Morning Preview: August 24, 2023

Early Look

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Futures

Up/Down

%

Last

Dow

-36.00

0.10%

34,486

S&P 500

23.25

0.53%

4,470

Nasdaq

173.25

1.14%

15,368

 

 

S&P and Nasdaq futures both looking sharply higher behind better earnings results in the tech sector after NVDA knocked the cover off the ball last night with a big Q2 earnings and revenue beat on strong data center and gaming revs while raised guidance well above the Street *shares up nearly 8% pre mkt). Software stocks ADSK, SPLK, SNOW are also looking higher following results. AI related names moving higher behind the NVDA results with SMCI, AI among others rising early. Retailer GES shares jumped on beat and raise after a dreadful week in the consumer space with FL, DKS, M among those tumbling after posting disappointing results. Dow futures slip behind Boeing weakness after supplier SPR said is aware of quality issues on some 737 fuselage units. Next major market catalyst coming is the two-day Federal Reserve Jackson Hole meeting, with members from the Fed, ECB, BoJ, BoE set to speak today and tomorrow on monetary policy, currencies, the economy, and interest rates. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 276 points to 32,287, the Shanghai Index rose 3 points to 3,082, and the Hang Seng Index advanced 366 points or 2% to 18,212. In Europe, the German DAX is up 35 points to 15,765, while the FTSE 100 gains 28 to 7,350. In politics, former President Trump was absent during the first presidential primary debate for the 2024 in Milwaukee as eight candidates spoke during a chaotic evening, while Mr. Trump had a one-on-one interview with Tucker Carlson during the same time.

 

Stocks surged on Wednesday as the S&P 500 index closed more than 1% higher for the first time since June 30th behind strength in Technology (XLY +1.8%), Communications (XLC +1.6%) and REITs (XLRE +1.47%) with big bets in semi’s ahead of earnings from NVDA. Those bets paid off as the semiconductor chip giant surged after hours following a second straight massive beat/raise quarter and announced a stock buyback of over $25B with huge jumps in Data Center and Gaming revs. Treasury yields tumbled yesterday with the 10-year falling over -14-bps to 4.18% for biggest drop since May 2nd.

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 48.46 points, or 1.10%, to 4,436.01.

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 184.15 points, or 0.54%, to 34,472.98.

·     The Nasdaq Composite jumped 215.16 points, or 1.59%, to 13,721.03.

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 19.20 points, or 1.04% to 1,870.03.

 

Economic Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET           Weekly Jobless Claims…est. 240K

·     8:30 AM ET           Continuing Claims…est. 1.708M

·     8:30 AM ET           Durable Goods Orders M/M for July…est. (-4.0%)

·     10:30 AM ET         Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data

·     11:00 AM ET         Kansas City Fed Manufacturing for August…prior (-20)

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: BBW BURL DLTR DXLG HAIN OSIS SN WB WOOF

·     Earnings After the Close: AFRM AMSWA CRDO GPS INTU JWN MRVL ULTA WDAY

 

Other Key Events:

·     Fed Jackson Hole, Wyoming 2023 Economic Policy Symposium, 8/24-8/26

·     Rosenblatt Technology Summit (virtual) “The Age of AI”, 8/22-8/24

 

 

Macro

Up/Down

Last

Nymex

0.32

79.21

Brent

0.37

83.58

Gold

-0.60

1,947.50

EUR/USD

-0.0007

1.0852

JPY/USD

0.61

145.44

10-Year Note

+0.006

4.204%

 

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Dollar Tree (DLTR) Q2 EPS $0.91 vs. est. $0.87; Q2 revs $7.32B vs. est. $7.18B; Q2 Same-Store Sales: Dollar Tree +7.8%; Family Dollar +5.8%; Enterprise +6.9%; narrows FY23 EPS view to $5.78-$6.08 from $5.73-$6.13 (est. $6.03) and boosts FY23 revenue view to $30.6B-$30.9B from $30.0B-$30.5B (est. $30.41B); sees mid-single-digit comparable store sales increase for the year; sees Q3 EPS $0.84-$1.04 below est. $1.28 (watch shares of BIG, DG, FIVE).

·     Guess Inc. (GES) shares rise 10%; Q2 adj EPS $0.72 vs. est. $0.40; Q3 revs $665M vs. est. $640.5M; delivered Q2 operating margin of 9.7%; Adjusted Operating Margin of 9.8%; raises FY24 EPS view to $2.88-$3.08 from $2.60-$2.90 and narrows higher FY24 revenue growth view to 2.5%-4.0% from 2.0%-4.0%; guides Q3 results below views.

·     Estee Lauder (EL) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.

·     Williams-Sonoma (WSM) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Bank America.

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Boeing (BA) shares slip after its supplier Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) acknowledged a quality issue impacting some 737 models. “We are aware of a quality issue involving elongated fastener holes on the aft pressure bulkhead on certain models of the 737-fuselage produced by Spirit AeroSystems,” the aerostructures manufacturer said in a statement.

·     Australia’s Qantas Airways announced an order for 24 widebody aircraft, the final piece of the company’s jet fleet renewal program, as the multi-billion-dollar order is split between 12 Airbus A350s and 12 Boeing 787s.

