Early Look

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

And just like that, the Nasdaq Composite moved back into record territory after surging 2.25% on Monday, led by a massive jump in Mag 7 stocks (META), semiconductors (AMD, INTC, ARM), and different segments of the AI trade, rising 599.55 points, or 2.26%, to 27122.09, its first record close since June 2. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 366.19 points, or 0.71%, to 52048.83.The S&P 500 gained 114.20 points, or 1.49%, to 7764.70. U.S. futures are looking at a slightly higher open as oil prices are looking lower. Stocks rallied on Monday as oil futures tumbled due to hopes of a resumption in U.S.-Iran negotiations, causing a relief rally that pushed high-risk technology stocks to record highs. Oil futures fell $4.52, or 4.5%, to $95.78 a barrel as President Trump signalled an openness to meeting Iranian officials coming to N.Y. for a gathering of the UN General Assembly. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose slightly to 4.751%, the highest close since July 1, 2024, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note declined 3.3bps to 4.962%. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index remained closed for holiday, the Shanghai Index edged higher 2 points to 3,952, and the Hang Seng Index climbed 45 points to 25,087. In Europe, the German DAX is up 139 points to 25,714, while the FTSE 100 is up 20 points to 10,759. Oil prices are easing again this morning after reports from a Senior Iranian official that Iran can reopen Hormuz within seven days if the US eases military pressure and lifts the port blockade. Details of an agreement to end hostilities with US can be discussed in New York via mediators.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 367.62 points, or 0.71%, to 52,050.26
• The Nasdaq Composite surged 599.55 points, or 2.26%, to 27,122.09
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 14.96 points, or 0.52% to 2,875.36

• 8:55 AM ET                   Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales
• 10:00 AM ET                 Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for September
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $78B in 2-year notes
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data

• Earnings After the Close: KBH WOR

• Bank America Global Healthcare Conference 2026, 9/22-9/23, in New York
• Barrington Virtual Fall Investment Conference, 9/22
• Jefferies AI Summit, 9/22-9/23, in San Francisco, CA

• Thor Industries (THO) Q4  EPS $0.78 vs. est. $0.91 on sales down -8.4% y/y to $2.31.6M vs. EST $2.17B; Q4 net income fell -67.5% y/y to $40.84M; for fiscal 2026, net income attributable to shareholders declined 31.3% to $177.54M, while net sales rose 0.3% to $9.61B.

• Jacobs (J) has secured a contract from Germany’s federal radioactive waste disposal company, Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH, to provide advisory and project support services for the Konrad Repository in Salzgitter.
• SpaceX (SPCX) has stopped selling Falcon 9 missions that carry multiple companies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Some companies have reportedly struggled to secure flights beyond 2028 as SpaceX prepares to wind down its flagship rocket, adding pressure on satellite operators amid delays affecting competing launch vehicles.
• Refiners Marathon (MPC) and Valero (VLO) were downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies saying they believe the risk-reward balance now supports holding existing refining positions, but waiting for volatility to add to positions. Even with elevated strip pricing from 2H26-2029, the current share price implies 2030 midcycle margins near 2025 levels.

• KKR (KKR) is creating a new equipment-finance company Akrapoint Commercial Capital with an initial investment of $350 million. Akrapoint expects to issue loans that help small and medium-size businesses finance mission-critical equipment across the "mid-ticket" range, which it defines as $250,000 to $5 million in cost; foresees the average loan being around $500,000 to $600,000 – WSJ.
• MetLife (MET) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler and raised tgt to $110 as believes the market is not yet realizing MetLife's strategic execution over the last few years.

• Travere Therapeutics (TVTX) announces planned Chief Executive Officer transition; appoints Bradley L. Campbell as President and CEO effective December 1, 2026.

• Qnity Electronics, Inc. (Q), a premier technology solutions leader across the semiconductor value chain, today announced that it has been added to the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index (SOX).
• SanDisk (SNDK) was initiated with a Buy at Rosenblatt and $2,400 price target saying new AI compute platforms are creating an opportunity to reposition NAND Flash from a commodity storage medium to a more system-critical component of AI infrastructure.
• Vicor (VICR) raises Q3 sequential growth guidance to more than 20% from nearly 10% in view of royalties from a recently announced non-exclusive license to Vertical Power Delivery.
• Ai sector was strong on Monday despite a NY Times report that SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank that has proposed to build the largest data center project in the world in Ohio, had originally planned its I.P.O. for this month. But the offering has been delayed, as investors question the company’s sought-after valuation of $50 billion or more, according to interviews with four people familiar with the deal’s marketing efforts.

