WTW jumps as BMO upgrades to Outperform after post-earnings plunge

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) is moving higher on May 1, 2026, after an analyst upgrade helped shift sentiment following a sharp, earnings-driven drawdown earlier this week. BMO Capital Markets upgraded WTW to Outperform from Market Perform and set a $300 price target, framing the setup as more attractive after the late-April selloff.

The upgrade lands immediately after WTW’s first-quarter 2026 earnings release on April 30, 2026, which sparked a steep decline as investors focused on revenue/growth concerns even as profitability metrics held up better. Market commentary around the quarter highlighted margin expansion alongside softer-than-expected revenue growth, which triggered the abrupt reset in the shares before today’s bounce.

Beyond the rating change, investors are weighing whether the post-earnings reset has already discounted near-term growth pressure and whether WTW can stabilize organic growth through 2026. From the quarter’s read-through, attention is also on capital return commitments—WTW reiterated a share-repurchase target of at least $1 billion for the year and reported Q1 organic growth of about 3% with adjusted operating margin around 22.3%—figures that may support the idea of a valuation floor after the selloff.

With the stock still digesting an earnings-driven repricing, incremental changes in analyst models, price targets, and forward growth expectations can drive outsized moves from day to day. Any follow-on updates about booking trends in Risk & Broking, performance in Health, Wealth & Career, or cadence of buybacks could quickly tilt the debate toward “temporary slowdown” versus “structural growth deceleration.”