Latest news with #Chronert
CNBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Citi recommends these rare stocks that will show profitability gains this year
Quality companies with strong returns are getting harder to find, according to Citi Research. Return on equity, considered to be a profitability metric calculated by dividing a company's net income by shareholders' equity, is "increasingly scarce" among big-name stocks now, Citi U.S. equity strategist Scott Chronert wrote in a recent note to clients. "Stocks where ROE is expected to improve due to margin expansion and/or total asset turnover gains are becoming less abundant in the S & P 500. This is largely a function of downgraded outlooks on softer macros and trade concerns," Chronert said. Fewer companies in the broad-market index made the cut in Citi's latest rebalance of its "Positive ROE Trend" stock basket, which includes names that Chronert said have expectations for ROE gains driven by margin expansion and/or better efficiency measured by total asset turnover. Only 90 names are included in the latest rebalance this quarter, while more than 100 names made the basket in prior rebalances. "The outperformance of our Positive ROE Trend baskets versus Negative has largely persisted through the broader market drawdown and recovery ... Despite widening performance spreads, Positive ROE Trend baskets continue to trade at justifiable valuations," Chronert said. Take a look at a few of the names with the highest ROE that made Citi's screen. According to Citi, defense company Lockheed Martin is set to have the highest ROE next year among names in the S & P 500. Lockheed Martin has an ROE of 9.6% and should boast an ROE of 93.90% by the end of 2026, the firm's estimates show. The company last month reaffirmed its forecasts for the year given resilient demand for its missile systems and fighter jets. Lockheed Martin Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John told CNBC on Monday that the company is seeing increased defense spending from European countries and the U.S. "We are probably in the beginning of a three-to-five year surge in defense spending," John said. Retail giants Tapestry and Ralph Lauren boast strong ROE for next year of 61.4% and 31.9%, respectively, per Citi. Tapestry — which owns brands Coach, Kate Spade New York, and Stuart Weitzman — has recently become a favorite among some Wall Street analysts. Tapestry shares are up nearly 28% this year and jumped more than 5% on Monday alone after JPMorgan reiterated its overweight outlook on the stock, pointing to the multiyear growth outlook for the company's luxury brand Coach. TD Cowen upgraded the stock last week to buy from hold. Netflix , Broadcom and Chipotle Mexican Grill are other stocks investors can count on to deliver strong profits ahead, according to the screener. Broadcom and Chipotle each boast a projected ROE of more than 43% by the end of 2026 — a significant jump from their current ROEs. Broadcom shares have rallied roughly 51% this quarter and are up 9% year to date. The chipmaker's CEO has said that Broadcom expects its fiscal 2025 growth rate for AI revenue to "sustain into fiscal 2026" as demand for its custom artificial intelligence chips and networking solutions remain strong.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The bull case for stocks is growing among Wall Street strategists
Wall Street strategists aren't scared of a summer slowdown for stocks despite some indications of a cooling labor market and slowing economic activity. In the past month, several strategists have defended their S&P 500 year-end targets in the range of 6,300 to 6,500, noting that the most dire outcomes from tariffs may no longer be on the table. On Monday, the benchmark index was trading around 6,010, about 2% from the record closing high. In a note titled "Don't fight it," Morgan Stanley chief investment officer Mike Wilson pointed out that a "moderate slowdown in growth" was likely already priced in earlier this year when the average S&P 500 stock fell nearly 30%. "In our experience, stocks and equity market internals move well ahead of lagging economic data and earnings results," Wilson said. To be clear, there are certainly signs of softening in economic data. Last week, ADP data showed that the private sector added 37,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly total in more than two years. Weekly filings for unemployment claims hit their highest level since October 2024. And monthly nonfarm payroll revisions revealed 95,000 fewer jobs were added in March and April than initially thought. But the slowdown in this data has been widely expected. The equity research team at Goldman Sachs analyzed prior "event driven recessions" such as the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the 1970s interest rate shock. Goldman's team, led by chief US equity strategist David Kostin, found that so-called soft economic data, which encapsulates data points like consumer surveys, usually hits its cycle bottom before hard economic data, like monthly readings on inflation or job additions, does. That's been playing out over the past month. In May, the Conference Board's future expectations index saw its largest monthly increase since May 2009. But data on Monday showed inflation expectations in the New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey moved lower in May for the