Morgan Stanley Upgrades Ternium, Cuts Walmart Target and Picks Dallas for Expansion in Busy Week of Analyst Activity

Morgan Stanley issued a wave of analyst calls on August 21, upgrading Ternium (TX) to Overweight from Equal-Weight with a price target of $65, citing an improved tariff outlook, while also upgrading an unnamed steel producer to Overweight from Equal-Weight on expectations of further upside after a strong 2026 run. The bank raised its price target on Sage to 1,245p from 1,140p, lifted Ferguson (FERG) to $295 from $290, raised its Beike target on market share gains, and revised its semiconductor equipment outlook on demand signals. On the downside, Morgan Stanley cut its Walmart (WMT) price target to $125 from $140.

The bank also crossed the 5% ownership threshold in Pinewood Technologies and said Samsung's capital returns were slightly below expectations. On the corporate strategy front, Morgan Stanley is reportedly selecting Dallas as its primary expansion hub outside New York City. In crypto, the firm launched an Ethereum Trust ETP listed on NYSE that holds staked ETH, raising questions about a structural timing mismatch: investors can sell shares intraday while the underlying ETH could take weeks or months to unstake.

Separately, Morgan Stanley is among the lead advisers, alongside Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Citigroup, on Anthropic's upcoming IPO. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management's Jim Lacamp described the current earnings season as very healthy and said strong results make a bear market unlikely. The firm's Series O preferred shares crossed a 6.5% yield threshold on Friday, trading as low as $16.26 on an annualized dividend of $1.0625 per share.