Our top 10 things to watch Wednesday, Sept. 23 — Today's newsletter was written by portfolio direct Jeff Marks.
1. We're looking at a lower open across the board this morning. Futures for the S & P, Nasdaq and Dow are all in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is coming off back-to-back record closes. Oil prices are slightly higher after American and Iranian officials meet at the U.N. in New York. The yield on the Fed-sensitive 2-year Treasury note hit 4.794%, its highest level since July 2024.
2. Club name Microsoft was upgraded at Stifel to buy from hold with a $575 price target. Analysts think the company will continue to deliver mid-to-upper-teens revenue growth while demonstrating operating expense efficiency. Separately, The Information is reporting Microsoft plans to offer discounts on Copilot to boost adoption. Microsoft said in July Copilot had over 30 million paid seats, up from 20 million in the prior quarter.
3. Citi bumped up its price target on memory-chip giant Micron to $1,300 from $1,150, while Wells Fargo lowered its price target to $1,400 from $1,525 ahead of earnings next Wednesday. Club name. Citi is now modeling a higher blended average DRAM price, driving upside to revenue and profit estimates. One question for Micron earnings: How many new long-term supply agreements have they signed?
4. Goldman Sachs ' price target lowered to $1,050 from $1,200 at Citi. They are neutral on GS. The financials were hit hard yesterday on concerns that personal AI agents could hurt brokerage profits due to cash sorting. A flattening yield curve may also be weighing on the group.
5. General Mills reported a top and bottom line beat for its fiscal 2027 first quarter, though expectations were low with organic net sales flat and adjusted earnings down 13% year over year. The Lucky Charms and Pillsbury parent maintained its full-year outlook. It expects input cost inflation to be at the high end of its 4% to 5% range, citing higher spot prices for freight, grain and packaging, and new Canadian tariffs.
6. CoreWeave was initiated with a buy at UBS and $120 price target. Analysts expect the neocloud's revenue per gigawatt to continue to climb. UBS pointed out several concerns, including high leverage in a rising interest rate environment, uncertain competition, and customer concertation, but believes those risks are priced into shares. The stock is down 38% from its high close of the year in May.
7. Meta Connect is here. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's keynote address at the developers conference is set for 7 p.m. ET. Meta's new Muse personal agent app has created a lot of buzz into Connect. KeyBanc hiked its price target to $900 from $780, with analysts watching for monetization paths and improved developer relationships. After an 11% surge Monday, Meta shares took a breather yesterday. We booked some profits.
8. McDonald's unveiled a roughly $8.5 billion, decadelong spending plan to help franchisees with restaurant upgrades, training, and better food service. Ahead of the today's investor day, the company also announced new financial targets for higher operating margins. U.S. sales have been sluggish under the weight of years of elevated inflation and competition. Shares are up half a percent premarket.
9. Lead times for Apple's iPhone 18 models are slightly improving. That's the conclusion from UBS and Bank of America. Lead times, which signal consumer demand, are the days it takes between order and delivery. While the 18s went on sale this past Friday, the big test for portfolio holding Apple comes next month when the new foldable iPhone Duo is released. Shares ended yesterday within spitting distance of their July record close.
10. Wolfe Research is raising its price target on Club name Amazon to $320 from $315 — about 25% upside from current levels. The analysts are raising their cloud revenue and operating income estimates, saying core AWS margin is underappreciated. We have been pleased with Amazon's cloud growth and appreciate the company's visibility to big profits from AI. But the stock's drifted lower since its post-earnings surge this summer.