first time this year, perhaps marking that the worst tariff-driven inflation fears might be behind markets too. Read more: How to protect your savings against inflation Kostin's work shows the S&P 500 typically will follow the soft data's return higher, even if hard economic data, like monthly jobs reports, continues to move lower. "S&P 500 returns are currently more correlated with soft data than hard data," wrote Kostin, who projects the S&P 500 will hit 6,500 in the next 12 months. "If the recovery in soft data is sustained, it should support equity returns even as hard data weaken." Citi equity strategist Scott Chronert boosted his S&P 500 target to 6,300 on Monday from a prior forecast of 5,800. Chronert, like other strategists, pointed out that peak tariff uncertainty has likely passed following the pause on duties between the US and China. With that headwind easing, Chronert pointed out that economic growth forecasts are no longer falling either. After tumbling to a recent bottom of 1.35% in early May, consensus is now projecting the US economy to grow at an annualized pace of 1.4% in 2025. Chronert and other strategists agree that the key risk moving forward would be that economic growth data slows more than consensus is now expecting. But barring that outcome, Chronert likes growth stocks such as Big Tech names amid a market environment that features elevated interest rates and high stock valuations. "Our growth preference continues for now as the AI theme regains momentum," Chronert wrote. Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The bull case for stocks is growing among Wall Street strategists
Wall Street strategists aren't scared of a summer slowdown for stocks despite some indications of a cooling labor market and slowing economic activity. In the past month, several strategists have defended their S&P 500 year-end targets in the range of 6,300 to 6,500, noting that the most dire outcomes from tariffs may no longer be on the table. On Monday, the benchmark index was trading around 6,010, about 2% from the record closing high. In a note titled "Don't fight it," Morgan Stanley chief investment officer Mike Wilson pointed out that a "moderate slowdown in growth" was likely already priced in earlier this year when the average S&P 500 stock fell nearly 30%. "In our experience, stocks and equity market internals move well ahead of lagging economic data and earnings results," Wilson said. To be clear, there are certainly signs of softening in economic data. Last week, ADP data showed that the private sector added 37,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly total in more than two years. Weekly filings for unemployment claims hit their highest level since October 2024. And monthly nonfarm payroll revisions revealed 95,000 fewer jobs were added in March and April than initially thought. But the slowdown in this data has been widely expected. The equity research team at Goldman Sachs analyzed prior "event driven recessions" such as the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the 1970s interest rate shock. Goldman's team, led by chief US equity strategist David Kostin, found that so-called soft economic data, which encapsulates data points like consumer surveys, usually hits its cycle bottom before hard economic data, like monthly readings on inflation or job additions, does. That's been playing out over the past month. In May, the Conference Board's future expectations index saw its largest monthly increase since May 2009. But data on Monday showed inflation expectations in the New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey moved lower in May for the first time this year, perhaps marking that the worst tariff-driven inflation fears might be behind markets too. Read more: How to protect your savings against inflation Kostin's work shows the S&P 500 typically will follow the soft data's return higher, even if hard economic data, like monthly jobs reports, continues to move lower. "S&P 500 returns are currently more correlated with soft data than hard data," wrote Kostin, who projects the S&P 500 will hit 6,500 in the next 12 months. "If the recovery in soft data is sustained, it should support equity returns even as hard data weaken." Citi equity strategist Scott Chronert boosted his S&P 500 target to 6,300 on Monday from a prior forecast of 5,800. Chronert, like other strategists, pointed out that peak tariff uncertainty has likely passed following the pause on duties between the US and China. With that headwind easing, Chronert pointed out that economic growth forecasts are no longer falling either. After tumbling to a recent bottom of 1.35% in early May, consensus is now projecting the US economy to grow at an annualized pace of 1.4% in 2025. Chronert and other strategists agree that the key risk moving forward would be that economic growth data slows more than consensus is now expecting. But barring that outcome, Chronert likes growth stocks such as Big Tech names amid a market environment that features elevated interest rates and high stock valuations. "Our growth preference continues for now as the AI theme regains momentum," Chronert wrote. Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The bull case for stocks is growing as economic optimism increases
