Stock Market Highlights For Thursday: Tech Jumps, Semis Hot, Meta-Mania

1. Renaissance of tech or just end-of-quarter funding? One day after a strong rally, Wall Street is set to open higher. It is expected that the Nasdaq will break a four-quarter decline with two trading sessions left. Back-to-back quarterly gains for the S&P 500 in Q1. In the past five quarters, the Dow has declined nearly 1.5%.

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2. A big price target hike at Wells Fargo for AMD (AMD) to $120 from $85 per share. Holds a buy rating (overweight). In the near-term, the data center business is choppier, but in the long term, it is good. Year to date, AMD has risen almost 50%. NVDA (NVDA) is up nearly 85% in 2023. We have eight AI names, including Nvidia and AMD.

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3. The use of YouTube, owned by Google, is steady, according to Credit Suisse. Alphabet's stock (GOOGL) could benefit from this, as it's just been awful. As a result of the company's excessive spending on moonshots and disappointing cost-cutting measures, we are losing patience with it.

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4. A price target of $251 per share has been set by Credit Suisse on Meta Platforms (META). Maintains an outperform (buy) rating. WhatsApp is being discussed as a new source of revenue by analysts. In the years to come, Credit Suisse sees Instagram's search results bringing in around $1 billion in advertising revenue.

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5. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)'s price target has been lowered by $1 per share by Deutsche Bank. Maintains a buy rating. WBA had a mixed quarter, likely due to holding Amazon's (AMZN) unacknowledged theft, and its own efforts to change to the healthcare business.

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6. Charles Schwab's (SCHW) price target has been cut from $99 to $68 by Morgan Stanley. A downgrade to equal weight (hold from buy) has been made from overweight. There is a lack of visibility and a lack of confidence that improvements will occur.

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7. In Netflix's first-quarter earnings report next month, Wells Fargo likes what the streaming giant might say about the password-sharing crackdown. Commentary is viewed by analysts as being a "positive catalyst" for the stock. Canada's password effort was reported to be going better last week. We're seeing it more and more.

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8. The price target for CVS Health (CVS) shares has been cut from $110 to $100 by Barclays. It should be kept overnight (buy). This article discusses the recent addition of Signify (SGFY) and whether buybacks may be curtailed as a result.

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9. Walmart (WMT) is upgraded from in-line (buy from hold) to outperform Evercore ISI. A price target of $160 per share has been raised from $145 per share. Costco (COST) and TJX Companies (TJX), both of which we like and own, are pivoting out of non-core and toward omnichannel.

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10. A rating of neutral is maintained by Citigroup on Restoration Hardware (RH), formerly known as Restoration Hardware. The price target is cut from $380 per share to $330 per share. Morgan Stanley reduces its PT to $275 from $300. Baird's reduces its PT to $250 from $300. You're always downbeat, aren't you? There may be too much persistence.