BAC

Bank of America (BAC) posted Q1 2026 EPS of $1.11 on $30.27B revenue with net interest income up 9% to $15.74B, equities trading surging 30%, and investment banking fees jumping 21%, while the stock remains down 7.16% year to date despite the strong results. Bank of America’s valuation disconnect stems from market concerns about interest rate headwinds, as a 100 basis point decline would reduce net interest income by $2B annually, though a steepening yield curve and durable deposit growth provide offsetting tailwinds. Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Bank of America didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has spent 2026 grinding sideways despite a Q1 print that ranked among the strongest in the bank's recent history. With the stock down on the year and analysts staying overwhelmingly bullish, I think the setup is now interesting enough to call. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Bank of America is $60.48, implying roughly 19.13% upside from $50.77. The recommendation is buy, and our model confidence is high. Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Bank of America didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today. BAC has slipped 7.16% year to date and 3.59% over the past month, even as the one-year return sits at 17.83%. Shares trade roughly 10% below the 52-week high of $57.23 and well above the $42.41 low. The disconnect is the Q1 2026 report. Bank of America posted EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $30.27 billion, a fourth straight beat. Net interest income climbed 9% to $15.74 billion, equities trading surged 30%, and investment banking fees jumped 21%. CEO Brian Moynihan reiterated he is "bullish on the U.S. economy in 2026." The bull thesis rests on four pillars: continued fixed-rate asset repricing, durable deposit franchise growth (11 consecutive quarters of sequential growth to $2.02 trillion), wealth management momentum (consumer investment assets up 15% to $573 billion), and a steepening yield curve, with the 10-year Treasury at 4.45% versus a 3-month bill at 3.69%. Analyst sentiment supports the upside. 22 buy ratings, 3 holds, and zero sells point to a consensus target of $63.16. Our model's bull case scenario takes BAC to $63.02 within 12 months, a 24.13% return. The headline risk is rates. Bank of America has disclosed that...

Agilent Technologies stock surges as Wall Street approves of the company’s second-quarter earnings and guidance update.

Investing.com -- Bank of America upgraded Agilent Technologies to “Buy” from “Neutral,” citing strong execution, market share gains, and resilience across key end markets despite broader concerns in the life sciences tools sector. The brokerage set a new price objective of $145, slightly below its prior $150 target, while maintaining confidence in the company’s long-term growth outlook. The upgrade follows Agilent’s fiscal second-quarter results, where the company exceeded expectations across several metrics. Core revenue growth came in at 6.3%, above the high end of guidance, while operating margins and adjusted earnings per share also topped forecasts. Analysts highlighted continued strength in liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC), and LC/MS replacement cycles, which they said remain in the “early innings” of growth. BofA analysts noted that Agilent’s instruments business delivered high single-digit growth during the quarter, supported by competitive wins, innovation-led displacement, and improving market share trends. Management also pointed to demand expanding beyond simple replacement activity, as new product platforms gain traction among existing customers. The company’s Chemical and Advanced Materials (CAM) segment also performed better than expected, posting 8% core growth driven by strength in semiconductor and chemicals markets. Analysts said GC replacement activity tied to aging equipment fleets helped fuel momentum, particularly in the Americas and Asia outside China, while spectroscopy demand remained robust across semiconductor and advanced materials workflows. Agilent modestly raised its full-year guidance after the quarterly beat, with management expressing a more constructive outlook on CAM, forensics, and diagnostics markets, although conditions in food testing remain softer. BofA expects second-half revenue and margin progression to remain achievable despite tougher year-over-year comparisons. The brokerage also revised its earnings estimates upward, forecasting adjusted EPS of $6.05 for 2026 and $6.65 for 2027, compared with prior estimates of $5.97 and $6.57, respectively. Related articles Agilent stock gets ’buy’ upgrade from BofA after impressive quarterly beat These 2 stocks are best positioned to benefit from higher uranium prices: analyst This sector is 'poised for a big, beautiful year': Truist

