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Interested in Target Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better. Walmart, Home Depot, and other retailers say consumers remain active but increasingly price-sensitive. Buy-Now-Pay-Later delinquencies are rising sharply, signaling growing financial stress among lower-income consumers. Investors may need a more selective approach toward retail and consumer-facing stocks in a bifurcated economy. The stock market and the economy are not the same thing, but in 2026, they share one trait: skepticism. Despite blockbuster earnings reports from companies like NVIDIA (NYSE: NVDA), Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), this may be the most reluctant bull market in history. That doesn’t mean investors are leaving the market, but the concentration of market winners is still not broadly expanding to other sectors. The recent retail earnings reports aren’t going to change that. On the surface, the consumer looks resilient. The retail sales data continues to at least meet, if not exceed, expectations. However, all may not be as it seems. Retail giants like Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ: WMT), Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) have been telling a cautious story. → Voya Financial Grows Earnings Across All 3 Business Segments Consumers are still spending, but with real intentionality. And since investors are also consumers, it may be getting harder to separate the two. The investor deciding whether to add a retail stock to their portfolio and the shopper deciding whether to remodel their kitchen are, increasingly, the same person making the same calculation: is now the right time to commit? The word "choiceful" has become part of the retail lexicon. Walmart used it explicitly on its Q1 earnings call to describe a customer who is still showing up but making sharper trade-offs at every price point. Management also pointed to consumers shifting toward private-label brands, even among higher-income consumers. → SpaceX Gets the Attention, But These 4 Stocks Could Get the Returns Home Depot offered one of the more telling data points of the earnings season: same-store sales growth remained modest, with customers completing smaller repair and maintenance projects while continuing to defer large remodels. Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) also spoke of a consumer who is engaged but not confident. Both stocks have held up reasonably well because repair-and...

Semtech (SMTC) is likely to report "upside" to fiscal Q1 results and fiscal Q2 outlook as demand for

June Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQM26) are trending up +0.69% this morning as sentiment improved after Treasury yields retreated from multiyear highs, with attention now turning to an earnings report from chip giant Nvidia. The price of WTI crude fell over -1% on Wednesday after Reuters reported that two Chinese supertankers transited the Strait of Hormuz early in the day and a third, South Korean-flagged vessel, was also exiting the waterway. U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that the war with Iran could end “very quickly,” while also cautioning that the U.S. could restart military strikes. “I hope we don’t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit,” Trump told reporters. Meanwhile, Iran warned on Wednesday that it would expand the war beyond the Middle East if the U.S. attacks again. NVDA Earnings Bull Put Spread has a High Probability of Success This High-Yield REIT Just Hiked Its Dividend By 7.1%. Its Shares Look Compelling Here. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Dumped 16 Stocks in Q1, But the Chevron Sale Was the Largest Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! Treasury yields fell across the curve on Wednesday, with the 10-year rate sliding three basis points to 4.64%. With traders still strongly leaning toward a Fed rate hike in December, markets remain highly sensitive to signs of escalation or de-escalation in the Middle East. In yesterday’s trading session, Wall Street’s major indexes closed lower. Most members of the Magnificent Seven stocks slid, with Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) falling over -2%. Also, travel stocks slumped on worries about higher fuel costs, with Carnival (CCL) sliding over -4% and United Airlines Holdings (UAL) slipping more than -3%. In addition, Akamai Technologies (AKAM) sank over -6% and was the top percentage loser on the S&P 500 after the company announced a $2.6 billion convertible notes offering. On the bullish side, some chip and AI infrastructure stocks advanced, with Marvell Technology (MRVL) climbing more than +4% to lead gainers in the Nasdaq 100 and Sandisk (SNDK) rising over +3%. Economic data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. pending home sales rose +1.4% m/m in April, stronger than expectations of +1.0% m/m. Economists,...

All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Tuesday, as the 30-year Treasury

