What Cramer is watching — Starbucks transition, Disney CEO makes mark, CPI watch

Published Mon, Sep 12 20229:15 AM EDTUpdated Mon, Sep 12 20229:20 AM EDT

What I am looking at Sept. 12, 2022 In Seattle to visit with Expedia (EXPE) and Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Costco (COST) and Starbucks (SBUX). Starbucks — handoff this week to Laxman Narasimhan (official start date as CEO is October). What will it mean? Bonds stable ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) release on Tuesday. Economists expect headline CPI increased 8.1% in August over the previous year. Read my Sunday column on why I'm optimistic about where we are in this market cycle. Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Chapek told the Financial Times he's been "deluged" with offers for ESPN, so maybe take that valuation up and will expand theme parks. New park on the horizon? Gambling? Why not just buy DraftKings (DKNG)? Or FanDuel? Or is it an ad play? Is the U.S. dollar move overdone? Felt like "buy one, get one" in Europe. The dollar index posted its first weekly decrease in four on Friday . Potential rail strike starting Sept. 16. Would cripple many industries. Bank of America upgrades Union Pacific (UNP) to buy from hold even after big run. Canadian Pacific (CP) and Canadian National (CNI) upgraded, too. China trade: more pressure on the equipment makers like Lam Research (LRCX) and Applied Materials (AMAT). Bitcoin tops $22,000 , hitting highest level in nearly a month. People bidding up Bristol-Myers (BMY) after positive update on psoriasis drug. Barclays cut price target for Thermo Fisher (TMO). Enough is enough on the cutting of stocks in this excellent group. RH price target raised to $328 from $300 at Barclays. Beginning of a comeback? Another tiresome price target cut for Club name Meta Platforms (META) — Piper Sandler goes to $175 from $190 — on the eve of charges for WhatsApp. Deutsche Bank says Oracle (ORCL) has momentum, but I question anything that is on Oracle Premier because of energy use versus cloud. Piper raises all oils — these are still a fave. We like Pioneer Natural (PXD), Coterra (CTRA), Devon (DVN) and Halliburton (HAL). Still overweight in energy, but have cut back after amazing run. Increasing divergence as American oils stay strong … Citi upgrades Apache (APA) which is principally a natural gas play. Newell Brands (NWL) price target lowered to $18 from $19. Pretty shocking cut in guidance last week. McCormick (MKC) PT lowered to $82 from $94 at Barclays ... really bad pre-announcement last week. Need more on why than we have read so far. Darden (DRI) price target raised to $156 from $140 at Citi. When will the PT cuts end? This is about the strong consumer. Morgan Stanley starts Bill.com (BILL) with a buy rating ... this is analyst Keith Weiss. Is this the beginning of a move into high tech? This is a company that is about to go from money loser to winner. Stifel starts Darling Ingredients (DAR) with a buy — waste recycler. This is a huge theme for the future. Is Ukraine winning the war? Or are we going to see big counterattack by Russia, which needs to be funded by more oil and nat gas pumping. Is Ukraine winning for or against price of oil? China's Chengdu extends Covid lockdown for 21 million residents. General Electric (GE) unveiled board of directors for GE HealthCare and targets spin-off for first week of January 2023. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, left, with incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan, Sept. 7, 2022.

Source: CNBC

What I am looking at Sept. 12, 2022

In Seattle to visit with Expedia (EXPE) and Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Costco (COST) and Starbucks (SBUX).
Starbucks — handoff this week to Laxman Narasimhan (official start date as CEO is October). What will it mean?
Bonds stable ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) release on Tuesday. Economists expect headline CPI increased 8.1% in August over the previous year.
Read my Sunday column on why I'm optimistic about where we are in this market cycle.