Strong earnings and an online advertising play by Walmart have us wondering about Costco
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible. Here is Monday’s edition. Sectors leading: Consumer staples were outperforming, led by Dow stock Walmart ‘s 3.5% gain. The retailer reported a strong fourth quarter and provided solid guidance as resilient consumers are increasingly looking for value. Walmart’s results are helping Club name Costco hit a new all-time high Tuesday. Jim Cramer said, “Walmart has tried to keep prices down, but Costco is lowering across the board. Next, will Costco get advertising on its e-commerce platform?” Both Walmart and Amazon have found success with adding advertisements to their online platforms to help boost profits, and we wonder if Costco could do something similarly. Looking for more inventory for online ads, Walmart announced a deal to buy connected TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion. Shares of Vizio were jumping 15%. Sectors Lagging : A rush of profit-taking was hitting tech stocks. Semiconductor stocks like Super Micro Computer and Arm , which were up in recent weeks on short squeezes, were under severe pressure Tuesday. Club name Nvidia was sharply lower, too. “Nvidia is getting hit ahead of the quarter,” Jim said. “I get the attention to the quarter but what I think CEO Jensen Huang cares more about is the GTC 2024 event next month. At the conference, I think he will emphasize how AI and accelerating computing are impacting health care, transportation, financial services, telco, ag, and more.” Jim added, “Use any Nvidia weakness to buy. This is NOT Super Micro.” Nvidia reports earnings after the closing bell Wednesday. Other calls: Evercore ISI downgraded a handful of machinery names including Caterpillar , saying it’s time for the bulls to take a victory lap and take profits. We thought the call would be powerful enough to bring down Club name Eaton and create a small buying opportunity for us. But alas, the stock has barely budged. Meanwhile, two different firms wrote about strong customer demand for Salesforce’s AI and Data cloud. What’s Next: We have earnings Tuesday evening from Palo Alto Networks , the best-of-breed cybersecurity company. A few other reports of interest are Toll Brothers for the state of homebuilding, and Realty Income , the single-tenant REIT best known for paying a monthly dividend. Wednesday morning, we get results from Vertiv , the company that sells power and cooling products for data centers and chip maker Analog Devices . Eye health company Bausch + Lomb is also out Wednesday morning. Club name Bausch Health Companies , which owns an 88.45% stake in BLCO, reports earnings Thursday morning. (See here for a full list of the stocks in 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.
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible. Here is Monday’s edition.