We’re raising our price targets for 4 stocks and cutting them for 2 others
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. Stocks gave up earlier gains and edged lower Friday afternoon , putting the S & P 500’s seven-day winning streak at risk. It’s been a strong week for the market, with the S & P 500 up roughly 3.5%, so we’re not surprised to see some profit-taking after such a big run. We said on the Morning Meeting that we would have right-sized our Broadcom position into Friday’s strength (but we cannot trade a stock that Jim Cramer mentions on CNBC TV for 72 hours). Look out for a trade on Monday if we are not restricted. The rally will be put to the test this weekend when delegates from the U.S. and Iran meet in Pakistan for peace talks on Saturday. As the start of first-quarter earnings season approaches , we’re making a handful of changes to stocks trading above or near our price targets. We are nudging up our Dover price target to $230 from $220. We think 2026 is shaping up well for this diversified industrial company, as each of its businesses is expected to grow this year, and it has very limited direct exposure to the Middle East. We are increasing our GE Vernova price target to $1,000 from $875, which is more in line with the recent views of several bullish analysts. In Goldman Sachs’ earnings preview, analysts said they are expecting another quarter of strong gas turbine orders and upside in GEV’s electrification division, which sells transformers, switchgear and other products found across the electrical grid. We are taking Corning to $180 from $160. On Friday, Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston talked about the company being almost sold out of optical components through 2028, suggesting strong demand and pricing power for all things fiber. Lumentum’s technology helps convert electrical signals into light, and Corning makes the optical fiber that transmits the light across the data center. Besides earnings, another potential catalyst would be Corning announcing another multiyear supply agreement with a hyperscaler, like the one it did with fellow Club name Meta in January. Hyperscalers are racing to secure their AI infrastructure supply chain, and we think more deals to sell optical fiber, cables and connectivity products are likely. One more positive update we are making is on Linde . We are raising our price target to $540 from $510, reflecting our view that the global helium shortage tied to the Middle East conflict will act as a tailwind for the industrial gas supplier’s earnings. Over a longer horizon, Linde can gain share in the helium market by creating long-term supply agreements with new customers. On the other side, we are lowering our price target on two software stocks : Salesforce and Microsoft . Both companies are being pressured by the threat of AI and Anthropic taking share from enterprise software. We don’t think this overhang will go away any time soon, pressuring price to-earnings multiples across the group. For Salesforce, we are lowering our $250 price target to $215. For Microsoft, we are moving to $500 from $600. We have hold-equivalent 2 ratings on both stocks, and we currently do not plan on adding to either position. Next week, a few portfolio companies kick off first-quarter earnings season . We’ll hear from Goldman Sachs on Monday, and both Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo on Tuesday. We’ll have previews for all three Club names in our week ahead column Sunday. Some other notable reports next week will come from JPMorgan , BlackRock , Citigroup , ASML , Morgan Stanley , Bank of America , PepsiCo , Taiwan Semi , Abbott Labs , and Netflix . (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.
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