Why we like Starbucks’ latest turnaround move — plus, two more wins for Eli Lilly
HS 24/09/2026
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks were mixed Thursday as Treasury yields surged and investors raised their expectations for another Federal Reserve rate hike. However, encouraging headlines around a potential deal between the U.S. and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz helped the major averages bounce well off their morning lows. The S & P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both crossed into positive territory after being down as much as 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to around 5.15%, near levels last seen in 2007 , while the 30-year touched 5.458%, its highest since 2004 . Oil added to the pressure, with Brent crude rising as high as $108 a barrel. Fed funds futures now imply a 68.6% chance of another rate hike in October, up from roughly 55% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool . We’re also watching Thursday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for any developments around a potential aircraft order for Club holding Boeing , though we’re not holding our breath. Starbucks announced it will close about 250 underperforming North American cafes , or roughly 1% of its footprint in the region, as CEO Brian Niccol continues his turnaround efforts . Starbucks expects about $300 million in restructuring charges from the closures and lowered its fiscal 2026 net new store opening forecast to 440 from 600 to 650. Its fiscal 2026 wraps up at the end of this month. Melius Research analyst Jacob Aiken-Phillips told CNBC the move is “more positive than anything,” noting that the affected stores were generally less profitable. He also predicted some of their sales should transfer to nearby cafes, rather than disappear or move to a competitor. We like seeing management aggressively prune locations that don’t meet its financial or customer-experience standards rather than keep weaker stores in the portfolio. Starbucks also shuttered a bunch of underperforming stores last September. This second round of closures should ultimately help margins and same-store sales as some customers shift their spending to nearby locations. Shares of the coffee chain are still up about 11% this year, but have fallen 14% since late August, coinciding with a broader sell-off in consumer stocks as higher gas prices raise concerns about household spending. The pullback has erased all of the stock’s strong summer performance, a stretch that included encouraging third-quarter results. The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s once-weekly insulin Onswik for adults with type 2 diabetes. The treatment offers an alternative to daily long-acting insulin, potentially eliminating more than 300 injections a year , according to Lilly . Securing the FDA greenlight also puts Lilly on the same footing as longtime diabetes care rival Novo Nordisk , which brought the first weekly long-acting insulin to the market earlier this year. Lilly and Novo have competed in the insulin market for a century, long before the rise of GLP-1s. While the Onswik approval strengthens Lilly’s diabetes portfolio, we don’t view Onswik as a major needle-mover for the stock over the long term. The current consensus on FactSet implies that Onswik will be less than 1% of Lilly’s projected 2030 sales. The main reason to own the drugmaker remains its dominant GLP-1 franchise, with additional upside potential from recent acquisitions in areas such as immunology, vaccines, cancer and mental health. Lilly is also investing to broaden its pipeline through a research and licensing agreement with Chinese drugmaker InnoCare Pharma worth up to $3.35 billion. We continue to like Lilly putting its GLP-1 windfall to use, giving it more shots on goal for future growth. The deal comes as large pharmaceutical companies have increasingly looked to China for new drug candidates. As of mid-May, more than half of Big Pharma licensing deals in 2026 involved Chinese assets. Shares of Lilly are up more than 3% on Thursday. Costco reports after the bell Thursday . We’ll be focused on the membership retailer’s metrics like paid memberships and renewal rates, along with gross and operating margins. Costco has been a weak performer since its May 19 record close, down 18%. There are no major earnings reports Friday, shifting our attention to the final September reading from the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. That’s due out at 10 a.m. ET. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. 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