Here are the reasons why a new Wall Street upgrade of Apple is juicing the stock so much
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Thursday key moments. 1. Wall Street was generally bouncing back after multisession losses. The S & P 500 and the Nasdaq were in the green. But the Dow was still tilting red. The 3% decline of Dow 30 stock UnitedHealth on the Humana warning about elevated medical costs was holding things back. UnitedHealth started the medical cost concerns at the end of last week with its earnings and then Humana pre-announced Thursday. Humana shares were sinking more than 11%. We exited our small Humana position shortly after Thursday’s opening bell. The medical cost news and company projections for slower growth were reasons behind our sale. 2. Apple got an upgrade from Bank of America, which took its rating on the stock to a buy from neutral. BofA also increased its price target to $225 per share from $208. The analysts see a multiyear iPhone upgrade cycle thanks to the expected introduction of generative artificial intelligence features this year and next. They are also bullish on Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro, the pricey $3,500 mixed-reality headset. Analysts don’t like to go against the Street consensus, which has been rather negative on Apple lately. Jim said that’s why Apple shares were really popping Thursday — soaring more than 3%. “Counter upgrades” carry more weight, Jim said. 3. Activist investor Nelson Peltz on Thursday officially launched his fight to get on Disney ‘s board — two days after Disney said thanks but no thanks and nominated its own board slate to be considered at the company’s upcoming annual meeting. We are not pleased with Disney’s stock performance, a point Peltz highlighted again and again during a Thursday interview on CNBC . Jim said that bringing Peltz on to the board would inject a level of accountability that’s currently lacking. The board, including CEO Bob Iger, doesn’t have enough “skin in the game,” he said. Peltz does because he controls his shares and those of fired Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter. Peltz told Jim that he would be willing to work with Iger and that all he wants to do is bring shareholders more value. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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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