Hardware Eats Software, Intel Rips 24%, and the Strait of Hormuz Is Now a Macro Variable — Weekly Roundup
From the Hormuz shutdown to the hardware-vs-software civil war, this week had more plot twists than a Netflix thriller — and earnings season hasn't even started yet
Ticker Ratings
| Ticker | Rating | Entry Price | Current | $ Gain | % Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INTC INTEL CORP | buy | $62.39 | — | — | — |
| PLTR Palantir Technologies Inc. | hold | $129.09 | — | — | — |
| CRWV CoreWeave, Inc. | buy | $102.98 | — | — | — |
| UNH UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | hold | $304.84 | — | — | — |
| META Meta Platforms, Inc. | buy | $630.52 | — | — | — |
| MSFT MICROSOFT CORP | hold | $371.68 | — | — | — |
| CRM Salesforce, Inc. | sell | $164.79 | — | — | — |
| ORCL ORACLE CORP | hold | $138.31 | — | — | — |
| AMZN AMAZON COM INC | hold | $238.44 | — | — | — |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. | buy | $317.67 | — | — | — |
| RVMD Revolution Medicines, Inc. | buy | $97.90 | — | — | — |
| LEVI LEVI STRAUSS & CO | buy | $22.64 | — | — | — |
| OGN Organon & Co. | hold | $9.01 | — | — | — |
| CVLT COMMVAULT SYSTEMS INC | buy | $89.00 | — | — | — |
| NVDA NVIDIA CORP | buy | $188.37 | — | — | — |
| AMD ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC | buy | $245.50 | — | — | — |
| TSM TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD | buy | $370.90 | — | — | — |
| XOM EXXON MOBIL CORP | hold | $152.50 | — | — | — |
| CVX CHEVRON CORP | hold | $188.45 | — | — | — |
| SHW SHERWIN WILLIAMS CO | buy | $336.11 | — | — | — |
| CAT CATERPILLAR INC | buy | $791.86 | — | — | — |
| HD HOME DEPOT, INC. | buy | $337.34 | — | — | — |
| NFLX NETFLIX INC | hold | $103.21 | — | — | — |
| PEP PEPSICO INC | hold | $157.25 | — | — | — |
| JNJ JOHNSON & JOHNSON | hold | $239.00 | — | — | — |
| BP BP PLC | hold | $46.45 | — | — | — |
| AMZN AMAZON COM INC | hold | $238.44 | — | — | — |
| CSCO CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. | hold | $82.31 | — | — | — |
| PANW Palo Alto Networks Inc | buy | $156.04 | — | — | — |
| CRWD CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | hold | $378.90 | — | — | — |
| AMGN AMGEN INC | hold | $352.18 | — | — | — |
Let's get the scoreboard out of the way: $INTC surged nearly 24% — its biggest weekly gain since 2000 — after locking in deals with Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and Google. Meanwhile, $PLTR dropped ~14% as investors punished enterprise software broadly. Cramer's hardware-vs-software thesis played out in real time: the IGV software ETF bled while chip names partied. $CRWV (CoreWeave) tacked on another 10%+ after signing Anthropic to its NeoCloud infrastructure — the AI picks-and-shovels trade is very much alive.
The macro backdrop? Spicy. March CPI came in at 3.3% YoY, with gasoline up 18.9% — the largest single-month jump since 1967 — courtesy of the Strait of Hormuz being functionally closed. Brent crude bounced back toward $98 after a brief ceasefire-fueled 15% single-day collapse. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment hit its lowest reading ever. KBW's Chris McGratty still expects big bank Q1 trading revenues up 15–20% YoY, which is the one genuinely cheerful data point in this whole mess. $UNH posted its best week in months, because apparently health insurance is recession-proof, which, sure, fine.
Heading into next week: major bank earnings (JPMorgan, Goldman, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, BofA), Netflix, J&J, and PepsiCo all report — and the Islamabad peace talks could either stabilize oil or remind everyone why geopolitical risk premiums exist. The S&P is clinging to its 200-day moving average like it owes it money. Choose your fighter: buy the dip or sell the rip. Either way, bring snacks.