Early Look

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	-6.00	0.02%	35,317
S&P 500	-0.25	0.02%	4,510
Nasdaq	3.50	0.02%	15,401

 

 

U.S. equity futures are mostly flat across the board ahead of another busy morning of quarterly earnings, with the recent 5-day winning streak bringing the S&P 500 to within 1% of its September all-time highs with solid corporate earnings offsetting persistent inflation concerns and a jump in Treasury bond yields. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury is at morning lows around 1.63% but falling from overnight highs of 1.67%. Surging energy prices, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages are adding cost and margin pressures to a host of companies this earnings season. In earnings overnight, Netflix (NFLX) is little changed after a quarterly beat while airline UAL rises on a narrower loss. U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday as large cap companies continued to report strong third-quarter earnings. The S&P 500 index posted its 5^th straight day of gains, led by healthcare and technology stocks as the NYFANG posted a record-high close. That said, with 10 of 11 major S&P 500 sectors higher on the day, value actually slightly outperformed growth. The Dow rose 0.57%, the S&P 500 was up 0.74% and the Nasdaq moved up 0.71%. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 40 points to 29,255, the Shanghai Index slipped a few points to 3,587, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 348 points to 26,136. In Europe, the German DAX is up about 20 points to 15,540, while the FTSE 100 is little changed at 7,220.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 33.17 points, or 0.74%, to 4,519.63

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 198.70 points, or 0.56%, to 35,457.31

·     The Nasdaq Composite jumped 107.28 points, or 0.71%, to 15,129.09

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 8.07 points, or 0.36% to 2,275.91

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     7:00 AM ET         MBA Mortgage Applications Data

·     10:30 AM ET      Weekly DOE Inventory Data

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: ABT, ANTM, BIIB, BKR, BOKF, CFG, CMA, FCFS, FHN, KNX, LAD, MKTX, MSM, MTB, NDAQ, NEE, NEP, NTRS, TZOO, UNF, VZ, WGO, WSO

·     Earnings After the Close: BANR, CCI, CNS, CSX, CVLG, DFS, EFX, FR, GGG, GL, GSBC, HCCI, HLX, IBM, KALU, KMI, LRCX, LSTR, LVS, MMLP, NVEC, PMF, PFBC, PPG, REXR, RLI, RUSHA, SEIC, SLG, SLM, STL, TBK, TCBI, THC, TSLA, UFPI, UMPQ, VMI, XM

 

Other Key Events:

·     Samsung announces Unpacked 2 event for Wednesday Oct 20th, right after Apple and Google

·     Needham Dispensary Bus Tour: AYRWF, CURLF, GTBIF, VRNOF, in Las Vegas, 10/20

·     The European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Congress 2021 is taking place virtually this year from October 19-22

·     Needham Virtual Global Access Inaugural Needham Biotech Private Company Virtual 1×1 Forum, 10/19-10/20

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.92	82.04
Brent	-0.94	84.14
Gold	8.50	1,780.90
EUR/USD	-0.0004	1.1628
JPY/USD	0.09	114.46
10-Year Note	+0.006	1.64%

 

 

World News

·     College enrollments plunged in 2020 to the lowest level since 2007. According to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday, enrollment in schools dropped by 2.9 million from 2019 to 2020 and colleges by 615,000.

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Ford (F) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse and up tgt to $20 from $15 saying has seen a “significant turnaround” at Ford as the company has ended its cycle of quarterly earnings disappointments and its transition to electric vehicles has sharply accelerated

·     Vinco Ventures (BBIG) slides after the company reported the resignations of Chief Executive Officer Christopher Ferguson and Chief Financial Officer Brett Vroman

·     Uber Technologies (UBER) files prospectus supplement related to offering of 16.5M shares of common stock by selling stockholders

·     United Airlines (UAL) 3Q ADJ eps (1.02) vs est. ($1.67) on revs $7.8B vs est. $7.85B, says on track to meet 2022 targets, poised to capitalize on international reopening, says on track to reduce CASM-EX next year below 2019 levels, expects 4Q CASM-EX +12-14% vs 4q19, sees 4Q capacity to be -23% vs 4Q19; says remains on track to achieve long-term financial targets

·     Stride (LRN) Q1 EPS loss (-0.15) vs. est. loss (-$0.14); Q1 revs $400.2M vs. est. $359.48M; Q1 adj EBITDA $25.5M vs. $39.2M last year; Q1 total enrollment 189.6K, down 5.8% yoy; sees Q2 revs $390M-$400M vs. est. $365M

·     WD-40 (WDFC) 4Q EPS $0.61 on sales $115.2Mm vs est. $117.5Mm; guides FY EPS $5.24-5.38 below est. $5.76, sees FY sales $522-542Mm vs est. $517.4Mm

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     The American Petroleum Institute (API) shows a build of 3.29M barrels of oil for the week ending October 15, gasoline inventories show a draw of 3.5M barrels, distillate inventories show a draw of 3M barrels and Cushing inventories show a draw of 2.5M barrels.

