Ticker Reports for August 26th
Retail Roundup: Key Winners and Losers After Q2 Earnings
The third week of August saw big-time earnings releases from some of the most important stocks in the retail industry. As these names operate in highly competitive parts of the economy, these earnings cycles often result in big winners and big losers. That held true in Q2, with some names impressing markets and others faltering.
Below, we’ll detail the most notable stocks that were on each side of this equation. All data is as of the Aug. 25 close unless otherwise indicated.
Winner: Home Depot Gets Earnings Boost, Gains on Potential Fed Shift
Home Depot (NYSE: HD), America's most recognizable home improvement store, saw its shares gain after the company’s Q2 earnings. Home Depot shares rose more than 3% following its Aug. 19 release despite slightly missing on sales and adjusted earnings per share (EPS). This gain came as the firm maintained its full-year guidance.
This was a particularly good sign as tariffs are significantly higher today than they were at the time of the firm’s Q1 release. Management commentary indicates that Home Depot sources a little less than 50% of its products internationally, making tariffs a key issue.
Home Depot’s shares traded down for several days after the initial reaction to its earnings. However, the stock got another big boost on Aug. 22, gaining nearly 4%. This came as the overall market rallied in reaction to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium.
The Fed provided commentary that markets saw as increasing the probability of a rate cut. This would be particularly good for Home Depot, as rate cuts typically make housing more affordable, likely resulting in more demand for the firm’s home improvement products.
Overall, MarketBeat tracked several analysts who raised their Home Depot price targets after the report, while only JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its already elevated target.
Winner: TJX Boosts Guidance After Q2 Outperformance
TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) had a solid Q2, with shares gaining nearly 3% after the firm’s Aug. 20 report. The firm’s revenue and earnings came in much better than Wall Street anticipated. TJX posted a 9-cent beat on adjusted EPS, and its nearly 7% revenue growth rate was considerably higher than the 4.5% expected.
Comparable sales increased by 4%, the same rate as the prior year's quarter.
The firm also substantially increased its full-year guidance. It now expects consolidated comparable sales growth of 3%, an improvement from its previous range of 2% to 3%.
Additionally, the firm sees its full-year adjusted EPS coming in at a midpoint of approximately $4.55, up nearly 4% from its previous adjusted EPS guidance midpoint.
This guidance increase was partially due to lower-than-expected tariff costs and the firm’s effective mitigation strategies. Despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment, TJX is expanding according to schedule. It expects to add around 130 stores this year and believes it can add more than 1,800 locations in the longer term.
Big Loser: Target’s Sales Are Falling as Walmart Boosts Guidance
The most obvious loser from the latest round of retail earnings was household goods and grocery store Target (NYSE: TGT). Compared to Wall Street’s expectations, Target's Q2 results were not something to panic over. The stock beat estimates on both sales and adjusted EPS. But the bar for Target to clear in achieving this was set pretty low.
Sales declined by nearly 1%, and the firm’s comparable sales fell by nearly 2%. This shows that the company lost market share to Walmart, which saw sales and U.S. comparable sales rise by 4.8% and 4.6%, respectively.
The company’s guidance was also not impressive. Target still projects a low single-digit decline in sales for the full fiscal year and holds its adjusted EPS guidance steady. Walmart raised its prediction on both figures and sees sales growing between 3.75% and 4.75% in the full fiscal year.
As Target’s sales are declining, its most important management position is getting a shake-up. Target said its Chief Executive Officer, Brian Cornell, will vacate his position in February 2026.
Michael Fiddelke, Target’s current Chief Operating Officer, will succeed him. Given Target’s business uncertainty, shares have been down nearly 8% since the Aug. 20 report.
Retail Set for Another Big Earnings Week
Some of the biggest names in retail reported results in the third week of August, and more are coming. The fourth week of August will see over 10 more retail stocks report, including Dollar General (NYSE: DG) and DICK'S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS).
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Tesla Just Had Its Best Day in 2 Months—Here's What It Means
Shares of auto-giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) jumped more than 6% on Friday, finishing at the highs of the day in what was its strongest single-day performance in more than two months. The move came after almost two weeks of steady declines and looked like a stunning show of strength for bulls hoping the stock could reassert its uptrend.
Technically, the stock had already staged a breakout earlier in August from the tightening pennant pattern that we had flagged, and which traders had been watching closely. While the breakout was decisive, carrying shares higher for several sessions, momentum eventually stalled before it got around to testing longer-term resistance near the $360 mark.
A pullback then followed as the market probed the downside. Friday’s pop was a firm rejection of those bearish efforts and a strong indication that buyers remain firmly in control. Heading into September, there’s a lot to like about Tesla’s setup, so let’s jump in and take a look.
Technical Signals Flash Green for Tesla Stock
First and foremost, the uptrend remains very much intact. Tesla added another 2% on Monday to extend Friday’s gains and is starting to look ready to test the $360 level again in the near future. The technical picture in the background supports this idea.
Take the stock’s Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, for example, which recently had a bullish crossover. The MACD measures the difference between short-term and longer-term moving averages of a stock’s price. When the short-term line crosses above the longer one, it signals that near-term momentum is accelerating relative to the longer trend. It’s a classic bullish setup, and the fact that it’s happening right now for Tesla should be enough to make most investors sit up and take notice.
