The war with Iran has become a clear backdrop to the market’s recent weakness. Rising tensions in the region bring a familiar set of worries – geopolitical instability, possible disruptions to global oil supplies, and the broader uncertainty that tends to follow war. None of that tends to do equities any favors.
But that’s not the whole story. Mike Wilson, chief US equity strategist from Morgan Stanley, noted that liquidity was tightening and that markets were shifting toward correction territory. In his opinion, the current war has simply brought the stressors into sharper focus. That said, Wilson believes that investors can find opportunities in the near term as the market bottoms out this spring.
“The questions for equity investors now are what will the world look like in six months and are prices cheap enough to start assuming a better future? The short answer is not yet, but get your shopping lists ready… I think the S&P 500 could trade toward 6300 by early April before our favorable fundamental outlook can take hold again,” Wilson opined.
Wilson’s is the long-term upbeat view, and his colleagues among the Morgan Stanley stock analysts are busy picking out stocks to buy in a weaker market environment. We’ve opened up the TipRanks platform to look up the details on two of those picks – here they are, along with the Morgan Stanley commentaries.
Flywire Corporation(FLYW)
We’ll start in the world of online payment processing, where Flywire has, for over 15 years, offered a wide range of online digital payment solutions. The company operates around the world, providing services for the education, travel, and hospital/health sectors. Flywire’s platform lets international companies operate smoothly in a multi-currency global environment, taking payments in their customers’ currencies and using their own local currencies to settle their own accounts.
The company works with more than 4,900 global clients, and its service covers more than 240 countries and territories and over 140 currencies. At its core, the Flywire service is a desirable combination of vital advantages: secure transactions, low payment costs, and simplified reconciliations.
In an important development, Flywire last year acquired Sertifi, the cloud-based online electronic signature platform. The acquisition cost Flywire $330 million, and Sertifi provided $14.2 million in revenue for Flywire during 4Q25.
The popularity of Flywire’s service can be seen in a key metric from the company’s 4Q25 report. In that release, Flywire reported that its total payment volume increased by 35.6% year-over-year, from $6.9 billion in 4Q24 to $9.3 billion in the final quarter of 2025.
Elsewhere in the 4Q25 report, Flywire reported generating $157.5 million at the top line in the quarter, for a 34% year-over-year increase and beating the estimates by $7.74 million. At the bottom line, Flywire’s GAAP EPS came to $0.00 – and that figure beat the forecast by a penny. During Q4, Flywire paid down the remaining debt, $15 million, which it had incurred in the Sertifi acquisition.
Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Infante sees Flywire in a sound position, based on recent performance. He writes of the company, “We think Flywire has earned back credibility in the public markets, with four straight quarters of MSD+ RLAS beats, and with the ’26 outlook still assuming meaningful visa headwinds, we think the stage is set for continued upward estimate revisions, which should warrant multiple expansion… In our view, the best evidence of Flywire’s share gain and cross-sell success is the spread between visa growth and revenue growth in key Education markets, as Flywire’s results in ’25 demonstrate the company’s ability to deliver robust results in a fairly punitive visa regime.”
Quantifying his stance, Infante rates the shares as Overweight (i.e., Buy), and sets a price target of $17 that suggests a one-year upside potential of 36%. (To watch Infante’s track record, click here)
The 12 recent analyst reviews here break down to 7 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell, for a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The stock is priced at $12.49 and its $16.60 average target price indicates a 33% upside in store for the coming year. (See FLYW stock forecast)
Zions Bancorporation (ZION)
The next Morgan Stanley pick we’ll look at here is Zions Bancorporation, a Salt Lake City-based bank holding company. The company was founded in 1873, and today operates through a network of subsidiaries, including the eponymous Zions Bank, as well as California Bank & Trust, Amegy Bank, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, Vectra Bank Colorado, The Commerce Bank of Washington, and The Commerce Bank of Oregon.
Altogether, Zions’ network of banks provides a full range of banking services across 11 states in the Western US, from Texas to California, and then north to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Other states where Zions operates include Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, and its home state of Utah. The bank holding company had $89 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2025, and finished last year with an annual net revenue figure of $3.4 billion. The company’s 2025 revenue was up 9.7% from 2024.
Like many bancorps, Zions pays out a regular dividend – it has been maintaining the dividend payment since 1989. The company’s most recent payment was declared in January and paid in February, at a rate of 45 cents per common share. At this rate, the dividend annualizes to $1.80 per common share and gives a forward yield of 3.32%.
In its report for 4Q25, Zions reported $902 million in revenue, a figure that beat the estimates by $37.42 million. Zions’ bottom line, an adj. EPS of $1.64 came in $0.07 above the Street’s forecast.
This stock is covered by Morgan Stanley’s Manan Gosalia, who highlights the various reasons investors should take note here. The analyst says, “We see room for adj PPNR beats this year; we are +2.6% higher than consensus on 2026 adj PPNR. We also see room for a significant acceleration in buybacks in 2027 (from $100M in 2026 to $450M in 2027 vs. consensus of $150M) as ZION reduces the gap vs. peers on CET1 (including AOCI). Shares have underperformed the group by 400bps YTD, making for an attractive entry point. We also recommend the stock going into 1Q26 earnings given this recent underperformance, and given that ZION should benefit from a full quarter benefit in deposit rates from last quarter’s rate cuts and the fact that 60% of CDs reprice in 1Q26.”
For Gosalia, all of this adds up to an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating, which is complemented by a $75 price target, implying an upside of 38% in the coming year. (To watch Gosalia’s track record, click here)
This stock has a Hold rating from the analyst consensus, a rating based on 18 recent reviews that include 5 Buys, 12 Holds, and 1 Sell. The stock’s $54.24 trading price and $66.76 average target price together suggest a 23% upside on the 12-month horizon. (See ZION stock forecast)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