Wall Street strategists aren't scared of a summer slowdown for stocks despite some indications of a cooling labor market and slowing economic activity. In the past month, several strategists have defended their S&P 500 year-end targets in the range of 6,300 to 6,500, noting that the most dire outcomes from tariffs may no longer be on the table. On Monday, the benchmark index was trading around 6,010, about 2% from the record closing high. In a note titled "Don't fight it," Morgan Stanley chief investment officer Mike Wilson pointed out that a "moderate slowdown in growth" was likely already priced in earlier this year when the average S&P 500 stock fell nearly 30%. "In our experience, stocks and equity market internals move well ahead of lagging economic data and earnings results," Wilson said. To be clear, there are certainly signs of softening in economic data. Last week, ADP data showed that the private sector added 37,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly total in more than two years. Weekly filings for unemployment claims hit their highest level since October 2024. And monthly nonfarm payroll revisions revealed 95,000 fewer jobs were added in March and April than initially thought. But the slowdown in this data has been widely expected. The equity research team at Goldman Sachs analyzed prior "event driven recessions" such as the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the 1970s interest rate shock. Goldman's team, led by chief US equity strategist David Kostin, found that so-called soft economic data, which encapsulates data points like consumer surveys, usually hits its cycle bottom before hard economic data, like monthly readings on inflation or job additions, does. That's been playing out over the past month. In May, the Conference Board's future expectations index saw its largest monthly increase since May 2009. But data on Monday showed inflation expectations in the New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey moved lower in May for the first time this year, perhaps marking that the worst tariff-driven inflation fears might be behind markets too. Read more: How to protect your savings against inflation Kostin's work shows the S&P 500 typically will follow the soft data's return higher, even if hard economic data, like monthly jobs reports, continues to move lower. "S&P 500 returns are currently more correlated with soft data than hard data," wrote Kostin, who projects the S&P 500 will hit 6,500 in the next 12 months. "If the recovery in soft data is sustained, it should support equity returns even as hard data weaken." Citi equity strategist Scott Chronert boosted his S&P 500 target to 6,300 on Monday from a prior forecast of 5,800. Chronert, like other strategists, pointed out that peak tariff uncertainty has likely passed following the pause on duties between the US and China. With that headwind easing, Chronert pointed out that economic growth forecasts are no longer falling either. After tumbling to a recent bottom of 1.35% in early May, consensus is now projecting the US economy to grow at an annualized pace of 1.4% in 2025. Chronert and other strategists agree that the key risk moving forward would be that economic growth data slows more than consensus is now expecting. But barring that outcome, Chronert likes growth stocks such as Big Tech names amid a market environment that features elevated interest rates and high stock valuations. "Our growth preference continues for now as the AI theme regains momentum," Chronert wrote. Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer. 登入存取你的投資組合
CNBC
09-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Citigroup joins chorus of Wall Street banks and hikes S&P 500 target
And Citigroup makes five in just one week. Citigroup raised its year-end S & P 500 target nearly 9%, to 6,300 from 5,800, implying that the market can rise another 5% from current levels. Strategist Scott Chronert noted that while "high policy volatility is likely to continue," market fundamentals appear to be solid. "No doubt, policy volatility is likely to persist as are numerous other risks. This keeps us reticent to chase rallies but more inclined to buy pullbacks," he said. "What the first half has told us is that fundamental volatility may be more manageable as tariffs, taxes, budget/deficit, rates, currency, geopolitics, etc. will all continue to remain in the financial news headlines." With this change, Chronert became the fifth sell-side strategist tracked by CNBC Pro to increase his 2025 S & P 500 forecast. Here are the other four target hikes in the past week. Lori Calvasina of RBC : to 5,730 from 5,550 Binky Chadha of Deutsche Bank : to 6,550 from 6,150 Venu Krishna of Barclays : to 6,050 from 5,900 Dubravko Lakos-Bujas of JPMorgan : to 6,000 from 5,200 Those changes come as the Street grows less worried about rising trade tensions between the U.S. and other countries. On Monday, U.S. and Chinese officials were in London to discuss tariffs. "There will likely be posturing for threats of higher tariff rates on a country by country basis, as well as additional sectoral tariffs put in place, but we do not think this will produce the same shock/surprise that set off the April drawdown," Citi's Chronert wrote. "We saw evidence of this dynamic [last week] with no market reaction to steel and aluminum sectoral tariff rates being raised from 25% to 50%." "Trading moves aside, we expect investors will tend to look through shorter term policy noise in aggregate," he added.
