PERSONAL FINANCE

Here are our biggest winners and laggards

freshblognews May 2, 2025

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. Markets: It’s been a great week for the U.S. stock market. The S & P 500 is up 1.6% Friday, on track for its ninth straight session of gains. If the broad market index closes in the green again, that would mark its longest winning streak since November 2004. Positive labor data is giving investor sentiment a boost: April’s nonfarm payrolls report came in better than expected Friday before the bell, which helped assuage recession concerns. The positive data sparked big rallies in economically sensitive groups like financials and industrials, while defensive sectors like consumer staples lagged. Traders were also digesting quarterly earnings from Big Tech names. Club holdings Apple and Amazon reported quarterly earnings Thursday evening. Both companies failed to really impress investors, but we saw bright spots in each. Apple shares are down nearly 4% Friday, while Amazon stock is up slightly during afternoon trading. The Amazon comeback is especially impressive considering founder Jeff Bezos filed to sell as many as 25 million shares valued at nearly $5 billion over the next 13 months. Bezos has sold shares from time to time and we do not think it’s indicative of something wrong with Amazon. Winners and laggards: Let’s see how the upbeat week for the Street impacted the Club’s portfolio of 29 stocks. Here are our top three and bottom three performers since last Friday’s close to the current session, and what caused the moves in each. Winners 1. Microsoft: 11.7% gain This tech stock moved higher on a solid quarterly earnings report Wednesday evening, highlighted by accelerated revenue growth in its cloud computing business Azure. 2. Meta Platforms : 10.4% The social media giant can thank its better-than-expected quarter on Wednesday for its gains as well. During Meta’s conference call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg looked to calm investor concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the generative AI trade, saying the company is “well-positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty.” 3. Honeywell: up 7.7% Wall Street has been celebrating this industrial conglomerate’s stellar quarter . Not only did Honeywell deliver a sensible full-year guidance, but management did a great job explaining their plans to offset any negative effects from tariffs. Laggards 1. Eli Lilly: down 7.3% Shares of the pharmaceutical giant plunged Thursday when rival Novo Nordisk announced a new partnership with CVS Health that could create some pricing and market share risks for Lilly’s key GLP-1 franchise, which includes Zepbound and Mounjaro. We’re not too concerned though. The company posted a positive earnings report Thursday, highlighted by great sales and clear demand for these GLP-1 drugs. 2. Apple: down 1.3% This stock was a victim to its quarterly earnings report . Although Apple delivered better-than-expected iPhone sales, a miss in revenues for its high-margin services business spooked investors. The Club reiterated its hold-equivalent 2 rating on the stock. However, we lowered our price target to $245 apiece from $280 because of the difficult operating environment on account of Trump’s threat of higher levies. 3. Amazon : up 0.7% Shares of the e-commerce and cloud company fell earlier this week after the Trump administration criticized it over a report that the company was considering showing tariffs costs on its product listings. The stock tumbled further following its Thursday earnings report due to light guidance, but recovered throughout Friday. Still, we maintained our buy-equivalent 1 rating on shares. Up next: Quarterly earnings continue next week. Club holding Coterra Energy will report after Monday’s closing bell, along with other big companies including Ford Motor, Mattel, Palantir, Clorox , Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Hims & Hers Health and Diamondback Energy. Later in the week, Disney will post earnings Wednesday morning and then Texas Roadhouse will release on Thursday evening. On the economic data front, the ISM Services PMI is due at 10 a.m. ET Monday. Also, the May Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting announcement is Wednesday, providing the market with an updated view of how Chair Jerome Powell and Co. are thinking about the U.S. economy and interest rates. (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.

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 3, 2021.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

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.

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