Jefferies
Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
Jefferies is a New York-based global investment bank and broker-dealer, the core business of NYSE-listed Jefferies Financial Group. Its equity research covers more than 3,600 stocks across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Company history
Boyd Jefferies founded the firm in Los Angeles in 1962 with $30,000 of borrowed capital, trading listed stocks between institutions in the 'third market.' Under Rich Handler, CEO since 2001, it moved its headquarters to New York and grew into a full-service investment bank. In 2013 it merged into its largest shareholder, Leucadia National, which took the Jefferies Financial Group name in 2018 and later divested most of its non-financial holdings. SMBC agreed in 2025 to lift its economic stake to up to 20%.
- 1962Boyd Jefferies founds the firm in Los Angeles
- 2001Rich Handler becomes chief executive
- 2013Merges with largest shareholder Leucadia National Corporation
- 2018Leucadia renamed Jefferies Financial Group
- 2021Strategic alliance with SMBC begins
- 2025SMBC agrees to raise economic stake to up to 20%
Research
Jefferies had more than 300 equity analysts covering over 3,600 stocks as of January 2026. It placed fifth in Extel's 2025 All-America Research Team leaders table, and since 2019 it has published Christopher Wood's weekly GREED & fear, which he has written since 1996. Buy denotes an expected 12-month total return of 15% or more, Hold between +15% and -10%, and Underperform -10% or worse, with wider bands for stocks under $10.
Coverage12M
- Stocks
- 1,229
- Ratings
- 1,542
- Price targets
- 1,638
- Median upside
- +17.8%
- Upgrades
- 202
- Downgrades
- 205
- Initiations
- 85
- Reiterations
- 1,050
- Targets raised
- 717
- Targets cut
- 487
- Positive60%573
- Neutral38%366
- Negative2%19
Sectors
Ratings
Listing
Activity24M
Most covered24M
| Stock | Rating | Target |
|---|---|---|
 AAPLApple Inc. | Underperform | $263.66 |
 GEVGE Vernova Inc. | Buy | $1,185 |
 CRWDCrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | Buy | $240 |
 OKTAOkta, Inc. | Buy | $200 |
 FSLRFirst Solar, Inc. | Hold | $228 |
 LUVSouthwest Airlines Co. | Hold | $46 |
 SNOWSnowflake Inc. | Buy | $488 |
 BEBloom Energy Corporation | Hold | $229 |
 CACICACI International Inc | Hold | $700 |
 IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation | Buy | $260 |
Analysts24M
- Julien Dumoulin-SmithIDA · CMS · LNT94
- Sheila KahyaogluLUV · UAL · FTAI68
- Brent ThillSNOW · IBM · DDOG43
- Joseph GalloCRWD · CHKP · NET31
- Kaumil GajrawalaCLX · CHD · KDP31
- Laurence AlexanderSHW · CBT · ALB31
Recent actions
| Stock | Rating action | Rating | Target | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCDauch CorporationDCH | Downgrade | Buy →Hold | $10.35 →$7.10 | Sep 22 |
| VLVLEEY | Upgrade | Hold →Buy | Sep 22 | |
| ALAutoliv, Inc.ALV | Target | $120 →$119 | Sep 22 | |
 Capri Holdings LimitedCPRI | Reiterate | Hold | Sep 22 | |
 SAP SESAP | Reiterate | Buy | $206 →$260 | Sep 22 |
 Brinker International, Inc.EAT | Downgrade | Hold | Sep 22 | |
| STSTAAR Surgical CompanySTAA | Target | $28 →$23 | Sep 22 | |
| RXRxSight, Inc.RXST | Target | $6.50 →$5.75 | Sep 22 | |
 Alcon Inc.ALC | Reiterate | Buy | $105 →$85 | Sep 22 |
Similar coverage12M
References
- Jefferies Group - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Jefferies Global Equity Research (LinkedIn, 2026)linkedin.com
- J.P. Morgan Stays Top of Extel's All-America Equities Research Table (Extel, 2025)einpresswire.com
- SMBC raises stake in Jefferies to up to 20% with $912 million investment (Reuters, 2025)reuters.com
- Jefferies Appoints Chris Wood Global Head of Equity Strategy and Launches GREED & fear (Business Wire, 2019)via.ritzau.dk
- Jefferies US Insights - Explanation of Jefferies Ratingsjefferies.com