Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Friday
Top 10 things to watch on Friday, October 24 1. The long-awaited September consumer inflation report, delayed by the ongoing government shutdown, came in a little colder than expected at 3% annually. The stock market liked that number, even though it was still above the Fed’s 2% target rate. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he canceled trade talks with Canada. 2. Intel shares are up nearly 7% this morning after a turnaround quarter. Demand for PCs was strong, five years after the Covid downturn in demand. Now the renewal is based on a broader basis. Windows 11 also helps with this. Building AI infrastructure is also driving demand for server CPUs, and supply constraints are limiting revenue growth this quarter. 3. The good news at Intel is also good for storage plays like Western Digital, Seagate and Micron. This is already somewhat reflected in their forecasts, but there is much more demand than supply. Buy Dell from Intel’s imprint as well. AMD’s numbers, which make both PC and server CPUs, are also likely very low. 4. Procter & Gamble’s quarter was much better than expected, with earnings of $1.99 per share versus the expected $1.90. Beauty was the best-performing segment, with a 6% increase in organic sales. Coming into the fiscal quarter, P&G backed up the full-year earnings and sales guidance it issued in July. It halved its tariff volatility forecast to $400 million. 5. Beyond Meat failed as a meme stock after a nearly 600% move in three days. Street ball will not be played. Mizuho Securities lowered its price target from $2 to $1.50 and maintained a sell rating. We don’t expect a significant sales boost from Beyond’s new Walmart deal. 6. Quantum shares, including IonQ, Rigetti and D-Wave, rose again this morning; but not as strong as yesterday’s rally, even though the Trump administration poured cold water on stock-buying talks with a $10 million funding award. Almost all of them have buy ratings from analysts. Does $10 million matter? 7. Ford’s Resurgence? Bank of America raised its price target on the automaker’s shares to $14.50 from $13.50. Analysts said Ford’s guidance was mixed due to a fire at an aluminum supplier, but yesterday’s earnings showed the underlying business was strong. The stock is up more than 3% this morning. 8. Deckers Outdoors shares tumbled 12% this morning after the Hoka and Ugg shoe company’s full-year revenue forecast fell short of expectations. Many analysts lowered their price targets. UGG was defeated. Hoka sales were missed. Could this point to a resurgence of club name Nike? 9. Citi raised its price target on Union Pacific by $2 to $265. Analysts added the stock to their focus list and initiated a 90-day bullish catalyst watch. The stock is very low ahead of the shareholder vote on the Norfolk Southern merger. 10. Two major companies announced layoffs. The target is 1,800, or about 8%, corporate layoffs before a new CEO is appointed early next year. Separately, Applied Materials is laying off more than 1,400 people, or 4% of its workforce, citing “automation, digitalization and geographic shifts.” Sign up for free for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter (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 would wait 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.
