My top 10 things to watch Friday, Nov. 22 1. Sellers were active yesterday in some of Club name Nvidia ‘s biggest customers, the hyperscalers that run a bunch of data centers. Does that continue as it dawns on people that there will be no price concessions on Nvidia’s next-gen AI chip platform Blackwell because the demand is too great and there’s no real alternative? 2. My prediction on Google and the Justice Department: The government’s proposed draconian breakup of the company won’t be presented in court in the spring. Plus, the appeals process may not even begin until the middle of 2026. By then, Google may implement some European-style changes , like a box that shows users alternative search engines when they set up devices, that will appease regulators. Shares of Google parent Alphabet got crushed yesterday , but there’s no reason to sell the Club stock now at all. 3. Bank of America started coverage of Kyndryl with a buy rating and price target of $40 a share. This is an undervalued IT consulting company that was spun off from IBM a few years ago. It had been a black hole, but under CEO Martin Schroeter’s leadership, it has begun to turn the corner. The company just announced a $300 million buyback program and projected strong growth in free cash flow and profitability in the coming years. 4. Wells Fargo initiated Analog Devices with a hold-equivalent equal weight and price target of $220 a share. Analysts also placed a hold on Texas Instruments . The industrial-focused semiconductor stocks are doing badly and it’s hard to justify owning them. While Wells likes Onsemi and NXP , I say be careful because they are levered to autos, which are vulnerable in this slowdown. Our three chipmakers for the Club are all AI plays. 5. AbbVie has been punished enough on concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be the top U.S. health official and the failure of its experimental schizophrenia drug, according to Leerink. Analysts upgraded the stock to a buy-equivalent outperform rating from market perform. Their price target of $206 is a few dollars above where AbbVie traded before the sell-off. 6. Needham likes the turnaround stories at Foot Locker and Nike , initiating coverage of both stocks with buy ratings. I am trying to figure out if Nike can really improve in China, especially after Pinduoduo parent PDD Holdings laid an egg yesterday with its earnings report. But I believe in what CEO Mary Dillon is doing at Foot Locker. 7. Gap shares soared more than 20% after a better-than-expected quarter and raised its full-year outlook for net sales, gross margin and operating income. An overall clean quarter. The inflection at athleisure brand Athleta looks truly good and well ahead of schedule. Old Navy and namesake Gap continue to turn, too. 8. Club name CrowdStrike is having one of the great comebacks following the global IT outage this summer. KeyBanc upped its price target to $395 a share from $345, with analysts saying its business is set for a bounce this quarter. We just bought some more earlier this week. JPMorgan and Baird also raised their price targets on CrowdStrike, which reports earnings Tuesday. 9. Off-price retailer Ross Stores reported a good quarter, sending shares higher. Multiple analysts boosted their price targets, too. However, I vastly prefer Marshalls and TJ Maxx owner TJX Companies , which reported a great quarter Wednesday . The Club name did not get the aplomb I expected. 10. Interesting call at JPMorgan: Analysts said they expect Best Buy’s same-store sales to disappoint on Tuesday. However, they still raised their PT on the electronics retailer to $117 a share from $111 and kept their buy rating on the Club name. They say Best Buy is at the very start of a device replacement cycle. We recently trimmed our position, locking in profits on a stock that’s become a trading vehicle to some. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Signage at the the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Oct. 10, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
My top 10 things to watch Friday, Nov. 22
1. Sellers were active yesterday in some of Club name Nvidia‘s biggest customers, the hyperscalers that run a bunch of data centers. Does that continue as it dawns on people that there will be no price concessions on Nvidia’s next-gen AI chip platform Blackwell because the demand is too great and there’s no real alternative?
2. My prediction on Google and the Justice Department: The government’s proposed draconian breakup of the company won’t be presented in court in the spring. Plus, the appeals process may not even begin until the middle of 2026. By then, Google may implement some European-style changes, like a box that shows users alternative search engines when they set up devices, that will appease regulators. Shares of Google parent Alphabet got crushed yesterday, but there’s no reason to sell the Club stock now at all.
3. Bank of America started coverage of Kyndryl with a buy rating and price target of $40 a share. This is an undervalued IT consulting company that was spun off from IBM a few years ago. It had been a black hole, but under CEO Martin Schroeter’s leadership, it has begun to turn the corner. The company just announced a $300 million buyback program and projected strong growth in free cash flow and profitability in the coming years.
