My top 10 things to watch Thursday, April 16 1. Stocks inched higher after the S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each closed at new all-time highs on Wednesday. Investors remain optimistic that the U.S. and Iran will soon agree to a peace deal. 2. PepsiCo had an excellent quarter, delivered by the most realistic CEO in the consumer packaged goods sector, Ramon Laguarta. He has been honest about the industry threat of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and has navigated it well. The North American food business returned to volume growth for the first time in two years. Shares are up about 1%. 3. TSMC reported good numbers , including a 58% pop in profits, and good comments. It is also short of some industrial gases it needs for advanced chipmaking — good for Club name Linde , which produces them (hydrogen and helium) outside of the Persian Gulf. Switch from generative AI and query mode to agentic AI and command and action mode is here, raising demand for compute; multiyear megatrend mode. Management reported a “little bit softer” memory pricing. 4. On the earnings call with investors, C.C. Wei, TSMC’s CEO and president, nodded to Intel as a “formidable” competitor, along with Tesla . Both are also customers, but “do not underestimate them,” Wei said. 5. J.B. Hunt Transport Services is calling an early part of a new cycle (“some positive elements of demand”) with lots of capacity exiting. I like this transportation stock, and I like FedEx Freight, which is being spun off from FedEx . J.B. Hunt reported a first-quarter beat on earnings and operating revenue. Shares rose 1% in the premarket. 6. JPMorgan downgraded Corning to hold from buy, and cut the specialty glassmaker’s price target to $115 from $175. Analysts said there needs to be greater earnings visibility into 2028 to support upside in the stock. GE Vernova, another Club name, was removed from JPMorgan’s “analyst focus list” after a big run. Still, the bank took its PT up to $1,150 from $1,000. The Club raised its own GE Vernova PT to $1,000 from $875 last week. 7. Garmin’ s price target lifted to $285 from $265 at JPMorgan. Analysts said that AI infrastructure investments across servers, switches, copper, and optical will drive upside to first-quarter earnings. This stock remains untouchable to the bears, up over 31% year to date. The company will release results on April 29. 8. Texas Roadhouse cut to $200 from $220 over at Wells Fargo. Analysts pointed to slowing same-store sales through the first quarter. The second half of 2026 should be better if beef prices come down. That’s a deadly call. We exited the steakhouse chain after a disappointing quarter in February. 9. Wolfe Research started coverage of CoreWeave with a buy. Analysts described the company as the “best positioned neocloud,” citing its relationships with suppliers, demand, and project funding. Wolfe issued a price target of $150, implying roughly 27% upside from yesterday’s close. 10. DraftKings lowered to $29 from $32 at Citi. Analysts said the sports betting platform faces “some risk of falling short” this earnings season due to increased competition from prediction markets. DraftKings cannot operate its main online sportsbook in California, Florida, or Texas, but Polymarket and Kalshi can. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at 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.
Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday
Apr 16, 2026