Marvell Technology (MRVL) stock has been on fire with returns of 177% in the last 52-weeks. For the reason, there is no need to look beyond the fact that the company provides data infrastructure semiconductor solutions with data centers being a key revenue driver. Of course, there has been a flurry of good news that has backed the ferocious rally. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently disclosed that the company owns 65,516 shares of Marvell that’s currently valued at $10.7 million. While this does not fundamentally alter anything, the interest in MRVL stock by the chip giant underscores the long-term potential of Marvell. Meta Stock vs. Google Stock: One Is Clearly the Better Buy for the Next 10 Years Ukraine Will Leverage Palantir’s AI Capabilities In Its War With Russia. This Helps Prove PLTR Stock Will Never Be Irrelevant. S&P Futures Plunge as Inflation Fears Push Bond Yields Higher Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. In another important development, Marvell announced the acquisition of Polariton Technologies in April 2026. The latter is “a developer of high-speed, low-power plasmonics-based silicon photonics devices.” This acquisition will support the company’s ability to cater to the incremental demand for higher performance optical interconnects. According to Marvell, the industry is already looking at high-speed connectivity of 3.2T and beyond. It was also reported last month that Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) is in discussion with Marvell for the development of “two new chips designed to improve the efficiency of running artificial intelligence models.” As the markets digest this news and good numbers continue to flow, MRVL stock seems to be poised for further uptrend. Headquartered in California, Marvell Technology is a supplier of data infrastructure semiconductor solutions. The company’s core strengths include development and scaling of system-on-a-chip architectures, integrating analog, mixed-signal and digital signal processing functionality. In terms of end markets, the company’s key revenue drivers are data center, enterprise networking, carrier infrastructure, consumer, and automotive segment. For FY26, Marvell reported revenue of $8.2 billion, which was higher by 42% on a year-on-year basis. Robust top-line growth was driven by the...

The Trade Desk TTD recently reported first-quarter 2026 results with the bottom line coming in short of expectations. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 28 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.5%. The bottom line also compared unfavorably with 33 cents posted in the prior-year quarter. However, revenues were up 12% to $688.9 million, topping management guidance (of at least $678 million) and the Zacks Consensus Estimate (by 1.4%). The Trade Desk price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Trade Desk Quote The stock fell sharply after the earnings announcement on May 8, but stabilized at the end of the session. Since reporting earnings after market close on May 7, the stock has slipped 8.4% and closed yesterday’s session at $21.52. Investor concern remains as The Trade Desk continues to navigate numerous headwinds, including intense competition in the ad space and a volatile macro environment. Revenue growth has been slowing compared with previous quarters. The important question for investors now is, should they retain TTD stock or make an exit? Let’s do a deep dive to understand what to do with TTD stock after its first-quarter earnings report. The Trade Desk’s strategy revolves around the open Internet, which is where price discovery and competition exist, and it continues to expect the open Internet to gain share relative to closed advertising ecosystems. TTD operates a leading demand-side platform (“DSP”) that helps advertisers focus on data-driven ads. The company stressed that the ad market is worth $1 trillion TAM and that, eventually, most ad dollars will become data-driven. Increasing digital spending in CTV, particularly for premium content and live sports, is a key growth driver. In the first quarter, video — which includes CTV — represented a low-50s percentage of the total business and continues to grow as a share of the channel mix. The shift from linear TV to CTV is still in early stages, providing a long runway for growth. Beyond CTV, retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas in the digital advertising space. TTD highlighted that the retailers in its data marketplace now represent over 80% of sales from top U.S. retailers, compared with Amazon’s AMZN roughly 15% share. Further, products like Audience Unlimited are demonstrating strong performance by increasing campaign performance and, at the same time, reducing m...

The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was up 0.2% and the actively trad

The 2026 Q1 earnings season continues to chug along, with a big chunk of S&P 500 members already delivering their results. So far, several companies – Alphabet GOOGL, Roku ROKU, and Interactive Brokers IBKR – have crushed it concerning key metrics, with each also seeing share momentum in the days that have followed post-earnings. Alphabet posted a strong double-beat relative to our consensus estimates, crushing our EPS estimate by more than 90% and posting a 2.7% sales surprise. Both items saw great YoY growth, with the stock’s reaction post-earnings reflecting the strongest of the Mag 7 bunch so far. Importantly, Google Cloud revenue totaled $20.0 billion, crushing our estimate and reflecting a rock-solid 62.7% YoY growth rate. The growth acceleration is precisely what the market wanted to see, another big reason why the stock has soared post-earnings. The EPS outlook remains bullish across the board for the Mag 7 member, a huge positive concerning near-term momentum. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Roku similarly posted a double-beat relative to our consensus expectations, beating our EPS estimate by more than 65% and posting a 3.8% sales surprise. The profitability picture strengthened significantly, with gross profit climbing 27% YoY to $565 million. The EPS outlook across its current and next fiscal year have moved bullishly, with upward revisions coming in following the release. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Roku’s platform revenue grew 28% year-over-year, with strong Advertising and Subscription results leading the charge. Total Streaming Hours also saw a nice 8% YoY climb, with the company also now reporting more than 100 million households worldwide use a device powered by the Roku TV operating system (OS) monthly. IBKR has been a strong earnings performer over the past several years, with shares benefiting as a result. Commission revenue throughout its reported period increased 19% YoY to a record $613 million, with customer trading volume in stocks, futures, and options increasing by 25%, 20%, and 16%, respectively. The company’s offerings continue to attract a wide range of new customers, with customer accounts growing by a rock-solid 31% YoY to roughly 4.8 million. The stock saw a weak reaction to the results but quickly bounced back over recent days. The EPS outlook for its current fiscal year remains notably bullish, with the...

