Stocks bounce back, Linde impresses analysts, and Amazon announces Rx kiosks
Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer publishes Homestretch, an actionable afternoon update just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves: Stocks rose on Wednesday; Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for record closes. Tuesday’s pullback snapped the S&P 500’s seven-session winning streak, but the index has begun to recover thanks to a rebound in AI infrastructure and technology stocks. Shares of Nvidia were up nearly 2% in Wednesday afternoon trading. In case you missed it, watch Jim Cramer’s exclusive Monthly Meeting interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Fireside chats: Over the past few days, Linde’s management team has held fireside chats with analysts from Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. Shares of the industrial gas giant were having a solid year, up about 12%. But like many other chemical stocks, the shares had a slow start to October amid fears that the macroeconomic environment would weaken. Both Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas shared positive results from their conversations with management. Goldman said Linde remains in favor despite macro headwinds. Analysts said they “remain comfortable” in their view that Linde will report third-quarter results towards the upper end of its guidance range. Linde previously said the upper end of its third-quarter adjusted earnings per share outlook, between $4.10 and $4.20, assumes an economic contraction. This outlook represents growth of between 4% and 7% on an annual basis. As for BNP, analysts noted that CFO Matt White’s comments about Linde’s different geographies and end markets were consistent with the company’s previous assumptions. If there is a change, the currency may be slightly more advantageous than previously expected. We have long known Linde as a resilient company that consistently beats earnings estimates in both good and bad times. It also has a strong track record of outperforming its peers due to its pricing power and practice in managing costs. Given the recent weakness in the stock and overall macro uncertainty, information from management has given us greater confidence in our position. Rx Kiosks : Amazon Pharmacy announced plans to launch in-office kiosks to help patients pick up their medications immediately after their appointments. The e-commerce and cloud giant will install electronic kiosks at One Medical primary care locations in the greater Los Angeles area starting in December 2025 and expand to other locations soon after, the company wrote in a press release. Kiosks will stock commonly used, non-refrigerated medications, including antibiotics, inhalers and blood pressure medications, but will often be tailored to the specific office location’s prescribing patterns. This announcement is part of Amazon’s broader goal to expand access to healthcare and make it easier for patients to get medications with Amazon Pharmacy. This announcement poses a threat to CVS’s core pharmacy business, which is at the heart of its one-stop retail healthcare model. The slight decline in CVS shares on Wednesday suggests limited immediate consequences. Amazon’s healthcare ambitions may not be a core part of our investment case in the company, but if anyone can make a change in the industry, it’s Amazon. That’s because it already has a wheel of services that Prime Members can conveniently tap into, whether through online retail, grocery, video and now its growing pharmacy service. The stock has been disappointing relative to its “Magnificent Seven” peers in 2025. We continue to emphasize that Amazon Web Services needs to re-accelerate in revenue growth for the stock to continue its rise. Next up: No big wins after the closing bell. PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines will report before the opening bell on Thursday. (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) When you subscribe 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 trading alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT GUARANTEE IS MADE.