Mid-Morning Look

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

U.S. stocks holding steady after surging near all-time highs for the Nasdaq Monday and near record highs for the S&P 500 as technology shares surged, led by another spike in AI related plays, mega cap and semiconductors despite negative market breadth. The S&P 500 is back within sight of a new record, after having gone nowhere since June 1, but hasn’t slipped more than 3% from a record high over that span. It has spent nearly the entire time since Aug. 4 inside the range of that single day’s rally to a record high. Note the QQQ’s (Nasdaq 100) have gone from lows of $700 just last Wednesday after the FOMC rate hike, to highs above $745 this morning in what has been a powerful bounce. Helping boost sentiment this morning, another pullback in oil prices after sliding over -4% Monday after Japan's Kyodo News reported that Iran offered to reopen the Strait Of Hormuz within 7 days if the United States takes initial steps toward easing military pressure. The Arab Times is reporting that Qatar is working to facilitate a short-term agreement between Iran and the United States that could reopen the way for direct negotiations, according to a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson. Prices bounced after reports later that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it must negotiate if it’s in the national interest to do so. One of the bigger stories in tech/AI space today was that China’s internet regulator is investigating DeepSeek and Moonshot AI after Anthropic alleged the companies secretly routed customer requests to Claude, potentially sending sensitive Chinese data to U.S. servers, per The Information. Anthropic says Moonshot routed more than 23M exchanges to Claude between May and July, while DeepSeek routed more than 12.1M exchanges in just 14 days in July. Materials (XLB), Consumer Staples (XLP), and Consumer Discretionary (XLY) early leaders while Financials (XLF) and Energy (XLE) slip.

• Hardware sector: In PC Sector (DELL, HPQ), UBS cutting 2027 PC units noting PC shipment growth deteriorated from +5.5% YoY in Q126, supported by pullins, to -2.5% in Q226, with sequential growth of only 1% below normal seasonality. UBS maintains its 2026 forecast at 241M units, down 11% but lower 2027 from 2% growth to a 4% decline. AAPL new Mac Mini and Mac Studio available today: Mac Studio starts at $2,499 with M5 Max and $5,499 with M5 Ultra, Mac Mini with M6 starts at $899

• BABA +2%; said it was developing an Ai model up to four times larger than the company's flagship model and unveiled a next-generation Ai chip it called China's most powerful
• LEN +5%; after last night Berkshire Hathaway revealed increasing its stake in the homebuilder. Berkshire bought more than 2.7M LEN Class A and Class B shares from Sept 17 to Sept 21 across multiple transactions, at weighted-average prices ranging from $74.80 to $79.41, per filing.
• ONON +13%; authorized its first share repurchase program, worth up to $1 billion through the end of 2029, and unveiled long-term financial targets, including high-teens percentage annual constant-currency sales growth and net sales of at least 5.6 billion Swiss francs.
• VICR +12%; raises Q3 sequential growth guidance to more than 20% from nearly 10% in view of royalties from a recently announced non-exclusive license to Vertical Power Delivery
• VKTX +30%; after maintenance study shows 22% placebo-adjusted weight loss reported at week 33 following weekly dosing of VK2735 at 17.5 mg; no plateau observed. Weight loss after 21 weeks of dosing ranged from approximately 16% to 19% compared with approximately 0% for placebo.

• DGX -4%; along with weakness in LH after CMS posted prelim weighted median private payor rates for certain clinical diagnostic lab test codes ahead of setting Medicare’s CY2027 payment rates for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, pointing to a ~16% lower average potential change to CY2026 CLFS rates into 2027 under PAMA.
• ERIC -4%; was downgraded from Equal Weight to Underweight at Morgan Stanley and lowers its 2027 EBIT/ EPS by 5/6% due to growing concerns around margin pressure; also lowers price tgt to $9 from $11 as shares trade on 16x P/E.
• MPC -2%; was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies long with VLO saying refining risk-reward supports holding existing positions, but waiting for volatility to add to positions. Even with elevated strip pricing from 2H26-2029, the current share price implies 2030 midcycle margins near 2025 levels