(Bloomberg) -- While software stocks rebound from the artificial intelligence-driven wipeout earlier this year, Salesforce Inc. hasn’t really benefited. But its earnings after the close Wednesday could pull the company’s shares out of their malaise. Most Read from Bloomberg Singapore Hands Byju's Founder His First Ever Jail Term Iran’s Khamenei Says No Going Back for Middle East Rocked by War Ex-President Biden Sues to Stop DOJ Sharing Interview Tapes Two More Oil Supertankers Exit Hormuz to Help Push Up Flows ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Studio Draws Tencent Music Investment Salesforce is up 8% since hitting a three-year low on April 10, but the stock still has lost 32% this year. It’s badly underperforming the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector exchange-traded fund, which has jumped 25% since hitting its own recent low on April 10 and is down 12% this year. And both are being trounced by the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index’s 19% rise in 2026, largely powered by high-flying chipmakers. Salesforce shares dipped 0.1% on Wednesday afternoon. “It has gone through a very painful period, but there’s a stickiness and staple-like nature to the business that people have underestimated, even though revenue is still growing at a decent pace,” said Brian Kersmanc, portfolio manager at GQG Partners, which owns Salesforce shares. “Now that we’ve had this big washout, I think we’re going to start seeing the merits shine through.” Software stocks are getting some life as encouraging corporate earnings reports indicate that AI may not end up devastating growth like investors had assumed, and in some cases it could be a potential tailwind. That, coupled with valuations that fell to rock-bottom levels, has Wall Street thinking that the industrywide weakness from earlier this year may have gone too far. Salesforce, however, has missed much of the bounce back as it continues to face questions about its prospects. Wall Street’s primary concern is competition from Anthropic and OpenAI weakening demand and pricing power for its customer relationship management software, which for years drove robust growth at high margins. For example, Bank of America last week reinstated coverage of the company with an underperform rating due to “structurally lower growth” and greater competitive risks from AI. “Salesforce remains a deeply entrenched platform, yet we expect a structural reset driven...

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) ranks among the best stocks for a couch potato portfolio. On April 23, Freedom Broker boosted Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) price target to $65 from $61, maintaining a Buy rating on the company’s shares. The firm emphasized the bank’s solid first-quarter 2026 performance, which beat market forecasts in earnings per share, revenue, and key operating indicators. Bank of America announced GAAP EPS of $1.11, rising 25% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter, above the $1.01 estimate by 9.6%. Deposit fees came in at 1.99%, beating expectations by 7 basis points. Meanwhile, fee income increased by 5 cents, mostly due to better asset management performance. Investment banking fees of $1.84 billion also met average forecasts, with advising, equity capital markets, and debt capital markets all in line. In a similar vein, following the company’s Q1 2026 results, Truist Securities boosted its price target for Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) to $61 from $57 on April 16, keeping a Buy rating on the company’s shares. Truist raised its earnings per share expectations by 2% for 2026, discounting the first-quarter excess, and by 3% for 2027, owing to stronger revenues from both net interest income and fees, with only a slight adjustment from increased costs. Along with greater growth expectations in trading, investment banking, and wealth management fees, the firm also included 8% net interest income growth this year, which is at the upper half of Bank of America’s revised guidance range. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. While we acknowledge the potential of BAC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.

Deckers Outdoor (DECK) walked into its earnings night with everything a footwear company could want. Record fiscal 2026 revenue, record EPS, a blockbuster $3.5 billion buyback authorization, and a fiscal 2027 outlook that came in above Wall Street's consensus. Then, Bank of America trimmed its price target the next morning anyway, MarketScreener reports. The new figure of $115, down from $120, with a Neutral rating maintained, sits roughly $11 below the Wall Street consensus of $126.62, per Stock Analysis. It's not a panic call. But it's a quiet signal that the company many investors view as a "growth-at-any-price" story may be running into a more complicated chapter. And the actual numbers, when you pull them apart, explain why. The fourth quarter print looked clean on the surface, as seen on Yahoo Finance. Revenue of $1.12 billion grew 9.6% year over year, and EPS of 96 cents beat the Zacks consensus of 81 cents by 18.5%. But underneath, the engine isn't firing on every cylinder. More Retail Stocks: Bank of America revamps its Target stock price target ahead of earnings Morgan Stanley revisits Walmart stock price target pre-earnings Walmart earnings reveal concerning shift in customer behavior HOKA and UGG carried the entire quarter. HOKA grew 14.5% to $671 million. UGG climbed 9.2% to $409 million. The "other brands" bucket, which houses Teva and the wind-down of Koolaburra and Sanuk, collapsed 35.6%, per Benzinga. That's the two-brand company problem in one line. In terms of location-specific sales, international revenue surged 25.5% to $469.5 million. Domestic revenue rose just 0.3% to $649.8 million. The U.S., still Deckers' largest market, has effectively stopped growing. The American consumer matters more than the headline numbers admit. And the broader footwear sector has been flashing yellow for months. Wells Fargo downgraded Deckers to Underweight on May 8, per Investing.com, cutting its target to $90 from $115 in the same note that downgraded Nike (NKE) on a GLP-1 thesis. The argument, led by analyst Ike Boruchow, is that the adoption of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is rewiring how consumers spend on apparel. Related: Birkenstock stock price slumps as luxury dream unravels The data point that matters: 23% of U.S. households had at least one GLP-1 user as of September 2025, with 55% of active users already buying new clothing or footwear because their...

