We had more record highs in the stock market today. On Friday, investors saw the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average all hit new all-time highs on the day. The move comes after trade talks seemingly progressed even further, while investors anxiously await the trade risk being taken off the table.
There seems to be little worry that the steady climb in stocks ahead of a potential phase-one trade deal will lead to a sell-the-news event. Or the fact that a derailing of the potential agreement (or the likely more difficult phase-two agreement) could be catastrophic for markets.
The situation in Hong Kong also continues to escalate, both politically and financially. Regarding the latter, Hong Kong faces an annual recession as a result of the unrest. But alas, this too doesn’t seem to be fazing investors.
For now, investors have few worries. The Federal Reserve won’t be in the way and the trade news seems to be going well. Therefore, stocks have continued higher.
Buffett’s Buys
It’s always fun getting a look at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B) 13-F filing. The portfolio value grew 3.1% sequentially to $241.6 billion.
Berkshire reduced its stakes in Sirius (NASDAQ:SIRI) and longtime holding Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC). Notable additions included Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) and RH (NYSE:RH), formerly known as Restoration Hardware. RH is not the typical Berkshire buy, given its volatility and lack of dividend. The news sent shares higher by 7.6% on Friday.
That said, most of Berkshire’s top holdings remain unchanged. Those top holdings account for almost two-thirds of the portfolio’s value. They include Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), WFC (despite the lowered stake) and American Express (NYSE:AXP).
Movers in the Stock Market Today
As if Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) wasn’t big enough, Chicago just opened the doors on the largest Starbucks yet. This 35,000 square foot location is the company’s sixth Reserve Roastery, which includes three coffee bars, a cocktail bar and an artisan bakery and cafe throughout its five stories. Starbucks’ Roasteries typically see more than 8,000 visitors per day and customers usually spend three to four times more compared to a normal Starbucks.
Apple News+ is having trouble gaining momentum with subscribers, according to reports. When it first launched in March, it quickly gained 200,000 subscribers in 48 hours, but apparently has had trouble growing since. While subscription numbers are struggling, ad revenue is steadily increasing for content companies.
Given the struggle, reports from Bloomberg say Apple may launch a media bundle. The bundle would include Apple News+, the newly launched Apple TV+ and Apple Music as early as next year. The question is, for how much?
Consumer Reports is once again giving the green light to both the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model 3 and Model S. The move comes after the current owners’ reliability survey came out. While the reports showed fewer stuck latches and issues with the doors in the Model 3, and fewer paint issues with the Model S, Consumer Reports still won’t recommend the Model X because the issues with malfunctioning doors, leaks and noises. Tesla shares rallied 0.8% to $352.17 on the day.
Heard on the Street
Bank of America kept Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) at “buy” but raises its price target from $150 to $160.
RBC bumped its price target for Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) from $44 to $50, while maintaining an “outperform” rating. Bulls have to love the way that $50 price target looks on AMD, implying more than 32% upside from current levels.
JPMorgan maintained a “buy” rating on Apple and inched its price target up from $280 to $290.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) was raised to a “buy” from Mizuho, while analysts assigned a price target of $100. It implies about 11% upside.
Stifel initiated Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) with a “buy” rating and assigned a $110 price target.
GrubHub (NYSE:GRUB) is getting some love, this time from Barclays. The analysts bumped shares to an “overweight” rating — but did not intend the pun — while tossing a $51 price target on the stock.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long AAPL, SBUX and AMD.