Closing Recap

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

U.S. stock markets were mostly higher after a massive surge on Monday pushed major averages back to near all-time highs. Overall, it’s been a remarkable rally since last Wednesday’s FOMC 25bps interest rate hike, especially in the technology sector, as the QQQ’s have gone from lows around $700 that Wednesday (9/16) afternoon to highs above $747 this afternoon (up 5 straight days – longest streak since mid-April and not far off ATH on 6/3 of $748.65), paced by gains in mega cap tech (META), semis (AMD, INTC), AI data center plays and so on. Equity markets showing no fear once again (VIX -4% at 14.25), near record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite in what is historically a weak period for stocks (end of September into October) and no showing no concerns into mid-term elections in more than a month. No resolution in Middle East tensions, but oil prices have eased the last five days…and rate outlook is for more hikes in coming months (at least two by end of Q1 2027), with treasury yields holding higher, but not causing market fears. The expected impact of AI on economic growth remains the market sticking point as stocks climb in the face of many obstacles. Materials, Consumer Staples and Technology paced the gains while Financials, Communications and Energy shares ended lower.

One of the big thematic stories today was the impact from META’s Muse AI agent as several stocks in various sectors saw broad weakness. META Muse AI agent gains popularity, claiming the number 1 spot in Apple Store downloads this week. Muse looks like a new default interface for everyday life, so seeing weakness in names with “time, attention, health, money” stack, like SCHW (and other banks), SPOT, EXPE, PLNT, etc. Muse is not another chatbot, it is a personal agent that can browse, fill forms, book things, shop, and keep working in the background. Meta has said it can connect to services like Spotify, Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Gmail, and Shopify, and Zuckerberg framed it as helping with health, relationships, and finances…but Muse is also being pitched as something that reviews subscriptions (think SPOT, NFLX, PLNT), unsubscribes from unused services, and hunts cheaper deals. For financials, if an agent can research, fill forms, negotiate bills, and eventually sit closer to money movement, people worry it intermediates brokers and advisors (weighing on banks/brokers), while insurance names (note ALL, PGR weakness) as Muse is already being used in public examples to shop car insurance and cut premiums…an agent that can compare quotes, fill forms, and switch coverage could be seen as a direct attack. SHOP shares rallied as notes as already partnering deeply with Muse which can check out via Shop Pay across Shopify stores while AMZN falls as has explicitly blocked Muse from shopping on Amazon.com, citing unauthorized agent access, credential handling

• Apparel & Footwear retail sector: ONON shares bounce after authorized its first share repurchase program, worth up to $1 billion through the end of 2029, and unveiled long-term financial targets, including high-teens percentage annual constant-currency sales growth and net sales of at least 5.6 billion Swiss francs ($6.83B).
• Toy Retailers: Goldman Sachs highlights a mixed setup into 3Q26 toy earnings, with macro pressure, higher freight/input costs and retailer order shifts from 3Q into 4Q weighing on estimates, while demand remains strongest in collectibles, trading cards and entertainment-driven products. Maintains Buy on HAS but trims the PT to $115 as consumer products soften despite continued strength in some products; maintains Sell on MAT and lowers the PT to $11, citing weaker demand trends in core toy categories, ongoing Barbie/Fisher-Price challenges and elevated advertising spend. Reiterates Neutral on FNKO and cuts the PT to $6.50, noting improving execution and collectibles exposure offset by inflation and oil-related cost risks.

• Home Improvement retail sector: shares of GNRC, HD, LOW active as developing Nor’easter threatens millions along East Coast with dangerous Coastal flooding, powerful winds. A Coastal Flood Advisory is in effect through Wednesday night across Parts of the Mid-Atlantic, meaning some Coastal roads could be impassable.

• In RV/towable sector: THO Q4  EPS of $0.78 missed vs. est. $0.91 on sales down -8.4% y/y to $2.31.6M vs. est. $2.17B; Q4 net income fell -67.5% y/y to $40.84M; for fiscal 2026; said confident in ability to operate successfully in the current market and expect a relatively flat retail environment in fiscal 2027 compared to fiscal 2026; is delaying the issuance of formal guidance for the year ahead.
• Casinos & Gaming: Kalshi asks CFTC to allow margin trading on its platform, letting users buy with borrowed funds. RSI shares bounced after Stifel initiated coverage at Buy saying it is one of those few stocks as its U.S. iGaming continues to outperform sports betting, and its Latin America business is experiencing robust revenue growth, up 164% in 1H26.
• Leisure sector: Goldman Sachs argues the recent Travel & Leisure sell-off has been driven primarily by higher oil prices and rates, creating valuation pressure despite generally resilient fundamentals. The firm highlights Buy-rated HLT, VAC, VIK and PENN as the most attractive opportunities following multiple compression across Lodging, cruise, Gaming and timeshare. HLT is favored for strong US RevPAR trends, industry-leading unit growth and solid owner-relations positioning; VAC remains a compelling turnaround with meaningful earnings upside; VIK offers resilient demand/attractive growth. Cruise sector saw RCL shares fall after the Financial Times reported the company nears deal for Sandals valuing resorts at more than $6B.

