Happy Thursday afternoon to everyone on The Street. Here's a snapshot of where markets ended the trading session, plus tomorrow's trade idea delivered to you today.

• 🟩 | US stocks rose again today as rate cut optimism gathered steam.

• 📈 | One Notable Gainer: It was all fun and games for Hasbro $HAS ( ▲ 14.42% ) today after the toy company posted a surprise earnings beat and maintained it is “well positioned” for tariffs.

• 📉 | One Notable Decliner: PepsiCo $PEP ( ▼ 5.02% ) , on the other hand, fizzled out after warning shareholders it is not.

MARKET MOVERS

Chip Stocks, IBM, ServiceNow

$STM ( ▲ 7.16% ) / $MCHP ( ▲ 12.38% ) / $SMCI ( ▲ 8.85% ) STMicroelectronics leads chip stocks higher, while investors await Intel results (SeekingAlpha)

$IBM ( ▼ 6.86% ) IBM Results Fail to Meet Market Hopes on Concerns About Tariffs, DOGE Cuts (Bloomberg)

$NOW ( ▲ 15.49% ) ServiceNow Stock Soars. Why Earnings Are a Positive for Tech Spending. (Barron’s)

$FI ( ▼ 18.34% ) Fiserv’s Shares Fall as Clover Growth Slows and Merchant Payments Processing Revenues Dip (PYMNTS)

$GEV ( ▲ 7.26% ) GE Vernova Swings to Profit as Backlog Rises (WSJ)

OVERHEARD ON THE STREET

WSJ: A Russian assault on Kyiv marked the war’s largest attack of 2025, prompting President Trump to publicly urge Russian President Putin to “STOP!”

Investing.com: Several Fed officials suggested that a rate cut could happen as early as June if data supports it.

AP: China denied being in active tariff talks with the US, dismissing Trump's optimism as baseless.

Fortune: Chipotle $CMG ( ▲ 1.07% ) reported its first same-store sales decline since 2020, with its CEO warning of growing consumer caution.

CNN: Motorola $MSI ( ▲ 0.88% )  rebooted the Razr flip phone with AI features from Perplexity, Meta $META ( ▲ 2.49% ) , Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 3.69% ) , and Google $GOOGL ( ▲ 2.37% ) .

TOMORROW’S TRADE IDEA, TODAY

CAVA’s Comeback

Overblown Selloff

CAVA Group’s $CAVA ( ▲ 5.29% ) stock is down more than 33% in the last six months. But Bernstein analyst Danilo Gargiulo believes the decline is excessive — and feels the fast casual chain could see a turnaround in roughly the time it takes to make an avocado bowl.

The analyst recently upgraded the stock to Outperform and set a $115 price target, representing a short-term upside of around 26%. According to Gargiulo, the market is too focused on the company’s short-term risks and overlooking its long-term growth potential.

Short-Term Volatility, Long-Term Vision

Gargiulo admitted that the stock is likely to face some short-term volatility. However, he says its current valuation is low. How low? According to the analyst, it’s at the same level as competitors like Chipotle $CMG ( ▲ 1.07% ) and Panera during the 2008 financial crisis.

Due to its strong sales YTD and expected same-store sales growth of between 6% and 8%, Cava will likely not be forced to lower its guidance like many other consumer-facing companies.

Fundamentally Sound

Fast-casual chains tend to do well during recessionary environments, and the analyst expects CAVA to be no different. It has strong margins and cash-on-cash returns, and unit growth is expected to come in between 15% and 18% by 2026.

In particular, Gargiulo is bullish on CAVA’s high-income customer base and prudent pricing strategies, and believes these factors will help it weather an economic downturn better than its peers.

ON OUR RADAR

WSJ: A 5.9% drop in existing home sales in March — the steepest in over two years — signals trouble for the key selling season.

Reuters: The US labor market saw a slight rise in jobless claims last week and strong March durable goods orders.

AP: Preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 sparked overwhelming demand — and widespread frustration.

Bloomberg: Walmart $WMT ( ▲ 0.93% ) is ramping up discounts with “manager’s special” tags to attract budget-conscious shoppers amid economic uncertainty.

CNBC: US consumers can expect staged retail shortages within months in price-sensitive categories like toys, budget apparel, and home goods.

WEDNESDAY’S POLL RESULTS

Are you bullish or bearish on CoreWeave (CRWV) over the next 12 months?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🐂 Bullish

🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🐻 Bearish

And, in response, you said:

• 🐂 Bullish — “As long as the market remains strong.”

• 🐻 Bearish — “It's not part of the system.”