Stock market today: US futures tiptoe higher with labor data lying in wait
06/05/2024 18:24
Bets on Fed rate cuts are tentatively rising as investors weigh signs of a softer labor market and cooling economy.
Some tech stock intel
The AI chip craze is expected to bring big business to Lam Research (LRCX).
The chip supplier, whose customers include Intel (INTC), Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), foresees its high bandwidth memory business tripling this year, and expects “even stronger” demand in 2025.
“Frankly, I see continued strength for the foreseeable future,” Lam Research CFO Doug Bettinger told me inside Bank of America’s Global Technology Conference late Tuesday. “The opportunity in front of this industry and the opportunity in front of Lam specifically is amazing,” Bettinger added.
This week, Bank of America analysts raised their price target on the stock to $1,100 while maintaining a buy rating.
Analyst Vivek Arya (who also struck a bullish tone on Nvidia on Yahoo Finance Live yesterday) noted that while chip equipment makers are currently trading at a premium relative to historical levels, he and his team believe valuation is justified in part due to AI leading to record levels of wafer fab equipment (WFE) intensity.
The company's recently approved 10-for-1 stock split, along with a new $10 billion share buyback, re-iginited investor excitement last month.
However, Lam remains an under-performer compared to rivals. The stock is up 18% this year, versus Applied Materials (AMAT) 31% surge and ASML Holding's (ASML) 26% climb.
Here comes Apple's WWDC
Amid a five-day rally, Apple's (AAPL) stock is taking dead aim at breaking through its late January closing high of $195.75 ahead of WWDC this coming Monday.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring is out with a great deep dive into what's expected from the event, and Apple's stock price around WWDC.
Says Woodring:
"We believe that at WWDC, Siri 2.0 will be introduced as a next-gen, voice-activated virtual assistant/intelligent layer capable of processing more complex commands directly on the iPhone, which will improve the utility value of the device and its native applications, including text/website summarization, automated messaging, new photo editing tools, and more. In addition, we believe it's highly likely Apple announces a cloud-based foundation model partnership at WWDC (GOOGL or OpenAI?), which would add broader cloud-based AI chatbot-like features to iOS18. While we'd expect Siri's capabilities to continue to evolve over time, including deeper integration of more complex multicommands with third-party applications in future software updates, this would represent Apple's most important software overhaul to-date, and formally enter Apple into the mega-cap Gen AI race."
GameStop, day 3
And I am still on GameStop (GME) stock watch.
Shares are down about 1% pre-market following a 5.36% slide on Tuesday. The stock is off by 36% from the highs hit on Monday after Roaring Kitty's post.
I did a special taping of my 'Opening Bid' podcast yesterday afternoon, 100% focused on GameStop. Check it out below. I came away thinking — maybe I am thinking about this stock entirely the wrong way!