• Metals & Mining: gold and silver miners extend latest pullback in shares as prices dip further; EGO was upgraded to Buy from underperform at Bank America saying with Skouries largely de-risked, free cash flow (FCF) is set to inflect meaningfully higher in 2027E, and valuation is reasonable.
• Chemical sector: in ag chemicals (CF, NTR, MOS), US President Donald Trump, asked on Tuesday about a potential deal to purchase potash from Belarus, said the US would continue buying from Canada, but Belarus would like to sell at a lower price.

• Leasing/Lending sector: KKR is creating a new equipment-finance company Akrapoint Commercial Capital with an initial investment of $350M, the WSJ reported. Akrapoint expects to issue loans that help small and medium-size businesses finance mission-critical equipment across the "mid-ticket" range, which it defines as $250K-$5M in cost and sees average loan being around $500K-600K. SOFI shares were active after saying it began settling card transactions using its own stablecoin, the first of its kind for a U.S. bank.
• Insurance sector: MET upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler and raised tgt to $110 as believes the market is not yet realizing MetLife's strategic execution over the last few years; ALL, PGR shares tumbled along with other insurance stocks as Meta’s Muse is already being used in public examples to shop car insurance and cut premiums…an agent that can compare quotes, fill forms, and switch coverage could be seen as a direct attack.
• Crypto sector: after a massive rally since last Wednesday FOMC rate meeting, Bitcoin and other crypto took a breather today following a big rally; Binance buys $100M in CRCL shares as part of a five-year USD promotion deal, receiving 1.24M Class A shares at $80.84 each in a private placement with a two-year lock-up on the stake.
• REIT sector: @kurtsaltrichter noted on X, “Office loans are now defaulting faster than they did in 2008. The office CMBS delinquency rate has hit a record above 12%, past the roughly 10% peak of the financial crisis (Trepp, 2026). Downtown values have fallen almost 50% since 2022, and that loss is now landing where it always does: on the bondholders who financed the buildings. A risk to watch in regional banks and credit funds, not a call on the whole market.”

• CLDX reported results of Phase 3 EMBARQ-CSU1 and EMBARQ-CSU2 studies of barzolvolimab, with the studies meeting primary/key secondary endpoints at 12 weeks across both studies and both dose groups; at 12 weeks, both doses significantly reduced disease activity compared with placebo. Shares fell as analysts pointed to safety concerns and efficacy over probable anaphylaxis cases reported in trials weighing on shares
• CMPX shares declined after saying the FDA recommended a new trial to demonstrate survival benefit before submitting a marketing application for its experimental drug, tovecimig; Compass says it does not believe that a new trial is warranted prior to submitting a marketing application based on its mid to late-stage trial and the urgent unmet medical need for patients.
• IONS announces positive topline results from Phase 3 FUSION study of ulefnersen marking significant milestone in advancing first potential disease modifying treatment for FUS-ALS; the study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement.
• MAZE shares rose after VRTX posted positive study results for its genetic kidney disease drug as some viewed the data at positive read thru for Maze and its rival kidney drug candidate.
• OMER was upgraded to Overweight at Cantor, coming away from Q2 thinking Yartemlea was having a much better launch than it expected. A month later, after doing more work on the market and talking to physicians, Cantor is increasingly convinced this could also be a bigger drug than it appreciated.
• RHHBY said its experimental obesity injection lowered Body weight by 15.5% at 48 weeks in a phase 2 trial. It could be competitive to the incumbents, but it's still years away from commercialization. Eli Lilly has the strongest obesity pipeline and current treatments.
• VKTX shares rise after announces topline results from maintenance study of glp-1/GIP agonist VK2735 demonstrating the promise of multiple maintenance dosing regimens; reports 22% placebo-adj weight loss at week 33 with vk2735 17.5 mg weekly dosing; up to 97% weight loss maintained with every-other-week dosing for three months; maintenance dosing shows GI adverse event rates similar to placebo
• WST was upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley on durable growth and raised tgt to $400 from $365 saying the company will benefit materially from the broader-scale rollout of GLP-1s over the next few years, and says recent FDA draft container closure guidance could drive a notable Annex-1-like upgrade cycle for customers selling drugs into the U.S.
• Lab stocks DGX, LH shares were weak after CMS cuts, putting pressure on diagnostic-lab names. The anticipated 15% price cut per code, effective from January 2027 and phased in through 2029, is expected to impact DGX and LH significantly, with estimated AOI hits of approximately $90-100M in 2027, per Evercore. With Medicare reportedly paying about 16% more than private payors, the new guidelines reflect a substantial margin compression for lab services. The 30-day comment period may provide an avenue for industry pushback, yet the increased participation rate in the survey (13.6% of hospitals) still raises concerns about sample representativeness.

