Wall Street Splits on Tech, Managed Care

Analysts are diverging sharply on several sectors this week. Storage and networking stocks saw opposing moves. Seagate Technology got its consensus target lifted to $871, up from $857. Oracle also saw a target raise to $254, likely following its strong recent earnings run. The $614B enterprise giant now commands near-unanimous Wall Street support across 35 analysts.

Ciena moved the other way. Analysts trimmed the consensus target to $560 from $565. That modest cut stands out given the networking equipment maker's $69B market cap. Short interest sits at just 3.1% of free float, so bears aren't piling in yet.

Managed care was the busiest sector. Three names — Humana, Centene, and Elevance Health — all received consensus target increases. Humana's target moved to $294. Centene reached $61. Elevance climbed to $414. The sector cluster suggests analysts see recent regulatory fears as overdone.

Insurance saw the opposite trend. Chubb, Willis Towers Watson, Arthur J. Gallagher, and Progressive all saw targets trimmed. That sweep across four insurers points to sector-wide margin pressure on analysts' models.

Old Dominion Freight Line bucked the transport gloom with a target nudge higher to $221.