Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Monday

1. Wall Street is on pace for a weaker open. Bonds are in control as the long end of the yield curve keeps going higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit 4.132%, its highest level since July 31. In my Sunday column for Investing Club subscribers, I explored the role index funds have played in the recent market strength.

2. Embattled Boeing reports earnings Wednesday. If the proposed contract with its machinists union is ratified and the SEC lets Boeing sell stock on the already-preannounced quarter, then the stock could see a nice bounce. Shares are already up more than 3% in the premarket, but are still down over the past three months.

3. Totally unexpected move by activist investor Starboard to build a stake in Band-Aid maker Kenvue. It just got spun off from Johnson & Johnson in May 2023 and isn’t even in its new headquarters yet. CEO Thibaut Mongon just got started. Kenvue has good brands and can be a consolidator. It is a little early to call for their heads.

4. Baird upped its price target on Club holding Stanley Black & Decker to $104 a share from $94. However, analysts kept their neutral rating on the stock and said their channel checks suggest trends are weakening. I come back and say this is the one you want if you believe in the Fed rate cuts and a related pickup in housing activity. The stock will be ignited when those start occurring in earnest and yet it’s become a hated name. I like it.

5. JPMorgan put Qualcomm on “negative catalyst watch” due to concerns about the chipmaker’s guidance in the coming weeks. On the other hand, the firm placed Dell Technologies on “positive catalyst watch” with about a month before its earnings. Dell’s stock at roughly $126 a share is too low given the strength of Club holding Nvidia‘s Blackwell chip platform. Dell makes servers that contain Nvidia chips.

6. Morgan Stanley raised its PT on Club Name DuPont to $94 a share from $88 but maintained its equal weight rating. Bizarre hold. It should be a buy because the stock is way too cheap. We think it goes to $100 ahead of a three-way breakup. I want to own the soon-to-be-public water and electronics companies along with classic DuPont. All three will benefit from the separation.

7. UPS got hit with a downgrade from Barclays, which went to a sell-equivalent rating from equal weight. Analysts express concerns about the long-term competitive pressures from Amazon and non-unionized FedEx. Brutal call on UPS ahead of earnings Thursday morning. Are we counting the days of CEO Carol Tome?

8. Wedbush Securities upgraded RH to a buy-equivalent rating from neutral and hiked its PT to $430 a share from $310. Analysts touted momentum in the luxury furniture and home furnishings company’s product transition. I love this turnaround story, and it has been nothing but a win so far.

9. JPMorgan said lead times for Apple’s new iPhone 16 are catching up to last year’s model. This whole lead times thing is a total joke. It tells you nothing. I would rather know how it is faring in Brazil and Indonesia. Club name Apple remains an “own it, don’t trade it” stock for me.

10. Deutsche Bank started coverage of GE Vernova with a buy rating and price target of $354. Is this the stock made for this moment? Analysts called GE Vernova a pure-play way to invest in the theme of growing power generation needs, fueled in large part by AI. We own Eaton for similar reasons.

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