Hims & Hers (HIMS) missed Q1 2026 on revenue ($608.1M vs. consensus $616.85M) and earnings (-$0.40 EPS vs. expected $0.03), prompting Bank of America to cut its price target to $30 from $32 while maintaining a Neutral rating. Hims & Hers faces a high-expectations reset after the transition away from compounded weight loss medications compressed gross margins from 73% to 65%; the stock trades at 57x trailing P/E and 67x forward earnings despite stronger international revenue growth of 969% year over year. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Hims & Hers wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. Hims & Hers Health (NYSE:HIMS) absorbed another analyst downgrade. Bank of America cut its price objective on Hims & Hers stock to $30 from $32, while keeping a Neutral rating. The firm called the recent results "a mixed quarter" and argued that the bar needs to come down before HIMS stock can work again. The price target cut follows a Q1 2026 report that missed on both the top and bottom lines. Hims & Hers posted revenue of $608.1 million against a consensus of $616.85 million, and reported diluted EPS of -$0.40 versus the Street's $0.03 expectation. For prudent investors, Bank of America's Hims & Hers downgrade signals a classic high-expectations reset rather than a fundamental shift in the thesis. HIMS stock traded at $23.85 intraday, well below the cut target. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Hims & Hers wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. Bank of America's core argument is straightforward: Street assumptions are too high in the near term, and consensus models need to recalibrate. The firm believes the bar must reset before Hims & Hers stock can find traction. That view sits in the middle of a divided Street. JPMorgan trimmed its HIMS stock price target to $33 from $35 while keeping an Overweight rating, and Canaccord actually raised its target to $32 from $30 with a Buy rating. The dispersion reflects genuine disagreement about how to value Hims & Hers after its strategic pivot. Hims & Hers operates a multi-specialty telehealth platform connecting consumers with licensed clinicians across brands including Hims, Hers, ZAVA, and Labs. The company finished Q1 2026 with nearly 2.6 million subscribers, up 9% year over year. The bigger story for Hims & Hers is the U.S. weight loss transition from...

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the Best Undervalued Stocks to Buy Under $100. The company is set to release its fiscal Q1 2026 results next month on June 2. The Street expects the company to post revenue of around $45.35 billion, up significantly from the previous quarter’s revenue of $34.73 billion. The GAAP EPS is also expected to be higher at $1.61 compared to the previous quarter’s EPS of $1.35. Separately, on April 27, Erste Group downgraded The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) from Buy to Hold without disclosing any price targets. Earlier, on March 9, BofA had reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $85. Analysts at Erste Group noted that while the valuation of the company is significantly low, they expect it to remain low over the medium term. As a result, the firm finds limited upside for the stock, hence the downgrade. On the other hand, BofA likes the company better under the leadership of CEO Greg Foran. The firm pointed to the company’s digital and in-store execution and value offerings. BofA also highlighted that the company’s brands continue to outperform national brands and also noted that the firm sees private label products as a significant advantage. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) operates food and drug retail stores across the U.S., including combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price-impact warehouses. While we acknowledge the potential of KR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Best Stocks to Buy While the Market Is Down and 14 Stocks That Will Double in the Next 5 Years. Disclosure: None. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and insiders. Please subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below.

The country’s largest banks, flush with record earnings and capital, executed their largest quarterly stock repurchases ever in the first three months of the year. The 21 large banks covered by Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg bought back $40 billion in the first quarter, up from $34 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 and from the prior record of $38 billion in the 2019 fourth quarter, just before the Covid crisis. The industry leaders, based on the biggest percentage reductions in share counts in the first quarter, were M&T Bank (3.9% reduction), First Citizens Bancshares (3.8%), Citi group (3.1%), Bank of America (1.9%), and Goldman Sachs Group (1.8%).

Planet Fitness investors received a tougher view from Bank of America after the gym operator’s latest earnings update reset expectations for membership growth, pricing, and the company’s near-term stock setup. Bank of America downgraded Planet Fitness to neutral from buy and lowered its price objective to $59 from $110, according to the Bank of America note given to TheStreet. The new target still represented 34.1% upside from the $44.01 share price listed in the note, although the size of the cut showed a much more cautious outlook after earnings. The firm said Planet Fitness lowered its 2026 outlook after weaker-than-expected first-quarter sign-ups, changes to its marketing strategy, and the decision to skip a planned Black Card price increase. Bank of America also lowered its earnings estimates, with its 2026 EPS forecast moving to $3.22 from $3.39 and its 2027 EPS forecast moving to $3.70 from $4.10. “With new marketing initiatives likely needing time to gain traction, we see limited catalysts ahead and downgrade shares to Neutral from Buy,” Bank of America said in the note. Planet Fitness has built one of the largest fitness club businesses in the U.S., with more than 2,890 clubs and 20.8 million members, according to the Bank of America note. The company’s model centers on a high-value, low-price gym offering aimed at consumers who may not already belong to a fitness club. That setup makes the first quarter especially important for the company’s annual growth targets. Bank of America said the first quarter typically drives the majority of annual net membership additions, which made the latest membership shortfall a key part of the downgrade. Amazon’s $130 fitness smartwatch with 24/7 health monitoring is now just $20 Walmart’s bestselling smartwatch and fitness tracker can help get you in shape for 82% off Amazon is selling a smartwatch and fitness tracker for $9 that ‘does everything the other expensive watches do’ Planet Fitness added 700,000 net new members during the quarter, according to the note, coming in below internal expectations. Management cited marketing missteps that skewed toward more fitness-focused customers instead of beginners, while March and April were also tracking below plan. The company has engaged a new creative agency and plans to have a new campaign in the market before year-end, Bank of America's note indicated. That campaig...

