Schwab Network

Sucharita Kodali calls Walmart’s (WMT) earnings “incredible” for a business of this size and maturity. “They’re not only growing share but they’re executing really, really well.” She believes they’re benefitting from both ends of the K-shaped economy, possibly taking business from malls or other merchants. She thinks its rivalry with Amazon (AMZN) will continue to be a big story as AMZN beat WMT o...

Jan Rogers Kniffen and Amanda Lai dig into Walmart (WMT) earnings, with Jan calling it the “best retailer in the country” that is performing “extraordinarily well.” He thinks it performed “flawlessly” under its last CEO. Amanda notes that they reported basically in-line and points out that their market cap crossed $1T. Amazon (AMZN) finally ranked ahead of Walmart on sales, but she calls their bus...

Scott Russell, CEO of Nice (NICE), breaks down their latest quarter as the stock makes a strong move upward. Nice offers AI agents to companies to “elevate customer experience.” He says Nice is the market leader in both digital and voice and sees further strong growth in 2026. “AI is a tailwind for our business.” He thinks that AI needs to continue to prove itself to customers and the public, and...

Dan Deming sees the rotation trade continuing if markets can hold recent momentum this trading week. As for the Big 3, he sees a breakout candidate in Verizon (VZ), DexCom's (DXCM) potential to continue its recent upside momentum, and Applied Materials (AMAT) serving as a rising giant in the semiconductor trade. Dan offers example options trades for his Big 3 while Charles Schwab's Ben Wat...

Ed Siddell breaks down the latest economic data, noting that durable goods orders are higher and arguing the economy is heading in the right direction. “We just have to show a little more affordability.” He likes Kevin Warsh as a Fed Chair nominee, calling him “very hawkish on inflation” and anticipating lowered rates. Ed thinks we could be 75-100 basis points lower by the end of the year. He rema...

Arun Sundaram digs into Walmart’s (WMT) earnings and guidance, calling it a “solid quarter.” He says Walmart has some “pretty significant momentum” ahead of them even if guidance is lighter – he also notes that the company tends to guide conservatively and typically raise their outlook as the year progresses. He discusses how Walmart is trying to deal with inflation in core categories like groceri...

Miles Lewis compares small cap vs large cap banks, favoring the former. He argues as the economy broadens, small caps tend to do better, along with tax benefits and reshoring. He highlights Home Bancshares (HOMB), which he calls a best-in-class. Outside of banks, he likes J&J Snack Foods (JJSF), which is “relatively well-insulated,” and he anticipates bigger margins as they implement tech upda...

eBay Inc. (EBAY) rallied after posting stronger-than-expected earnings and announcement of its $1.2 billion Depop acquisition from Etsy Inc. (ETSY). Both stocks rallied Thursday morning. As Marley Kayden explains, that acquisition is generating bullish buzz front analysts. She takes investors through the earnings and analysts notes backing price target increases. Joe Tigay offers an example option...

Liz Ann Sonders with Charles Schwab offers a crash course in tariffs and why U.S. companies are the ones that "pick up the tab" on costs. She sees headwinds on the horizon for U.S. consumers as business leaders look for ways to offset those costs. Nathan Peterson turns to the tech picture and a "near-term sentiment resolution" on how disruptive AI will be. How? Nate points to t...

Andrew Wells reacts to yesterday’s FOMC minutes, arguing the members are trying to react “to the market.” On rates, he would “not be surprised” to see the 10-year at 4.5 this year, and discusses the need for inflation to move down before any cuts. He doesn’t expect any cuts before Kevin Warsh takes over as Fed Chair, and thinks that the timeline could be pushed further out. He likes defensive name...

DoorDash (DASH) saw volatile price action following its earnings miss but started Thursday's trading day with a rally. Diane King Hall points to other metrics giving investors optimism in its outlook. Wayfair (W) moved in the opposite direction as its active customer base dips despite operational improvements. Diane later notes Deere & Co.'s (DE) post-earnings rally. ======== Schwab Ne...

Noah Hamman expects semiconductor chips to continue to show strength, focusing on hardware over software as the markets become nervous around valuations. Looking at “picks and shovels,” he likes HVAC companies. He highlights a “nice start” to the year overall for markets and the economy. However, he notes that consumer spending is mostly coming from credit card debt, though delinquencies are stayi...