• China AI sector: China’s Internet regulator is investigating DeepSeek and Moonshot Ai after Anthropic alleged both companies had been routing sensitive user data to Claude models, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the Information reported. BABA said it was developing an Ai model up to four times larger than the company's flagship model and unveiled a next-generation Ai chip it called China's most powerful.
• Media sector: NFLX downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC saying YouTube is taking increasing viewer share from both and appears better insulated Near-term Engagement recovery unlikely at NFLX as YouTube strategy shift to adds to competitive headwinds HSBC cut NFLX 2027e-28e EPS by c6-9%, lower TP to $76.00 from $96.00. SHOP shares rallied again as the CEO said the company will work with Meta Platforms' Muse to "enable agentic checkout with Shop Pay on all Shopify stores.

• Hardware sector: In PC Sector (DELL, HPQ), UBS cutting 2027 PC units noting PC shipment growth deteriorated from +5.5% YoY in Q126, supported by pullins, to -2.5% in Q226, with sequential growth of only 1% below normal seasonality. UBS maintains its 2026 forecast at 241M units, down 11% but lower 2027 from 2% growth to a 4% decline. AAPL new Mac Mini and Mac Studio available today: Mac Studio starts at $2,499 with M5 Max and $5,499 with M5 Ultra, Mac Mini with M6 starts at $899
• Communications & Networking: ERIC was downgraded from Equal Weight to Underweight at Morgan Stanley and lowers its 2027 EBIT/ EPS by 5/6% due to growing concerns around margin pressure; also lowers price tgt to $9 from $11 as shares trade on 16x P/E.

• SNDK was initiated at a Buy rating and Rosenblatt and a price target of $2,400, saying a new Ai compute platforms are creating an opportunity to reposition NAND Flash (NAND) from a commodity storage medium to a more system-critical component of Ai infrastructure.
• Semis continue to extend gains after August pullback as the SOX followed Friday's break above its 50dma, by breaking above its 100dma yest...next level to watch is some resistance ~12,800. Important to note that the semi index (SOX) remains 15% off its peak.
• Semiconductor stocks took a breath after surging on Monday, specifically CPU and CPU-related (e.g., memory) stocks following the revelation that Muse by Meta, reached the No. 1 spot on the free iPhone charts for the U.S. App Store in September 2026, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT. Muse is an AI agent designed to actively complete tasks rather than just answering questions as a chatbot. Additionally, INTC CEO Lip-Bu Tan's disclosure that Intel can currently meet only 50% of customer demand. Both data points prove a point

Street Recommendations

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

• DRVN Barclays assumed coverage of Driven Brands with an Equal Weight rating and $14 price target.

• RXST BofA lowered the firm's price target on RxSight to $5.50 from $6.50 and keeps an Underperform rating on the shares. Due diligence with doctors suggests structural barriers and competitive headwinds will likely still prevent utilization growth despite new management, the analyst tells investors.
• META BofA analyst Justin Post notes Meta's Muse app launched on September 8 and early reviews suggest Muse's functionality is resonating with users. Third-party data suggest strong initial interest in Muse, which reached the number one position on the U.S. iOS App Store in the Productivity category shortly after launch and has maintained a 4.9-star rating across more than 25,000 reviews, added the analyst. The firm, which thinks investors were concerned about Meta's ability to build a differentiated AI product, sees Muse's early success driving more optimism on Meta's potential AI investment returns. BofA keeps a Buy rating and $810 price target on Meta shares.

