The Club’s 10 things to watch Tuesday, Sept. 16 — Today’s newsletter was written by Jeff Marks, the Club’s director of portfolio analysis. 1. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq are set for a higher open this morning, aiming to extend yesterday’s gains. Both indexes closed at record highs to kick off the week. Retail sales increased 0.6% month over month in August, the Census Bureau said, exceeding expectations of a 0.2% gain. It’s the last key economic reading ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision tomorrow afternoon. 2. Club name Amazon’s price target was increased to $270 from $250 at Truist. The firm’s card data through Sept. 6th shows Amazon’s North American revenue tracking about $1 billion above the consensus estimate. Also, Amazon announced its two-day October sales event to kick off the holiday shopping season. 3. Shares of Oracle were rallying in premarket trading on a CBS News report that it is among a group of firms that would run TikTok’s U.S. operations, which would allow the wildly popular social-media app to avoid a ban in the country. TikTok’s ad-targeting prowess makes it a real asset to whichever companies own it , Jim Cramer said yesterday. 4. Mizuho raised its price target on Micron to $182 from $155 ahead of earnings next Tuesday. The analyst sees upside to high bandwidth memory (HBM) estimates driven by the ramp of Club name Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra chip. Micron shares are up a blistering 30% over the past month. 5. Wells Fargo bank analyst Mike Mayo reiterated his “Goliath is Winning” thesis, meaning the largest banks are performing best in this environment. Mayo raised his price target on overweight-rated Goldman Sachs , a Club stock, and Bank of America , Citigroup and JPMorgan . He also upped its PT on hold-rated Morgan Stanley . 6. Microsoft announced late yesterday a 10% increase to its quarterly dividend. The new annualized yield is about 0.7%, up from 0.6%. This increase is in line with the company’s five year average, per Morgan Stanley. While the dividend yield is tiny, analysts noted the company has over $55 billion remaining in its current buyback authorization. That makes its capital return strategy more formidable. 7. Citi bumped up its price target on Nike to $74 from $68 but maintained its neutral rating. The analyst expects an earnings beat when the company reports on Sept. 30, driven by better sales and lower selling, general, and administrative expenses. Inventory levels are expected to be “clean” by the end of the fiscal second quarter. Jim has warmed on Nike’s turnaround. 8. Union Pacific caught an upgrade for the second day in a row. This time, Loop Capital removed its sell rating and upgrading to hold with valuations near the bottom of the railroad operator’s five year range. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are trying to get their megamerger approved by regulators. 9. Novo Nordisk was upgraded to buy at Rothschild & Co. on what analysts call an attractive valuation. Novo also announced its once-weekly weight loss drug Cagrilintide showed an average weight loss of 11.8% in a late-stage study. Cagrilintide targets a different hormone than GLP-1s on the market. Separately, JPMorgan lowered its PT on Club name Eli Lilly to $1,050 from $1,100 but kept an overweight buy rating. 10. Bank of America upgraded industrial real estate owner Prologis from hold to buy and raised its price target to $130 from $118. The analyst believes corporate decision-making is starting to improve, leading to a higher conversion of new lease proposals. 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.