Kevin Hincks, reporting from the Cboe Global Markets, breaks down the latest snapshot of the labor market with this week's jobless claims. He adds commentary on International Trade in Goods and Services as well as the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index. Kevin has his eyes on the commodity space, with crude oil on his radar amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East. He believes the energy markets sh...

Rick Ducat dials up the chart of Akamai (AKAM) as investors await the tech company's upcoming earnings print. Rick shows what technical patterns have led to the stock's meteoric rise over the last several weeks even amidst the recent selling pressures hitting the software stock group. Later, Rick composes an example options trade using a short put vertical strategy. He explains the bullish...

After celebrating their 30th anniversary of launching Angie's List, Co-founder Angie Hicks has evolved her business to Angi (@Angi_home) as a one-stop shop for consumers to find house project fixer-uppers, contractors and more. She discusses her perspective on the business adapting to housing trends and homeowner spending plans. Angie adds her company's recent survey indicating that homeow...

Danielle DiMartino Booth (@DanielleDiMartinoBoothQI) dives into the latest FOMC minutes notes to dig into the dissension among Fed members. She believes that members reintroduced rate hikes commentary to stifle any talks of rate cuts under Jerome Powell's remaining term as Chair. Danielle adds her surprise at the philosophical differences between FOMC members at "opposite ends" of it...

Retail investors remain stubbornly optimistic despite a 12% slide in the Mag 7, according to the latest Investopedia sentiment survey. While the broader market shows signs of a rotation, retail portfolios are largely staying the course with top holdings like Nvidia (NVDA) and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX). Caleb Silver notes that while investors are finding reasons to believe in a 5% to 10% market increase...

Shopify (SHOP) shares are in focus following an upgrade from Phillip Securities. Ben Watson drops in to provide his technical takeaways on the chart, starting with a 5-day timeframe. He sees a bullish momentum divergence with its MACD study and underlines $128 as a near-term upward resistance level. On a 1-year chart, Ben adds the 50-day simple moving average and shows how shares remain well under...

Marley Kayden and Sam Vadas turn their attention to headlines in Big Tech and beyond for their final takeaways. Among the unsung stories: crude oil's climb on geopolitical tensions and the FDA readying to review Moderna's (MRNA) flu vaccine. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors....

Frances Newton “really likes” the chart of DoorDash (DASH) into its earnings Wednesday afternoon. She anticipates it to report in line with analyst estimates, noting that it trades in a beaten up sector that is pinched by the K-shaped economy. Frances says they need to hold onto their market share, which is the largest vs competitors, but valuations are similarly high vs peers. Continuing to make...

Jack Lynch, Chief Strategy Officer of Ridgeline, shares how they assist investment managers and how they’re implementing AI. In launching ‘Intelligent Operations’, they’ve focused on AI uses in audits, bank communications, and other dense day-to-day tasks; he discusses how they’ve added oversight to validate the information. “There is so much alpha in being early right now,” he argues, even as he...

Brad Long reacts to the latest FOMC minutes and notes that dissension is considered uncommon now within the Fed, but not historically. He says the economy is “off to the races,” noting that unemployment and GDP growth are, unusually, about the same percentile. Brad argues that Warsh as Fed Chair might start looking forward rather than being data dependent, which he describes as looking backwards....

Ron Westfall calls Palo Alto Networks (PANW) a "very solid investment," even after the cybersecurity firm's post-earnings sell-off. Despite the company guiding for a full year EPS below Wall Street estimates, its platformization efforts are ones Ron sees benefitting the company long-term. Mitch Ashley agrees, noting resilience from companies in adding more employees to their payroll....

Eric Pan walks through money market flows, noting that a great deal of money still remains on the sidelines. He says this shows a “lot of potential” in the marketplace and talks through why retail investors are staying cautious right now. “A lot of Americans are doing exactly what they should do right now,” he says, as they rebalance portfolios and diversify. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empow...

Joshua Wein reacts to the January FOMC minutes and thinks that we may only see one rate cut this year. He warns that Fed Chair nominee Warsh will likely focus on inflation rather than employment, and that the market has tended to predict more cuts than we’ve seen. However, he thinks one cut is enough to support the economy this year. He also shares some mid-cap picks: Jacobs Solutions (J) and Leid...