The Club’s top 10 things to watch Wednesday
1. Stocks are poised to open slightly higher Wednesday following a strong rally Tuesday that saw equities gain for a third-straight session. The market is being supported in early trading following the release of the ADP National Employment report, which showed U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in August — the latest sign the Federal Reserve is succeeding in cooling the economy through higher interest rates. Investors are also looking ahead to the Labor Department’s non-farm employment report on Friday.
2. Citigroup maintains a buy rating on Club name Apple (AAPL) ahead of its Sept. 12 product event, while reiterating a $240-per-share price target on the stock. The company is expected to introduce the new iPhone 15 at the event, which Citi predicts will serve as a “strong replacement cycle” in the iPhone 12 installed base. As ever, Apple is an “own it, don’t trade it” stock ahead of the product launch.
3. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) updates its guidance to reflect the separation of consumer unit Kenvue. The health-care giant lowers its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share (EPS) outlook to a range of $10 to $10.10, from a prior range of $10.70 to $10.80. It also raises its adjusted operational sales growth to a range of 6.2% to 7.2%, up from from 6% to 7%. The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $1.19 per share, which should keep income-oriented investors happy.
4. Citigroup reiterates a buy rating on FedEx (FDX), citing an upward bias to estimates due to favorable pricing, gains from customer traffic amid UPS labor negotiations and the closure of trucking firm Yellow.
5. Morgan Stanley downgrades Centene (CNC) to equal weight, from overweight, while lowering its price target on the stock to $73 a share, down from $94. The firm cites lower confidence around the “visibility and stability of the company’s long term earnings growth profile.” But Morgan Stanley is increasingly positive on Elevance Health (ELV) and Club insurer Humana (HUM).
6. Bernstein downgrades Texas Instruments (TXN) to underperform, from market perform, arguing gross-margin estimates are too high given the company’s plans to increase capital expenditures and inventory. The firm reiterates a price target of $145 a share.
7. Shares of Insulet (PODD) climb more than 4% after CEO James Hollingshead discloses he’s buying 5,550 shares of the medical-device maker.
8. Wolfe Research says the kickoff of the NFL season is unlikely to help Anheuser-Busch InBev‘s (BUD) Bud Light take back market share in the U.S. “Although there is a potential that football season may draw some drinkers back to the brand, fall shelf resets will likely be a moderate incremental negative for sales and fall price action seems unlikely,” analysts at the firm wrote in a note. But Wolfe Research said it continues to hear positive feedback on Molson Coors Beverage (TAP) and Club name Constellation Brands (STZ).
9. KeyBanc says Club holding Alphabet‘s (GOOGL) “Year of AI” continues at its Google Cloud Next event this week. A key artificial-intelligence partnership announcement with fellow Club name Nvidia (NVDA) took both stocks up Tuesday.
10. HP Inc. (HPQ) lowers its full-year adjusted EPS outlook to be in a range of $3.23 to $3.25, down from $3.30 to $3.50 a share — the latest sign there may not be a quick demand recovery in the PC market.
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