can "track back to lows," and it expects 2027 to be challenging.

The company's third-quarter results showed the same pressure. Net sales were $2.93 billion, down 1.6% and just short of the $2.94 billion analysts expected, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.46 edged past the $1.45 consensus. Global beer brand volume fell 4.9% from a year earlier.

The company then lowered its 2026 outlook. It now expects constant-currency net sales to fall 1% to 2%, compared with a prior range of roughly flat, and underlying earnings per share to fall 16% to 19%, against a prior decline of 11% to 15%. Management cited lower sales volumes and higher costs for materials, logistics and manufacturing, including about $30 million from the Midwest Premium pricing impact.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 18

Barclays analyst Michael Lonegan cut Fortis to Equal Weight from Overweight on November 6 while raising the price target to $61 from $56. Lonegan noted that the shares trade at a historical peak two-year forward price-to-earnings valuation with a 35% premium to US peers, and near their historical peak with nearly a 10% premium to Canadian peers. Barclays said Fortis "trades at a peak historical valuation versus peers" and believes its growth prospects are now fully priced into the shares.

The company gave investors plenty of growth to price in. It unveiled a $32.2 billion capital plan for 2027 through 2031 that supports rate base growth of 7.5%, a five-year compound annual rate at a constant US dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate. The utility also extended its guidance for annual dividend growth of 4% to 6% through 2031.

Third-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $0.92, up from $0.87 a year earlier, and net earnings were $474 million. Over the past five years, Fortis has grown earnings per share 4.66% a year, and its net margin over the past 12 months is 14.35%.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 40

Citi cut BJ's Wholesale Club to Neutral from Buy on November 6 and also raised its price target to $113 from $111. After the stock's strong run, Citi sees a more balanced risk/reward, with the shares at about 22 times its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate, above a five-year average of about 19 times. The bank said "there's a lot of optimism priced into shares at this point." It added, "We are also concerned that some of the sales strength in the near-term is driven by one-time promotional events," and it flagged rising competition among warehouse clubs for memberships.

The optimism has support in the numbers. Second-quarter revenues rose 15.7% to $6.23 billion, and comparable club sales rose 11.9%, or 3.1% without gasoline, a measure the company reports both ways. Membership fee income climbed from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share rose. BJ's ended the quarter with a record 8.5 million members and raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $4.60 to $4.80.

For the longer-term case, see our earlier piece on why BJ's Wholesale Club has been called a good investment.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39

UBS cut American Water to Neutral from Buy on November 6 and raised its price target to $162 from $153. UBS noted that the stock has risen about 21% since its late-May low while the Dow Jones Utility Index was flat, and said "upside is now insufficient to support a Buy rating." It sees a more balanced risk-reward ratio of 1.2 to 1 and describes its estimates as in line with consensus. A possible post-closing sale of Peoples Gas or renewed interest in ESG investing could provide upside, while a closing delay on the Essential Utilities merger is the main downside risk.

American Water reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.00 in the third quarter, up from $1.89 a year earlier, and narrowed its 2026 adjusted guidance to $6.07 to $6.12 per share. It also initiated 2027 standalone guidance and said its $3.7 billion capital investment plan for 2026 is on track.

On the merger, regulators in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia have given approvals, and settlements in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas still need commission approval. The company expects to close by the end of the first quarter of 2027.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 40

UBS cut Essential Utilities to Neutral from Buy on November 6 while raising its price target to $49 from $47. UBS noted that the stock has risen 22% from its late-May low, while the Dow Jones Utility Index was flat and the S&P 500 rose 1.5%. It said a post-closing sale of Peoples Gas or renewed interest in ESG investing could provide upside, and it named a closing delay as the primary downside risk, with the merger with American Water potentially five months from closing at the end of the first quarter of 2027.

The company earned $0.36 per diluted share in the third quarter, up from $0.33 a year earlier. Net income was $103.8 million, up from $92.1 million, and adjusted earnings per share, which leave out merger-related costs, were $0.38.

Essential said it was on track to invest $1.7 billion in infrastructure in 2026. Regulators in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia have approved the merger, and settlements in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas still need commission approval. UBS also cut American Water, its merger partner, to Neutral from Buy the same day.

While we acknowledge the risk and potential of WTRG as an investment, we believe certain AI infrastructure stocks offer far stronger long-term potential at a much more attractive entry point. If you are looking for an AI stock more promising than WTRG that operates as a critical AI tollbooth and stands as the most important company in the world, check out our report about this must-own AI stock.

Click to continue reading and see the expanded list of the 10 High-Profile Stocks Just Dumped by Top Analysts

This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.