Bank of America raised its price objective on Arm Holdings after the chip-design company posted a stronger March quarter, but the firm stopped short of turning more bullish on the stock as investors continue to price in a larger artificial-intelligence opportunity. In the Bank of America note, analyst Vivek Arya reiterated a Neutral rating on Arm and raised the firm’s price objective to $245 from $180. The new target implies about 3.2% upside from the stock’s listed price of $237.30 in the note. Bank of America said Arm’s agentic AI CPU opportunity in both intellectual property and chiplets remains on track, though much of that opportunity may already be reflected in the company’s valuation. Arm’s latest quarter gave investors more support for the long-term AI story, especially as demand for data center and AI-related computing continues to rise. The company reported March-quarter revenue of $1.49 billion, which was above Bank of America’s $1.47 billion estimate and Street expectations of $1.47 billion in the note. Non-GAAP diluted EPS came in at 60 cents, above Bank of America’s 58-cent estimate and Street expectations of 58 cents. Bank of America said Arm’s March quarter was in line with modestly better than expected, driven by continued share and content gains in AI and data center, partly offset by near-term smartphone weakness. The firm pointed to Arm’s positioning across agentic CPUs, including key compute subsystem products and a chiplet opportunity tied to large AI customers. The AI and data center strengths showed up in the company’s numbers. In the Bank of America note, the firm said data center revenue rose more than 100% year over year in the March quarter. It also said Arm reached about 50% share across cloud servers, inclusive of CPUs, switches, and network interface cards. Morgan Stanley raises price targets across semiconductor sector Cathie Wood sells another $15.6M of surging semiconductor stock Analysts rerate Taiwan Semiconductor stock after earnings The firm said royalty content gains, moving from about 50 cents per core to $1 per core, should continue through fiscal 2027, helped by more cores per chip and broader adoption of Arm-based designs. Bank of America also said Arm’s full silicon and chiplet opportunity for artificial general intelligence could contribute more than $8 billion to $10 billion in sales by fiscal 2031. Arm’s own vie...

(Bloomberg) -- CoreWeave Inc. shares are on a scorching run in 2026 as demand for computing capacity to power artificial intelligence keeps growing. But now investors want to see some proof that the neo-cloud provider is executing on its ambitious plans. Most Read from Bloomberg Billionaire Duke of Westminster to Sell £700 Million of US Real Estate Assets US Has Opened a Passage Through Hormuz, Central Command Says DOJ Plans Intervention in Trump Supreme Court Carroll Appeal China Asks Banks to Pause New Loans to US-Sanctioned Refiner Sony to Pay Almost $4 Billion for Bieber, Neil Young Catalog The chance arrives when CoreWeave reports earnings after the bell on Thursday. Recent results from the biggest AI spenders like Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. made it clear that the need for computing power is insatiable as capital expenditures continue to rise. Considering the company rents access to AI infrastructure featuring the latest chips from Nvidia Corp., that plays right into its hands. “There is an insane amount of demand for AI compute,” said Tejas Dessai, director of thematic research at Global X ETFs. “The backdrop is extremely positive for CoreWeave.” Investors will be closely monitoring CoreWeave’s revenue acceleration, its outlook for the rest of the year and its backlog heading into 2027, he said. The stock is up 78% this year and a stunning 218% since the Livingston, New Jersey-based company went public in March 2025. The latest rally got going roughly a month ago as investors regained faith in the AI trade and CoreWeave announced deals with Meta, Anthropic PBC and Jane Street Group in quick succession. CoreWeave shares were down as much as 9.1% in intraday trading Thursday after rallying 7.9% on Wednesday. Of the 36 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who follow CoreWeave, 23 have buy ratings on the stock and only two have sells. But their average 12-month price target of $131 is below where the shares closed Wednesday, even though it’s been rising over the past six months. Wall Street expects the company to report revenue of nearly $2 billion in the first quarter, twice what it posted a year ago, and a loss of $1.20 per share, which would be an improvement from a loss of $1.49 a share in the first quarter of 2025. CoreWeave’s revenue backlog was nearly $67 billion as of Dec. 31, and the recent deals should raise its remaining performance obligati...