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Wall Street Bullish on Salesforce Amid AI Demand
23 minutes ago
Salesforce (CRM) shares jumped to a record high Wednesday after the company raised its full-year outlook, and analysts are offering increasingly bullish price targets.
Stifel maintained its “outperform” rating and raised its price target to $425 from $390.
The firm called Salesforce “the best way to play AI” due to its multi-cloud customer base and its ability to “drive market penetration” with its Customer 360 customer relationship management platform.
Then there’s Agentforce, Salesforce’s suite of autonomous AI agents made generally available on October 25. Agentforce was included in 200 deals in the quarter, “underscoring healthy early interest,” analysts at Bank of America said.
The bank upped its price target to $440 from $390.
Salesforce has “a combined market share of only 15% and a formidable competitive moat,” BofA added. “[W]e believe a long runway exists for Salesforce to continue growing.”
Salesforce shares were up 8% at around $358 in recent trading.
–Andrew Kessel
Marvell Levels to Watch as Stock Soars After Strong Earnings
59 minutes ago
Marvell Technology (MRVL) jumped Wednesday morning after the chipmaker posted strong quarterly results and issued a rosy outlook amid robust demand for its custom AI chips.
The stock broke out from an ascending triangle on above-average volume early this week, a bullish chart pattern that indicates a continuation of the uptrend.
A bars pattern, which takes the price bars from the stock’s trending move between October and November and repositions them from the ascending triangle’s lower trendline, forecasts a price target of around $120.
Investors should monitor important support levels on Marvell's chart around $95, $84 and $76.
The stock was up 22% at around $117 in recent trading and is up about 90% since the start of 2024.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Foot Locker Stock Slides on Surprise Loss, Slashed Guidance
2 hr 12 min ago
Foot Locker (FL) shares tumbled Wednesday after the company posted an unexpected third-quarter loss and cut its full-year outlook.
The athletic sneaker retailer reported a loss of $33 million or 34 cents per share, compared to a profit of $28 million or 30 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts tracked by Visible Alpha had called for profit to increase year-over-year to $37 million. Revenue was $1.96 billion, down 1.4% year-over-year and above the Street’s expectations.
CEO Mary Dillon said the loss occurred as “[c]onsumer spending trends softened following the peak back-to-school period” and “the promotional environment was more elevated than anticipated.” Selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A), which includes marketing spending, rose 8% year-over-year to $482 million.
Foot Locker also got more conservative with its full-year forecast. It now expects sales to fall between 1.5% and 1% from $8.15 billion in 2023, compared to a prior range of a 1% loss to 1% growth. Adjusted earnings per share are expected to land between $1.20 and $1.30, down from $1.50 to $1.70. Analysts had called for $1.55.
Shares of Foot Locker were down 12% in recent trading and have lost nearly a third of their value since the beginning of the year.
–Andrew Kessel
Dollar Tree Stock Rises as Earnings Top Estimates
2 hr 43 min ago
Dollar Tree (DLTR) shares rose Wednesday morning after the discount retailer reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.
The company recorded $7.57 billion in revenue and $233.3 million in net income, up from $7.31 billion and $212.0 million a year ago.
The company the projects full-year revenue of between $30.7 billion and $30.9 billion, with the bottom end lifted from $30.6 billion previously. Full-year adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is seen between $5.31 and $5.51, compared with the previous range of $5.20 to $5.60.
Dollar Tree said that its “strategic review” of options for the Family Dollar brand announced in June “remains on track,” with no set timeline to be completed. Roughly a decade after Dollar Tree acquired the brand, a sale or spinoff remains a possibility.
Of the nearly 1,000 “underperforming” Family Dollar locations that the company said it planned to shut down earlier this year, Dollar Tree has closed about 670 through Q3, and expects to close another 25 in the fourth quarter.
Dollar Tree shares jumped 5% at the open Wednesday and were up about 1.5% recently. The stock has lost half its value since the start of the year.
–Aaron McDade
Palantir Levels to Watch as Stock Hits Record High
3 hr 59 min ago
Palantir (PLTR) shares are likely to remain in focus today after jumping to a new high yesterday following news that the analytics software provider’s entire product suite has received approval for use in processing sensitive federal workloads.
Since breaking out from a pennant last week, Palantir shares have continued to trend higher, with gains accelerating following Tuesday's news.
While the relative strength index confirms bullish price momentum above the 70 threshold, the indicator also flashes overbought conditions that could lead to short-term profit-taking.
The measuring principle, which calculates the distance of the impulsive trend that preceded the pennant and adds that amount to the pattern’s upper trendline, forecasts an upside price target in the stock of $89.
Investors should watch important support levels on Palantir's chart around $58.50, $45, and $38.
Palantir shares were up 1% at $71.70 about an hour before Wednesday's opening bell. The stock gained nearly 7% on Tuesday.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
–Timothy Smith
Major Stock Indexes Poised to Open Higher
4 hr 30 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4%.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.3%.
Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.7%.
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