Verizon and ITT Are on Analysts' Radar as Upgrades Suggest More Gains Ahead

Wall Street is turning more constructive on infrastructure-linked names, and two fresh analyst calls this week make the case concrete. Scotiabank upgraded Verizon to Outperform with a raised price target, while Barclays initiated ITT with a cautiously positive view, both moves reflecting confidence in sustained infrastructure and network spending.

Verizon Communications ( NYSE:VZ) received a meaningful vote of confidence from Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi, who upgraded the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $54.50, up from $50.25, following a management meeting. Yaghi described Verizon’s momentum on subscriber loading and cost improvement as “strong” and views the shares as “cheap” at current levels.

The data supports that characterization. Verizon trades at a forward P/E of around 10x with a dividend yield of 5.34%. The stock has climbed nearly 26% year-to-date, yet Scotiabank’s $54.50 target still implies meaningful upside from current levels. The broader analyst consensus is more cautious – 15 of 25 covering analysts rate the stock Hold, with a consensus price target of $49.80 – meaning Scotiabank is materially above the Street.

Scotiabank’s thesis rests on a multi-year cost story. The firm expects further cost reductions in 2027 and 2028, with price discipline combined with lower churn in wireless and broadband growth positioning Verizon to report better revenue growth ahead. The underlying metrics are already moving in that direction: postpaid phone net additions hit 568,000 in Q4 2024, up 26.5% year-over-year and the best performance in over a decade, while fixed wireless access revenue grew 51.6% year-over-year to $611 million. The pending Frontier Communications acquisition and satellite partnerships add further optionality. The primary risk remains the $144 billion total debt load, which limits financial flexibility.

ITT Inc. ( NYSE:ITT) received a fresh initiation from Barclays analyst Julian Mitchell, who assigned an Equal Weight rating with a $220 price target. Mitchell frames ITT as a “premium” earnings “compounder” — an acknowledgment of the company’s consistent execution – but flags that higher leverage from the SPX FLOW acquisition will limit further acquisitions in the near term.

The $220 target sits above ITT’s current price of $185.59, which has pulled back 8.12% over the past week following the $4.775 billion SPX FLOW acquisition close on March 2, 2026. The broader analyst community remains bullish: 8 of 11 analysts rate ITT a Buy, with a consensus target of $233. At least one firm maintains a Buy with a $245 price target. Barclays is the most measured voice in the room.

The operational case is strong. ITT’s free cash flow grew 26.75% in FY2025 to $555.4 million, hitting a 14% free cash flow margin — a target ITT had set for 2030, achieved five years early. SPX FLOW adds more than $1.3 billion in 2025 revenue and delivered 14% organic orders growth in 2025. The integration risk and dilution from the December 2025 equity offering that raised approximately $1.3 billion are real near-term headwinds that Barclays has flagged in its initiation.

For Verizon, the gap between Scotiabank’s $54.50 target and the consensus $49.80 reflects a genuine debate about how much credit to give the cost reduction story. Wireless churn trends and broadband subscriber growth in upcoming quarters represent the key metrics that will test the upgrade thesis.

For ITT, the post-acquisition pullback has brought shares closer to Barclays’ $220 Equal Weight target, narrowing the upside implied by the broader Buy consensus. The integration timeline and leverage trajectory over the next two to three quarters will determine whether the compounder thesis holds at scale.