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Chocolate Is Back On The Menu With This Stock
This choco supplier spent the last couple years eating inflation like it was a family-size bar. Cocoa, freight, packaging, you name it.
Now the script is flipping. With cocoa prices cooling and demand holding up better than feared, Morgan Stanley just upgraded the stock on something staples rarely get: visibility.

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Gartner | IT

Price: $247.34
Gartner popping doesn’t mean the story is suddenly exciting, it means investors may be rotating back to dependable subscription-like models when tech gets noisy.
Gartner is essentially the adult supervision of enterprise IT: research memberships, conferences, and consulting that CFOs and CIOs lean on when budgets get tight and priorities get political.
The interesting part here is the valuation gap: the stock is still way down YTD, yet value screens are calling it significantly undervalued, and the business continues to show solid margins and steady growth.
The watch-out is leverage: Gartner runs with meaningful debt, and the market can punish anything that smells like a financial engineering story if growth slows.
Why it matters for you: Listen for 2026 IT budget commentary and renewal strength in Research.
If enterprises keep spending on guidance (even while trimming tools), Gartner’s mission-critical advice revenue can look sturdier than most software.

Norwegian Cruise Line | NCLH

Price: $21.54
This one is a classic the stock is a spreadsheet until it isn’t.
Jefferies downgrading to Hold is basically a warning that the deleveraging clock is moving slower, and in cruises, debt isn’t just a number, it’s your flexibility.
The near-term headache: moving capacity from Europe to the Caribbean on short notice can mess with booking patterns and pricing, and Caribbean supply is already a competitive arena.
If yield gets pressured while capex stays high, the market starts asking uncomfortable questions.
The bull view is that demand for cruising still exists and operators can manage pricing over time, but NCLH doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt when leverage is high.
Why it matters for you: Watch booking curve commentary and leverage targets (not just confidence).
If pricing holds through the capacity shift and management shows a credible path to lower leverage, sentiment can stabilize; if not, downgrades can keep stacking.

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Comcast | CMCSA

Price: $29.74
Comcast’s message after losing the Warner deal was basically: “Relax, we still have a pretty stacked toolbox.”
Theme parks, NBC broadcast, studios, sports, and Peacock, plus the distribution muscle to bundle and partner (Amazon/Apple/YouTube style packaging).
That’s the bull case as CMCSA isn’t a pure streaming bet, it’s a media + experiences ecosystem, and parks in particular can print cash when execution is clean.
The bear case is the familiar one: cord-cutting, broadband competition, and a market that wants simple growth stories, not sprawling conglomerates with multiple moving parts.
Still, at this valuation and yield, CMCSA doesn’t need to become Netflix, it just needs to keep proving it can monetize its content and keep churn manageable.
Why it matters for you: Follow Peacock bundling traction, studio slate wins, and theme park momentum.
If parks stay strong and streaming losses narrow, CMCSA can quietly grind higher while the market argues about the future of TV.

ServiceNow | NOW

Price: $781.12
The stock got smoked on the headline risk: reports of a potential $7B Armis acquisition (its biggest ever) sparked immediate are you sure energy from investors.
The strategic logic is understandable, as security is a massive budget line, and asset intelligence (knowing what’s on your network) is a real pain point as device counts explode.
But the market hates two things at once. A big price tag and a move outside your core lane.
ServiceNow has been the workflow king; buying into cybersecurity means proving it can integrate, cross-sell, and compete in a crowded arena without distracting from what it already does best.
If they overpay, this becomes a multi-quarter trust rebuild. If they nail integration, it can expand their platform relevance.
Why it matters for you: Watch deal terms and the why now narrative.
If ServiceNow frames Armis as a workflow multiplier (not a random side quest) and shows clear cross-sell economics, this dip can look like an overreaction.

Hershey | HSY

Price: $188.15
The upgrade case is pretty simple: the earnings recession is ending, and the Street is still modeling like it isn’t.
Cocoa was the villain, and when the villain backs off, margins breathe.
What’s encouraging is that Hershey didn’t go dark on brand investment during the rough patch, so it doesn’t need a huge catch-up spend now that costs are behaving.
Morgan Stanley also points to improving category momentum (scanner data better than feared) and a snack portfolio that’s more diversified than just chocolate, which matters if consumers trade down or get pickier.
Risks still exist. HSY looks pricey on near-term P/E because earnings are temporarily depressed, and higher shelf prices always invite elasticity surprises.
But if cocoa stays calmer and volumes don’t crack, the upside can show up fast in revised guidance.
Why it matters for you: Track cocoa trends, price/mix commentary, and margin cadence.
If management starts sounding more confident about 2026–2027 EPS, HSY can re-rate even if the broader staples group stays sleepy.

Trivia: Which U.S. president appears on the $2 bill? |

📊 Stat of the Day: +43% Since April
After a 20%+ drawdown, the S&P 500 has ripped 43% from its intraday low on April 7, one of the bigger short-term rallies in history.
The lesson isn’t chase everything. It’s that the market can flip from panic to momentum faster than most portfolios can reposition.
Big rebounds tend to reward two groups: (1) quality names with real earnings visibility, and (2) oversold stories that survive long enough for sentiment to thaw.
Best Regards,
—Noah Zelvis
Everyday Alpha


