Jim Cramer’s word of caution on Target-Shopify deal — plus, his thoughts on 4 more stocks
Jim Cramer’s daily rapid fire looks at stocks in the news outside the CNBC Investing Club portfolio. IBM : Shares rose 3% after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating. “We were surprised last quarter … how much they’re helping companies adjust to the new world” around artificial intelligence, Jim Cramer said. Carrier Global : Citigroup upgraded the stock to a buy rating from neutral, citing part the fact that Carrier’s transformation into a pure-play HVAC firm will be mostly complete entering 2025. Shares added almost 3%. “This was a very strange upgrade because it also talked about the weakness in an acquisition they made, Viessmann, not that long ago. That had been keeping the stock under pressure. They’re taking advantage of that to say, ‘Don’t worry about that. It’s now built into the stock,'” Cramer said. Target : Shares rose 2.5% after the retailer said companies that use Shopify’s commerce platform can apply to join its third-party marketplace known as Target Plus. While Cramer was upbeat on the tie-up, he offered a word of caution to investors. “Please don’t bet that this is going to help them this quarter,” he said. In retail, the CNBC Investing Club owns the likes of Amazon , Costco and TJX Companies . Micron : The round of price-target bumps for Micron continued Monday, with analysts at Baird and Citigroup upping theirs to $172 and $175 per share, respectively. Nevertheless, shares were lower as investors continue to rotate out of once-hot AI stocks. “This was being pulled down by Nvidia the moment Nvidia started getting hit,” Cramer said, referring to the leading AI chipmaker and longtime Club holding. Affirm Holdings : Goldman Sachs assumed coverage of the buy now, pay later company with a buy rating. “I like this,” Cramer said, later adding: “I do point out that [Club holding] Apple got out of this business.” Shares of Affirm rose more than 6% Monday.