A handful of stocks could be breakout candidates as investors react to discussions at the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to BTIG. Fed Chair Jerome Powell could offer insight into the likelihood and depth of an interest rate cut at the central bank’s September meeting. Investors widely expect a cut, according to futures pricing on the CME Group’s FedWatch tool , but there is still much debate over how steep a move it will make. Earlier Thursday, stocks had been hovering near record levels ahead of Powell’s remarks on Friday, but have since retreated. BTIG remains cautious on the broader market and indexes, with its chief market technician, Jonathan Krinsky, asserting “we would be surprised if SPX rips through its prior highs without some further consolidation.” “Given volatility has a bid, that makes an outright ‘sell the news’ on Friday less likely, in our view, as there is now room for [volatility] to get hit into the weekend,” he said. With caution on the index level, BTIG picked several stocks that could make technical moves to trade the forthcoming Jackson Hole meeting. Shares of gaming and creation platform Roblox have fallen roughly 4% year to date. BTIG’s buy rating and $47 per share price target implies more than 8% upside from Wednesday’s $43.35 close. RBLX YTD mountain Roblox stock. Second-quarter bookings recently surpassed Wall Street estimates, with a 21% year-over-year increase. Roblox also raised its full-year outlook for bookings to a range of $4.18 billion to $4.23 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet forecast $4.08 billion. Online reseller eBay also made the list. Shares have advanced more than 35% in 2024. EBAY YTD mountain eBay stock. Ebay’s second-quarter results beat analyst estimates on the top and bottom line earlier in August, and executives issued a higher-than-expected outlook for full year earnings. EBay expects profits in the range of $1.15 to $1.20 per share, excluding items, while analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.13 per share. ADP has seen its stock gain more than 15% in 2024, but it too made the cut. ADP YTD mountain ADP stock. The payroll and human resources management company topped fourth-quarter estimates on the top and bottom lines. ADP earned $2.09 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $4.77 billion, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a profit of $2.06 on revenue of $4.74 billion.