• ESNT BTIG assumed coverage of Essent Group with a Neutral rating and no price target. The mortgage insurance sector appears well positioned to generate low double-digit returns on equity, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while the sector's ROE is trending lower as losses normalize, there is an upside bias to estimates from continued favorable cure activity with minimal downside risk given the underwriting quality and embedded home price appreciation. However, the mortgage insurance sector is trading towards the higher end of the recent valuation ranges, adds BTIG. It assumes the space with two Buy ratings and three Neutrals.
• MTG BTIG assumed coverage of MGIC Investment with a Neutral rating and no price target. The mortgage insurance sector appears well positioned to generate low double-digit returns on equity, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while the sector's ROE is trending lower as losses normalize, there is an upside bias to estimates from continued favorable cure activity with minimal downside risk given the underwriting quality and embedded home price appreciation. However, the mortgage insurance sector is trading towards the higher end of the recent valuation ranges, adds BTIG. It assumes the space with two Buy ratings and three Neutrals.
• NMIH BTIG analyst Douglas Harter assumed coverage of NMI Holdings with a Buy rating and $54 price target. The mortgage insurance sector appears well positioned to generate low double-digit returns on equity, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while the sector's ROE is trending lower as losses normalize, there is an upside bias to estimates from continued favorable cure activity with minimal downside risk given the underwriting quality and embedded home price appreciation. However, the mortgage insurance sector is trading towards the higher end of the recent valuation ranges, adds BTIG. It assumes the space with two Buy ratings and three Neutrals.
• RDN BTIG assumed coverage of Radian Group with a Buy rating and $48 price target. The mortgage insurance sector appears well positioned to generate low double-digit returns on equity, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while the sector's ROE is trending lower as losses normalize, there is an upside bias to estimates from continued favorable cure activity with minimal downside risk given the underwriting quality and embedded home price appreciation. However, the mortgage insurance sector is trading towards the higher end of the recent valuation ranges, adds BTIG. It assumes the space with two Buy ratings and three Neutrals.
• ADPT BTIG raised the firm's price target on Adaptive Biotechnologies to $34 from $25 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm notes that the NCCN update - National Comprehensive Cancer Network - for Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Multiple Myeloma strengthens language for clonoSEQ in multiple myeloma, which can help lift Adaptive's volumes over the coming years, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

• ENTX Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Entera Bio with an Overweight rating.

• USB Citi added an "upside 30-day catalyst watch" on U.S. Bancorp while keeping a Buy rating on the shares with a $72 price target. The firm believes Q3 earnings estimates for the bank are likely too conservative. Citi believes U.S. Bancorp's valuation expansion will continue to outpace peers.
• KEY Citi added an "upside 30-day catalyst watch" on KeyCorp while keeping a Neutral rating on the shares with a $22 price target. The firm believes KeyCorp's earnings estimate and valuation pressure seen in Q2 are likely to reverse in Q3.
• BKU Citi analyst Benjamin Gerlinger added a "downside 30-day catalyst watch" on BankUnited while keeping a Sell rating on the shares with a $42 price target. The firm believes BankUnited's deposit flows will be pressured by a softer mortgage market.
• CTAS Citi raised the firm's price target on Cintas to $180 from $175 and keeps a Sell rating on the shares ahead of the fiscal Q1 results on September 23. Citi sees modest downside risk to Q1 consensus estimates on higher fuel prices. It cites a roll forward of the model for the target boost.
• STZ Citi analyst Filippo Falorni lowered the firm's price target on Constellation Brands to $165 from $185 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the fiscal Q2 report on October 6. Citi expects a beer sales beat with depletions of up 0.7% versus the up 0.1% consensus. The firm sees an attractive risk/reward at current share levels.

• MPC Jefferies cuts Marathon, says risk-reward supports holding instead of adding. Jefferies downgraded Marathon Petroleum to Hold from Buy with a $413 price target. The firm believes refining the risk-reward balance now supports holding existing refining positions, but waiting for volatility to add to positions. Even with elevated strip pricing from 2H26-2029, the current share price implies 2030 midcycle margins near 2025 levels, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• WPC Jefferies initiated coverage of W.P. Carey with a Buy rating and $73 price target. The firm says W.P. Carey has transformed into a scaled, diversified pure-play net lease real estate investment trust after five years of restructuring. Jefferies believes net lease sector valuations will recover as "elevated investment pipelines drive outsized external growth." It views the sector's historical range as a better benchmark for W.P. than its own legacy valuation multiples.
• CXT Jefferies analyst Stephen Volkmann initiated coverage of Crane NXT with a Buy rating and $60 price target. A strategic portfolio realignment toward higher-growth end-markets underpins mid-single digit plus growth with potential M&A upside, while currency is "still an underappreciated growth opportunity," the analyst tells investors.

