These reports, excerpted and edited by Barron's, were issued recently by investment and research firms. The reports are a sampling of analysts' thinking; they should not be considered the views or recommendations of Barron's. Some of the reports' issuers have provided, or hope to provide, investment-banking or other services to the companies being analyzed.

General Motors -- GM-NYSE Outperform -- $56.31 on Aug. 19 by Wedbush We are raising our price target on General Motors from $55 to $65, reflecting incremental momentum with the company's growth story into 2026 while impressively navigating the tariff headwinds. GM has many different strategies based on the range of options that should help soften the tariff damage regarding production relocation and a host of cost/logistics planning operations in 2025 and beyond.

We believe that CEO Mary Barra & Co. are very prepared for all options on the table, and find this is a company embarking on a major path of growth ahead with a stronger electric-vehicle market position relative to the past few years. We also believe that GM has myriad new models coming out over the next six to 12 months that could catalyze consumer demand across its product line.

There have been a lot of things on the plate for GM, but we are impressed with the performance in the 313 area code [metro Detroit], and this remains a core value disruptive tech play in our view. We maintain our Outperform rating.

Diebold Nixdorf -- DBD-NYSE Buy -- $61.42 on Aug. 18 by D.A. Davidson We recently hosted an in-person nondeal roadshow with CEO Octavio Marquez, Tom Timko (executive vice president, chief financial officer), and Maynard Um (vice president, investor relations) and came away with a highly supportive view of our bullish stance, as we envision a reacceleration in organic growth and incremental strengthening in free-cash-flow conversion.

In aggregate, we came away with a clear impression that Diebold Nixdorf remains laser-focused on implementing best-in-class operational protocols and executing against a credible core growth algorithm. Diebold Nixdorf's B/S and free-cash-flow profile clearly set the stage for more buybacks going forward. We reiterate our Buy rating and $80 price target.

Affirm Holdings -- AFRM-Nasdaq Outperform -- $78.64 on Aug. 18 by Evercore ISI We are adding the stock to our Tactical Underperform, or TAP, List, as we think the risk/reward is less favorable heading into next week's print than it was a few weeks ago, given 1) material recent and year-to-date outperformance, and 2) the fact that shares are trading close to recent peak valuation, and 3) the low potential for this typically conservative management team to guide materially higher than consensus estimates.

We still believe that Affirm has the best risk platform in the space and will benefit over the longer term from penetration in new verticals and geographies as well as product expansion, so this is a short-term Underperform addition to our TAP List and not a fundamental change of our longer-term positive investment thesis, and that is why we are maintaining our Outperform rating.

Fluent -- FLNT-Nasdaq Market Perform -- $2.28 on Aug. 20 by Barrington Research Fluent's second-quarter revenue fell to $44.7 million, 23% below a year ago and well below estimates. Traffic costs continued to be above the company's target range, limiting monetization opportunities in the owned-and-operated ecosystem. Ebitda of -$2.8 million was impacted by the softer media margins and revenue declines, but was somewhat close to estimates.

The company continues to expect 2025 revenue trends to improve in the second half and expects to end the year with positive Ebitda generation in the fourth quarter. We expect some sequential improvement in the third quarter, and for the Commerce Media segment to continue to grow at a solid pace.

Fluent expects double-digit revenue growth and positive full-year Ebitda in 2026, led by the Commerce Media segment, as the owned-and-operated contribution continues to decline, producing a softer headwind.

NorthWestern Energy Group -- NWE-Nasdaq Buy -- $58.41 on Aug. 20 by Siebert Williams Shank NorthWestern Energy Group and Black Hills announced an agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction. This merger is one of the better merger blends that we have seen in some time. Black Hills gets materially larger in electricity at this key turning point in U.S. load growth. NorthWestern gains the merger premium and faster rate-base growth. Both companies gain greater regulatory and geographic diversity, an enhanced combined earnings growth profile, and the benefits of scale and associated merger synergies. The transaction is truly a win-win for both parties, in our view.

Price target: $69.

Sonos -- SONO-Nasdaq Buy -- $13.31 on Aug. 20 by Rosenblatt Sonos has successfully navigated a challenging year, fixing the software problems that angered the installed base and throttled sales, materially reduced costs, and appointed a new CEO....We see a company that can use both hardware and software innovation to drive its installed base to purchase more products as well as attract new households into the ecosystem, creating a flywheel that drives long-term value creation. While the macro situation remains challenging, the company has made the right moves to position itself for earnings growth....We like the risk/reward here, given that the shares are trading at less than eight times enterprise value to calendar-year 2026 Ebitda. Price target: $17.

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August 22, 2025 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)

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