JPMorgan Lifts Price Targets for 2 Portfolio Holdings as Iran Tensions Rise
Tensions in the Middle East have risen compared to early on Monday, following reports that the U.S will reinstate its blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demand a 20% reimbursement on all other cargo shipped through the waterway.
Oil prices chugged higher following that, and the stock market pushed deeper into the red. In Friday’s Weekly Roundup, we shared several Portfolio holdings that are on our shopping radar screen, including Neostellar ($NSLR), Marvell ($MRVL) and Boeing ($BA).
All three are lower today, and as you can see, we are aware of those moves. Given the renewed uncertainty in the market, we will continue to tread carefully with those and other potential pickups, keeping a watchful eye on their technicals. For example, NSLR shares have crossed into an oversold condition with their relative strength index (RSI) level below 29. While BA shares are not oversold, they found footing near $210 twice in June and that has us monitoring the shares closely ahead of next week’s Farnborough Airshow. And we aim to have an updated table of pick-up points and RSI points to you in the first half of this week.
On the positive side of things, JPMorgan ($JPM) had some very nice things to say about our positions in American Express ($AXP) and Paccar ($PCAR) on Monday. JPMorgan upgraded its rating on American Express to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $400, up from $328, calling out the defensive nature of its revenues. We interpret that to be the higher percentage of pre-tax income derived from net card fee revenue, which ties back to the number of cards in force and average feed per card. We see those metrics stepping up as Amex’s Platinum Card refresh continues. Amex will report on July 24.
JPMorgan also increased its price target on PCAR shares, taking it to $155 from $140, as it reiterated its Overweight rating. Odds are that increase reflects the surge in June heavy truck orders we discussed with you last week. That continued the string of strong monthly orders for reasons we’ve discussed previously, and it suggests either higher than expected industry builds into year-end or orders increasingly spilling into the first half of 2027. That fits with the logic behind our adding PCAR shares to the Portfolio. Paccar will report its quarterly results on July 28.
As we mark our calendars, here are other reporting dates shared by our holdings. As more are announced, we will share them with you:
Bank of America ($BAC) – July 14
Morgan Stanley ($MS) – July 15
Netflix ($NFLX) – July 16
Alphabet ($GOOGL) – July 22
United Rentals ($URI) – July 23
American Express – July 24
Welltower ($WELL) – July 27
Boeing ($BA) – July 28
Paccar — July 28
Waste Management ($WM) – July 28
Meta ($META) – July 29
Microsoft ($MSFT) – July 29
Apple ($AAPL) – July 30
Labcorp ($LH) – July 30
Arista Networks ($ANET) – August 4
Note: Because Chris is giving a long interview with FreightWaves at the market close, we will hold Portfolio Office Hours later this week.
More Pro Portfolio
- We’re Trimming 3 Positions as Renewed Tensions Flare
- 30 Signals Across the Portfolio’s 10 Themes and Strategies
- Weekly Roundup: Portfolio Extends Lead, Adds Firepower Ahead of Earnings Season
At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long AAPL, ANET, AXP, BA, BAC, GOOGL, LH, META, MRVL, MS, MSFT, NFLX, NSRL, PCAR, URI, WELL and WM.