• PBA JPMorgan raised the firm's price target on Pembina Pipeline to C$74 from C$72 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm updated the company's model.
• META JPMorgan says Meta Platforms' Muse has continued to climb in Apple's App Store to currently the number one most downloaded free app in the U.S. The "combination of virality and Meta's strong distribution platform make the buzz around Muse quite palpable," the analyst tells investors in a research note. JPMorgan says that while still early, Muse has the potential to become the most widely used consumer AI application since ChatGPT. The firm believes Muse adoption and engagement will continue to ramp, with Meta beginning to prove out AI returns beyond its core advertising platform. JPMorgan sees a potential total addressable market in the tens of trillions of dollars. It reiterates an Overweight rating on Meta with an $820 price target.

• BFLY Needham analyst David Saxon initiated coverage of Butterfly Network with a Buy rating and $10 price target. The company's "differentiated" semiconductor chip base ultrasound system is enabling the development of a new wave of medical technologies that spans many categories, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm believes Butterfly can participate in new markets, some of which represent significant opportunities, while its core ultrasound platform represents "multiple sources of near-term upside."
• IRMD Needham initiated coverage of iRadimed with a Hold rating. iRadimed is in the early innings of a next-generation MRI compatible infusion pump product launch, which should help drive what the firm estimates to be a $300M opportunity, and also has a next-generation monitor launch on the horizon that could help it gain share over the medium-term, the analyst tells investors. However, the firm sees the growth runway and positive fundamental outlook as largely priced in at current levels so it would prefer to wait for a different entry point, the analyst added.

• ACVA Northcoast downgraded ACV Auctions (ACVA) to Neutral from Buy after the company agreed to be acquired by Copart (CPRT) for $10.50 per share in cash.

• CSCO Piper Sandler lowered the firm's price target on Cisco to $125 from $132 on lower multiples in the space given fears around peaking growth, while keeping a Neutral rating on the shares. With the release of the 10-K, the firm is updating its model given disclosures and sharpening its estimates. FY27 guidance does appear conservative at this point, especially as hardware demand is outpacing supply, says Piper.
• MSI Piper Sandler raised the firm's price target on Motorola Solutions to $531 from $530 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. In August, Motorola Solutions closed on the $1.5B acquisition of D-Fend within the drone security space. The firm has updated its estimates to include D-Fend, and notes that guidance on the Q2 call did not include the impact. D-Fend is expected to be slightly accretive in 2027.
• SOUN Piper Sandler analyst James Fish lowered the firm's price target on SoundHound to $6 from $7 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. Earlier this month, SoundHound closed on the acquisition of Liveperson, which once again, has actually a larger revenue base than SoundHound, the firm notes. Piper's model assumes a 20% annual decline for Liveperson and ramp in cost synergies to $75M by 2028. Debate will persist around the organic growth, potential to go ex-growth next year given Liveperson, and how much of the second half of 2026 guide was dependent on closing Liveperson, adds the firm.

• SPNT RBC Capital initiated coverage of SiriusPoint with an Outperform rating and $30 price target. While the shares have rallied in the last 18 months, they remain "meaningfully undervalued," the analyst tells investors in a research note. RBC says SiriusPoint has improved its underwriting performance, cleaned up its balance sheet, and has "unrecognized value" in its Managing General Agent assets. The firm sees upside as the business generates teens returns on equity and compounds book value annually.
• KMI RBC Capital analyst Elvira Scotto raised the firm's price target on Kinder Morgan to $36 from $35 and keeps a Sector Perform rating on the shares ahead of its Q3 results. The company enters Q3 with strong momentum driven by commodity price tailwinds and operational execution, and the firm believes that in addition to Western Gateway, Kinder Morgan can add an incremental $400MM of projects to the backlog in the near-term, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• VRDN RBC Capital raised the firm's price target on Viridian Therapeutics to $38 from $36 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm has spoken to 6 TED key opinion leaders who collectively see about 2,000 TED patients about Lumvoa's launch, noting that it is pleasantly surprised to hear that 3/6 of the physicians have written at least 1 or more Rx, and 2/6 have reported infusing at least 1 patient so far, suggesting some payer access has gone smoothly, the analyst tells investors in a research note. While it is still early days for Lumvoa, the evidence of early adopters is encouraging suggesting physicians are eager to gain experience with Lumvoa and see how it compares to Tepezza in terms of efficacy/safety, the firm added.

