Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday

CNBC Finance

4 min read

My top 10 things to watch Thursday, March 19 1. Stocks tumbled this morning as the U.S.-Iran war escalated and oil prices continued their march higher. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark, surged 6% after Iran attacked a key liquefied natural gas export facility in Qatar. The Dow also fell to a new 2026 low. The market's coming off an awful session due to hotter-than-expected inflation data. 2. Micron reported an outstanding quarter, with beats on sales, earnings, and guidance. But shares are getting hit, likely over management's comments on spending. The maker of memory and storage products is being prudent as it figures out how much to spend versus how much to pay down debt. The contracts it is offering are confusing, though, and it didn't mention much about its capital expenditure plans, leaving people confused. Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $550 from $500, while KeyBanc went to $600 from $450. 3. Natural gas is in short supply everywhere now except in the U.S., where we still have way too much of it. Jeffrey Martin, CEO of energy infrastructure company Sempra , pointed out that we have far more than we can use. We are exporting it as fast as we can. We talked about how the war in Iran is impacting LNG prices, Sempra's growth plan, and the state of the utility sector. 4. Barclays hiked its price target on Johnson & Johnson to $234 from $217. Analysts point to the company's strong U.S. pharmaceutical sales growth over the past five quarters. Is this the best drug stock right now? Is it better than Club name Eli Lilly ? That's how the Street is starting to see it after Johnson & Johnson's oral psoriasis pill received FDA approval yesterday. We're still sticking with Lilly. I think it's a huge winner because of its GLP-1 treatments like Mounjaro and Zepbound. 5. Nvidia 's PT was taken to $323 from $291 over at Raymond James. Analysts upped their estimates to reflect CEO Jensen Huang's forecast of $1 trillion in Blackwell and Vera Rubin generation chip orders through 2027. The market has recently turned on tech stocks like Nvidia. The AI chip king has had too big a run. 6. Intuit named top pick at Morgan Stanley, says valuation looks attractive, and that Q3 earnings could lead to estimate revisions. Recent web traffic data show momentum improving. The firm has a $580 PT on shares. 7. Carnival to buy from hold at Morgan Stanley. This is really about price: The stock's 28% drop this year exceeds the firm's lowered earnings estimates. The only stock you want to own in this sector is Viking . 8. Evercore raised its PT on Norfolk Southern a few bucks to $295 but kept its hold rating. The stock is in trading purgatory as long as its proposed merger with Union Pacific is a possibility. Analysts don't expect changes to the company's full-year guidance when it reports earnings next month. The $85 billion tie-up was announced last July but faces regulatory scrutiny over antitrust issues. 9. Wall Street says Nike 's turnaround story is not yet at hand. BTIG lowered the retailer's price target to $90 from $100 and argued that its top-line profile looks muted ahead of earnings later this month. UBS also cut Nike to $58 from $62 on softening sales for the quarter. I still have faith in CEO Elliott Hill's ability to right the ship. 10. Five Below shares jumped more than 5% premarket after the company logged its best holiday quarter in history late Wednesday. The retailer delivered better-than-expected quarterly profit as value-seeking consumers looked for lower-priced goods. The ridiculous love affair with this stock continues. 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.

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Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday

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