·     US Steel (X) shares slipped after Esmark said late yesterday it’s no longer pursuing a takeover, citing union support for a rival bid from Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF).

·     Unifi, Inc. (UFI) Q4 adj EBITDA $1.7Mm vs est. $2.099Mm on revs $151.058Mm vs est. $147.9Mm; sees Q1 net sales and adj EBITDA generally consistent with Q4 results vs est. $155.38Mm and 4.938Mm, respectively.

 

Financials

·     Raymond James Financial Inc (RJF) said financial assets under management as of July 31, 2023, is $204.6B.

·     RLI Corp. (RLI) announced an estimated range of pretax net catastrophe losses from Hawaiian wildfires of $65M-$75M to be reflected in the third quarter of 2023.

·     Prudential (PRU) upgraded to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James.

 

Healthcare

·     Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) files to sell 5.28M shares of Class A common stock for holders.

·     Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) announces the departure of chief financial officer Laurie Stelzer.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) shares surge after hours on beat and raise; Q2 adj EPS $2.70 vs. est. $2.07; Q2 revs $13.52B tops est. $11.04B (and above y/y $6.7B); Q2 Data center revenue rises 171% y/y and 141 q/q to $10.32B (est. $7.98B) and Gaming revenue rises 22% y/y to $2.49B vs. est. $2.38B; sees 3q rev. $16.00B plus or minus 2% vs. est. $12.5B; on August 21 board approved an additional $25.00B in share repurchases, without expiration.

·     Autodesk (ADSK) Q2 adj EPS $1.91 vs est. $1.73 on revs $1.3B vs est. $1.32B, adj EBIT mgn 36%; guides Q3 revs $1.38-1.395B vs est. $1.38B and adj EPS $1.97-2.03 vs est. $1.92; sees FY revs +8-9% vs est. +8.17%, adj op mgn approx flat y/y, adj EPS $7.30-7.49 vs est. $7.28.

·     NetApp Inc. (NTAP) Q1 adj EPS $1.15 vs est. $1.07 on revs $1.43B vs est. $1.414B; guides Q2 revs $1.455-1.605B vs est. $1.515B and adj EPS $1.35-1.45 vs est. $1.38; sees FY revs down low-mid-single % vs est. -3.6% and adj EPS $5.65-5.85 vs est. $5.71.

·     Snowflake (SNOW) Q2 EPS $0.22 vs. est. $0.10; Q2 revs rose 36% y/y to $674M vs. est. $662.8M; sees 3q adj. operating margin 4% and still sees FY adj. operating margin 5%; sees Q3 product revs up 28%-29% y/y at $670M-$675M; for Q2, had 402 customers with trailing 12-month product revenue greater than $1 million.

·     Splunk Inc. (SPLK) Q2 adj EPS $0.71 vs est. $0.45 on revs $910.585Mm vs est. $885.97Mm; guides Q3 total ARR approx $3.98B, total revs $1.02-1.035B vs est. $981.34Mm, adj op mgn 24.7-25.3%, FCF approx $75Mm; sees FY total ARR 4.15-4.175B vs prior $4.125-4.175B, total revs $3.925-3.95B vs prior approx $3.9B and est. $3.899B, adj op mgn 21.0-21.5% vs prior 18.0-18.5% and FCF $855-875Mm vs prior $805-825Mm.

·     Aviat Networks (AVNW) Q4 adj EPS $0.87 vs est. $0.86 on revs $91.2Mm vs est. $88.98Mm, adj EBITDA $12.6Mm vs est. $11.7Mm, adj gr mgn 36.2%; guides FY24 revs $367-374Mm vs est. $370.44Mm, adj EBITDA $51-56Mm vs est. $57.8Mm.

·     Ooma Inc. (OOMA) Q2 adj EPS $0.14 vs est. $0.14, adj EBITDA $4.9Mm vs est. $4.597Mm on revs $58.4Mm vs est. $57.63Mm; sees Q3 revs $59.0-59.6Mm vs est. $60.08Mm, adj EPS $0.14-0.16 vs est. $0.14; sees FY revs $235.5-237Mm, adj EPS $0.59-0.63 vs est. $0.57.

·     Weibo (WB) Q2 EPS $0.53 vs. est. $0.51; Q2 revs fell -2% y/y to $440.24M in-line with ests; said Q2 monthly active users were 599M (an addition of about 17Mm users y/y) and Average daily active users were 258M.

·     Zuora Inc. (ZUO) Q2 adj EPS $0.07 vs est. $0.03 on revs $108Mm vs est. $108.8Mm; guides Q3 revs $107.5-109.5Mm vs est. $110.78Mm, adj EPS $0.05-0.06 vs est. $0.04; sees FY revs $428-433Mm vs est. $436.69Mm, adj EPS $0.21-0.23 vs est. $0.16 and adj FCF $28.0Mm.

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Market commentary provided by Hammerstone Markets, Inc, a firm separate from and not affiliated with Regal Securities. Regal Securities has not participated in the creation of the content, and does not explicitly or implicitly endorse the content.