There’s also the fact that the stock’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is trending higher. The RSI tracks the speed and magnitude of price changes to measure whether a stock is overbought or oversold. Readings above 70 are often considered overheated, while those below 30 signal oversold conditions. So Tesla having an RSI around the 60 mark means it’s at a healthily bullish level with lots of room to run higher.
Wedbush Stands by Its Bullish Case for Tesla Stock
All this momentum on the chart is being matched by confidence on Wall Street.
The team over at Wedbush has been reiterating its Outperform rating on the stock this month, as well as its $500 price target.
Tesla closed out Monday just above $345, which points to a targeted upside of more than 40%.
Wedbush has consistently been one of Tesla’s strongest backers, even during times of uncertainty.
They've often highlighted the company’s progress in self-driving, its growing global presence, and its potential for long-term profits.
With fundamentals intact and technicals aligning, the latest rally provides a degree of validation for those bullish forecasts.
Tesla Positioned to Benefit Disproportionately From a Dovish Fed
A final reason to be excited about the stock’s potential right now is that a friendlier macro backdrop is also helping the move. The broader market is firmly in rally mode, with equities having climbed through August as investor expectations grow for a cut to interest rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s recent comments suggested the central bank may be preparing to do this sooner rather than later, a shift that has investors leaning into growth names once again.
This is because growth names, including Tesla, are most affected by falling, or indeed rising, interest rates. Cheaper financing improves consumer affordability for high-ticket purchases like EVs and lowers borrowing costs for the likes of Tesla, which is investing heavily in innovation and expansion. Hence, growth stocks with long-term cash flow potential, such as Tesla, tend to benefit disproportionately when markets anticipate a more dovish Fed.
For investors on the sidelines, Friday’s surge was the kind of price action that can mark an inflection point. After nearly two weeks of grinding lower, the decisive reversal and confirmation on Monday suggest buyers are ready to push the stock back toward resistance. If Tesla can clear the $360 level in the coming sessions, it would likely put $400 back on the radar and potentially open the door to a sustained test of last year’s high.
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Big Analyst Revisions Could Be Ahead for SoFi Stock
There are a few things investors need to understand about Wall Street analysts. They are typically careful and wary of upgrading and boosting any company’s valuation or rating (no matter how justified) if the price is lagging behind the broader S&P 500 index or the industry peer group. The reason is simple: if they back a losing horse, their reputations and careers will be at risk.
This might be the case for shares of SoFi Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI), as the stock had been falling behind the market indexes and peers in the real estate sector for a few quarters, only to start going on a rampant upward move in the past couple of months, one that is only getting started according to some of the macro data that is being posted in the United States economy.
For this reason, it might be overdue time for these analysts to revisit their valuation targets and ratings for SoFi stock, as the risk of landing on the “wrong side” of history is now lower than it was before. If this happens, and chances are it will, investors stand to profit from being early in that call and then riding the ensuing momentum higher that would come from such a shift.
SoFi Stock: In the Eye of the Hurricane
Investors need to monitor two main indicators of SoFi’s exposure to mortgage financing. One is the mix between housing supply and building permits volume, both of which are reading at levels near the extremes of their respective cycles.
In other words, supply is now at a cyclical high while permits (as a consequence) are at a cyclical low. A return to normal will mean a surge in new demand for real estate financing through mortgages, and SoFi is poised to capitalize on this trend to drive up its valuation.
This is where the second indicator comes into play, which is where the Federal Reserve decides to drive interest rates. After the famous Jackson Hole symposium, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at the possibility of rate cuts being in place for September 2025, which, of course, will trickle down into lower mortgage rates.
That accommodative level of financing costs could be the spark that mortgage markets need to wake up, which is why SoFi stock is one of the names investors want to keep on their watchlist for a potential breakout in the coming months. With this fundamental tailwind in mind, investors must consider other factors to justify this view for the future.
Why Analysts May Need to Shift
As the consensus stands currently, Wall Street analysts see SoFi stock as a Hold valued at only $19.3 per share, which prices in a 22.6% downside potential. However, considering all of these factors working in the company’s favor, and the fact that the stock has rallied by 91.1% over the past quarter, this view may need to shift soon.
In fact, some of the other areas of the equation have already started to shift. When investors look at SoFi’s short interest, they will notice a 16% decline over the past month alone, showing a clear sign of bearish capitulation as short sellers realize that the risk-to-reward setup today significantly favors the buyers rather than the sellers.
Then comes the bottom-line earnings. During the latest quarterly financial release, SoFi reported 8 cents in earnings per share (EPS) compared to the 6 cents in EPS that the market was expecting. This near 50% beat on expectations sets the foundation for these analysts to start shifting into a more realistic view for the company’s future through higher targets.
Furthermore, these analysts also expect SoFi to report 12 cents in EPS for the second quarter of 2026, which may already account for many of the fundamental tailwinds discussed in the macro data. When it comes to whether the stock has priced in this future growth or not, the answer is a clear no.
Investors can keep track of this through the price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio, which attempts to gauge today’s valuations compared to tomorrow’s EPS growth and tell the market whether growth has been priced into the stock’s price or not.
Any ratio below 1.0x indicates more upside potential for future growth. SoFi’s multiple of 0.6x suggests that retail investors may need to reassess analysts' overly cautious views on SoFi stock, given today’s consensus rating and valuation targets.
All told, this fundamental setup and undervalued potential in SoFi enticed some institutional buyers to step in and gain more exposure to SoFi stock. Over the past quarter, $866 million worth of buying took place to crystallize this sentiment and give investors another reason to consider the SoFi setup into the future.
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