Fastly FSLY is set to report its first-quarter 2026 results on May 6. For the first quarter of 2026, the company expects revenues between $168 million and $174 million, representing 18% annual growth at the midpoint. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $171.72 million, indicating an 18.86% increase from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. FSLY expects non-GAAP earnings between 7 cents and 10 cents. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at 8 cents per share, unchanged over the past 30 days. This indicates 260% year-over-year increase. Let us see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement. Fastly, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Fastly, Inc. Quote Fastly's first-quarter performance is expected to have benefited from expanding demand in network services and security, with accelerating security revenue, rising large-customer engagement and increasing AI-related activity. The company's expanding product portfolio is a significant driver of future performance. The company has seen accelerated growth in its security portfolio, with security revenue up 32% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025. New product launches, such as API Inventory and AI Assistant (in Beta), are expanding the platform's capabilities and appeal. The security-led sales motion and cross-sell momentum, particularly with large enterprise customers, are expected to have fueled growth in the to-be-reported quarter. FSLY is expected to benefit from the improvement in customer commitments, as evidenced by record remaining performance obligations of $353.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, up 55% year over year. This growth is broad-based across the customer base, reflecting deliberate go-to-market strategies that encourage larger upfront commitments and mitigate revenue volatility. The trailing 12-month net retention rate also improved to 110%, indicating strong customer loyalty and expansion. These factors are expected to have benefited FSLY's top line in the to-be-reported quarter. However, the company is expected to have suffered from macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, along with variability in customer usage and traffic. Stiff competition as well as pricing pressure are expected to hurt FSLY’s to-be-reported quarter’s performance. Fastly’s shares have risen 148.1% in the year-to-date period, outperforming the broader Zacks Computer...

US equity indexes jumped this week as communications services and energy topped sector charts in a b

Alphabet GOOGL shares were already star performers before the company’s Q1 earnings release on Wednesday, making some of us anxious that the stock might be priced for perfection. But they literally hit it out of the park, with impressive momentum not just in the cloud business but also search, subscriptions, and backlog. With Alphabet management more than answering the AI monetization question through these record results, the market didn’t lose a beat over further increases in capital expenditures. The company expects to spend in the $180 billion to $190 billion range now, up from the previous guided range of $175 billion to $185 billion. Amazon’s Q1 results weren’t Alphabet-good, but they were nevertheless very strong, with cloud revenues showing clear acceleration and growing at their fastest pace since 2022 at +28%. The growth pace is expected to pick up further in Q2 and beyond, given new deals with Meta META, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Amazon’s 2026 Q1 cloud revenue growth of +28% follows growth rates of +24% and +20% in 2025 Q4 and Q3, respectively. Alphabet’s cloud revenue growth was in a league of its own, up +63%, which follows growth rates of +48% in 2025 Q4 and an estimated +35% to +40% in 2025 Q3. Unlike Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft MSFT disappointed once again, coming up short in its results and commentary for the third quarter in a row. The only reason why someone would find fault with Microsoft’s +29% cloud revenue growth is that the company’s growth pace in each of the preceding two quarters was in a comparable range. Microsoft has long noted capacity issues weighing on its cloud growth, which seems plausible since Alphabet also noted this issue. Microsoft shares have been true laggards in the Mag 7 group, down -14.5% this year vs. Alphabet’s +23.1% rise and the S&P 500 index’s +6.2% gain. The company has been swept up in the software turmoil, so the issue isn’t the stalled cloud unit. Microsoft had also banked heavily on OpenAI for its LLM, and that relationship has unraveled ‘bigly’. It is reasonable to expect that they will eventually get there, after all, they have the resources and people, but it will likely take them a while. At this stage in the Q1 reporting cycle, Nvidia NVDA is the only Mag 7 member that has yet to report March-quarter results. Nvidia is scheduled to report Q1 results on May 20th, with EPS and revenues for the period...

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.9% this week to another closing record high as the communicat