Mid-Morning Look: March 26, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Thursday, March 26, 2026

 U.S. stocks off to another bumpy start as comments from President Trump on the Iran situation this morning, and an Iran response to the 15 point plan released yesterday by the U.S. has markets on edge again. Safe to say, the two sides appear far apart ahead of weekend where the President has warned would be a deadline. This morning, President Trump said on Truth Social media platform, “”The Iranian negotiators are very different and “strange.” They are “begging” US to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly State that they are only “looking at our proposal.” WRONG!!! They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty! President DJT“. Iran formally responded to a U.S. proposal via intermediaries and is awaiting a reply, according to a source cited by Tasnim News Agency. Tehran’s conditions include an end to hostilities, guarantees the war won’t resume, clear reparations, and a ceasefire across all fronts and Allied groups. It also insists its control over the Strait of Hormuz is a legal right and a safeguard for any agreement. The official said it was “one-sided and unfair”, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, adding that a path forward might still be found if realism prevailed in Washington.

The WSJ reported late yesterday that President Trump told aids privately that he aims to end the month-long Iran conflict within his four-to-six-week timeline, viewing it as entering its final stages. At the same time late Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi rejected reports of talks with the US, saying that “any ceasefire without guarantees” would not end the cycle of war. “We have no intention of negotiating,” he said. There are other stories moving a handful of names (details below), but big losers early are technology, industrials and communications while Energy, and defensive sectors like REITs and Consumer Staples rise, and financials (XLF) up a 5^th straight day. The market continues to monitor the situation with Iran and higher energy costs and no deal still weigh on global markets.

 Sector Movers Today

• In REITs: In Apartment REITs, Morgan Stanley downgraded AVB to Equal Weight, $203 PT (from $208) while upgrading EQR to Overweight, $74 PT (from $72) as new analysis has cities outperforming suburbs. Apartment REITs are high-quality, W/ strong balance sheets, at cheapest relative valuations ever (ex. COVID), stepping up buybacks, & sentiment skewed negative. Analysis of Urban vs suburban trends shows cities outperforming, in some cases for the first time in years. Favors EQR W/ most Urban exposure, upgrade to OW. Reiterate Overweight MAA as continues recommending regional barbell approach; downgrade AVB to EW as growth lags in ’26/’27.
• In Chemicals: FUL with mixed Q1 results as EPS beat but revs missed; ECL to acquire CoolIT Systems, a global leader in liquid data center cooling, from KKR (KKR) in a transaction valued at $4.75 billion; CE files for mixed shelf; size not disclosed; SMG was downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan as expects Scott to pay more for its raw Materials in F2027 (ends September) than it is likely to pay for them in F2026 as Urea prices, diesel prices, and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are all likely to be higher in F2027.
• In Metals & Mining: U.S. mining stocks fell and energy stocks rose as attacks in the Middle East continued and US President Donald Trump warned Iran to get serious about discussions “before it is too late.” NUE was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS saying the recent excessive correction presents a buying opportunity as the firm thinks U.S. steel producers are largely insulated from the Iran conflict; WS reported Q3 results below consensus as Q3 adj EPS $0.27 vs est $0.43, adj EBIT $20Mm vs est $29.2Mm on revs $769.8Mm vs est $882.95Mm.

• KOD +50%; after saying its experimental drug Zenkuda met the main goal in a late-stage study in patients with diabetes-related eye damage. In the trial, 62.5% of patients who received Zenkuda achieved at least a two-step improvement on a standard retinopathy severity scale at 48 weeks, compared with 3.3% of those on a placebo.
• LOVE +24%; announces new $40M share repurchase authorization, along with mixed quarterly results (Q4 adj Ebitda $49.6M vs. $51.9M, but revs better $248M vs. $242.8M) and guides year sales $700M-$750M vs. est. $691.85M.
• MARA +9%; as announces $1.0 Billion repurchase of 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2030 and 2031 and sale of 15,133 bitcoin.
• NAVN +27%; shares jumped after better Q4 results (Q4 adj EPS $0.02 vs est ($0.12) on revs $177.9Mm vs est $162Mm) and guided F27E AOI of $58-62M, meaningfully above the Street’s $26M estimate, on expanding Ai capabilities accelerating client wins (new-bookings +50%) per Oppenheimer.
• NDLS +54%; after reported strong 4Q operating results that saw significantly better than consensus performance for SSS, RLOM, and AEPS, while Revenue and AEBITDA came in only slightly above consensus.
• OLPX +50%; as Henkel (HENKY) has agreed to buy Olaplex in a $1.4 billion deal to strengthen its premium hair care business. Henkel will offer $2.06 per share in cash for an equity value of $1.4 billion, a premium of about 55% over Wednesday’s closing price and about 45% over a 30-day average.
• UNFI +8%; was upgraded to Overweight at Wells Fargo following constructive meetings W/ management saying turnaround is progressing well, it’s positively leveraged to Natural/organic growth & AMZN, upside to targets plausible, and the stock is cheap W/ a DD FCF yield. TP to $56, 29% upside.

• MLKN -22%; shares tumbled after results, missing on the top and bottom line (Q3 adj EPS $0.43 vs est $0.45 on revs $926.6Mm vs est $941.96Mm) while guides Q4 sales $955-995Mm vs est $993.2Mm, gr mgn 38.5-39.5%, adj EPS $0.49-0.55 vs est $0.61.
• SNDK -5%; computer memory and storage makers slumped a second day after Google Research said its new TurboQuant technology can limit the amount of memory required to run large language models by at least a factor of six, reducing the overall cost of training artificial intelligence (MU, SNDK, WDC shares fell again).
• WS -12%; reported Q3 results below consensus as Q3 adj EPS $0.27 vs est $0.43, adj EBIT $20Mm vs est $29.2Mm on revs $769.8Mm vs est $882.95Mm.
• WVE -54%; after announces interim phase 1 data from INLIGHT trial evaluating WVE-007 in healthy individuals living with overweight or obesity; said the obesity drug showed a less than 1% reduction in average body weight compared to placebo in an early-stage trial and says a 240 milligram dose of the drug called WVE-007 showed a placebo-adjusted reduction in body weight of 0.9% after 6 months