• ALK UBS raised the firm's price target on Alaska Air to $54 from $52 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Alaska Air's recent profitability challenges appear largely transitory, driven by higher jet fuel, Hawaiian Airlines integration disruptions, and Hawaii weather, with meaningful earnings recovery possible as conditions normalize, although elevated jet fuel sensitivity makes higher oil prices a near-term headwind, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• DAR UBS raised the firm's price target on Darling Ingredients to $88 from $78 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Darling's record Q2 adjusted EBITDA of $742M reflects strong operational execution, recovering renewable diesel economics, and strengthening waste oil markets, with these tailwinds expected to persist through 2H26 and 2027, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

• FICO Wells Fargo analyst Jason Haas lowered the firm's price target on FICO to $1,350 from $1,450 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm is expecting an in-line Q3 from FICO and conservative FY27 guidance. Wells does not see near-term risk to FICO volumes and expects management to continue exploring new pricing strategies to move away from its per-score model over time.

Rating abbreviations…

***OP = Outperform

***SP = Sector Perform

***UP = Underperform

***OW = Overweight

***EW = Equal-weight

***UW = Underweight

***Report powered by thefly.com***

What’s on Tap Weekly Calendar

• Earnings After the Close: ABVX

• 8:55 AM ET                   Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales
• 10:00 AM ET                 Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for September
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $78B in 2-year notes
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data

• Earnings After the Close: KBH WOR

• Bank America Global Healthcare Conference 2026, 9/22-9/23, in New York
• Barrington Virtual Fall Investment Conference, 9/22
• Jefferies AI Summit, 9/22-9/23, in San Francisco, CA

• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, Sept-flash
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Services PMI, Sept-flash
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Composite PMI, Sept-flash
• 10:30 AM ET                 Weekly EIA Inventory Data
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $70B in 5-year notes

• Earnings After the Close: FUL NEOV SFIX

• Bank America Global Healthcare Conference 2026, 9/22-9/23, in New York
• Benchmark Nuclear Summit, 9/23, in Knoxville, TN
• Bernstein 3rd Annual Healthcare Forum, 9/23-9/24, in New York, NY
• DA Davidson 25th Annual Diversified Industrials & Services Conference, 9/23-9/26, in Nashville, TN
• Deutsche Bank Private Software & AI Summit, 9/23 in New York
• Jefferies AI Summit, 9/22-9/23, in San Francisco, CA
• Sidoti Smallcap Conference, 9/23-9/24 (virtual)
• TD Cowen 3rd Annual Energy Conference, 9/23-9/25, in Austin, TX
• Truist Healthcare Technology & Digital Health West Coast Bus Tour, 9/23-9/24, in San Francisco, CA

• 8:30 AM ET                   Continuing Claims
• 8:30 AM ET                   Current Account Balance for Q2
• 10:00 AM ET                 New Home Sales M/M for August
• 10:30 AM ET                 Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data
• 11:00 AM ET                 Kansas City Fed manufacturing for September
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $44B in 7-year notes

• Earnings After the Close: COST LGCY SCHL

• Bernstein 3rd Annual Healthcare Forum, 9/23-9/24, in New York, NY
• DA Davidson 25th Annual Diversified Industrials & Services Conference, 9/23-9/26, in Nashville, TN
• Oppenheimer Insurance Summit 9/24 (virtual)
• Sidoti Smallcap Conference, 9/23-9/24 (virtual)
• TD Cowen 3rd Annual Energy Conference, 9/23-9/25, in Austin, TX
• Truist Healthcare Technology & Digital Health West Coast Bus Tour, 9/23-9/24, in San Francisco, CA

• 8:30 AM ET                   Durable Goods – Less Transports for Aug
• 10:00 AM ET                 University of Michigan Confidence, Sept-final
• 10:00 AM ET                 University of Michigan 1-yr and 5-yr inflation expectations
• 1:00 PM ET                    Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• TD Cowen 3rd Annual Energy Conference, 9/23-9/25, in Austin, TX