What Happened?
Shares of aerospace and defense company Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW) jumped 3.4% in the morning session after Truist raised its price target on the company's stock to $603 from $537. Despite the increased price target, which suggested more potential upside for the stock's value, the firm kept its "Hold" rating on the shares. This action indicated that while the analyst saw greater value in the company than before, they were not recommending that investors buy the stock at its present price.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $602.17, up 3.4% from previous close.
Is now the time to buy Curtiss-Wright? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Curtiss-Wright’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 6 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was about 2 months ago when the stock dropped 5.7% on the news that the broader U.S. stock market declined amid investor caution and a pullback in technology stocks.
The main story? Investors are cashing in on a good run and feeling a bit cautious. After a fantastic run, many of those high-flying AI and technology stocks saw investors take profits: selling shares to lock in their gains. This is often called a "market rotation." Money is moving out of the red-hot tech sector (which some worry has become too expensive) and into other parts of the market that investors may currently deem more stable or reasonably-priced. There's a secondary reason for the cautious mood: The long government shutdown came to an end. Though it's typically interpreted as good news, it also means a flood of delayed economic reports will be released.
For weeks, investors were "flying blind" without key updates on the economy's health, like inflation data and the jobs report. In typical "sell the news" fashion, investors may also be taking profits and selling in anticipation that the new data would potentially give the Federal Reserve reasons to slow or even pause future rate cuts.
Curtiss-Wright is up 5.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $602.17 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Curtiss-Wright’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $5,121.
The 1999 book Gorilla Game predicted Microsoft and Apple would dominate tech before it happened. Its thesis? Identify the platform winners early. Today, enterprise software companies embedding generative AI are becoming the new gorillas. Click here for access to our special report that reveals one profitable leader already riding this wave, it’s free.