·     Canadian National (CNI) Q3 adj EPS C$1.52 as revs rose 5% to C$3.6B; reaffirms 2021 outlook; says on track to achieve strategic plan 2022 targets with operating performance improvements and cost initiatives well underway; qtrly operating ratio of 62.7%, up 2.8 points; said CEO to retire

·     Marten Transport (MRTN) Q3 EPS $0.26 vs. est. $0.25; Q3 revs $251.3M vs. est. $237.37M

·     Vale (VALE) said Q3 iron ore production increased 18.1% Q/Q and 0.8% Y/Y to 89.4 M mt, while output of iron ore pellets, a premium product, rose 4.1% Q/Q while falling 2.6% Y/Y to 8.3M mt

 

Financials

·     Citizens Financial (CFG) Q3 EPS $1.22 vs. est. $1.16; Q3 revs $1.66B vs. est. $1.64B; provision for credit losses a benefit of $33 mln

·     Hancock Whitney (HWC) 3Q EPS $1.46 vs est. $1.29, NII $237.5Mm vs est. $235.7Mm; qtrly pre-provision net revs $134.8Mm

·     Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Q3 EPS $0.78 vs. est. $0.75; Q3 revs $650M vs. est. $640.87M; Q3 customer accounts increased 57% from the year-ago quarter to 1.54M as customer equity grew 52% YoY to $353.8B; total DARTs increased 24% YoY to 2.26M and cleared DARTs increased 24% from the year-ago quarter to 2.02M

·     United Community Bank (UCBI) Q3 EPS $0.82 vs. est. $0.66; return on assets (ROA) was 1.48% and its return on common equity was 14.3% for the quarter; quarter benefited from an allowance release of $11.0 million, reflecting continued improvement in economic conditions and forecasts; Total loans decreased by $200 million during the quarter

·     Wintrust Financial (WTFC) Q3 EPS $1.77 vs. est. $1.52; Total deposits increased by $1.1 billion, including a $459 million increase in non-interest-bearing deposits; net interest income increased by $7.9 million as compared to Q2

·     Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) 6.69M share IPO priced at $19.00

 

Healthcare

·     Novavax (NVAX) slides around -20% on reports the company is facing production delays as the methods it used to test the purity of its COVID-19 vaccine have fallen short of U.S. regulators’ standards, Politico reported on Tuesday. NVAX, in a filing in Aug, said that U.S. govt has asked co to prioritize alignment with FDA on its analytic methods before manufacturing more doses https://politi.co/3FWQAOW 

·     Anthem (ANTM) Q3 adj EPS $6.79 vs. est. $6.37; Q3 revs $35.5B vs. est. $35.3B; raises FY21 adj EPS view to greater than $25.85 vs. est. $25.65 (prior view was greater than $25.50); for FY21, says operating cash flow is now expected to be greater than $6B; Medical enrollment totaled approximately 45.1M members at September 30, 2021, an increase of 2.4M or 5.7% YoY

·     ATI Physical Therapy (ATIP) cuts FY21 revenue view to $620M-$630M from $640M-$670M (est. $652.72M) and cuts FY21 adjusted EBITDA view to $40M-$44M from $60M-$70M due to lower-than-expected patient volume

·     Akero (AKRO) receives FDA fast track designation for Efruxifermin for the treatment of NASH

·     Context Therapeutics (CNTX) 5M share IPO priced at $5.00

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Netflix (NFLX) 3Q EPS $3.19 vs est. $2.56 on revs $7.5Mm vs est. $7.48Mm, net adds 4.38Mm vs est. 4Mm; sees 4Q net adds 8.5Mm vs est. 8.3Mm, sees 4Q revs $7.71Mm vs est. $7.68Mm, sees 4Q op margin about 6.5%; guides FF positive on annual basis in 2022 and beyond; said it believes no longer needs to raise external financing to fund day-to-day ops

·     Omnicom (OMC) Q3 EPS $1.65 vs. est. $1.37; Q3 revs $3.435B vs. est. $3.44B; Q3 operating margin increased to 15.8% compared to 15.6% same period last year; qtrly increase in revenue from organic growth of 11.5%; says global economic conditions may continue to be volatile as long as covid-19 remains, which could negatively impact clients’ spending plans

·     ASML Holding NV (ASML) reported a Q3 profit rise of 64%, beating analysts’ consensus, and said that demand continues to be high; net profit for the quarter ended Oct. 3 rose to 1.74 billion euros ($2.02 billion) compared consensus of EUR1.63 billion; net sales for the quarter were EUR5.24 billion compared with guidance of between EUR5.2 billion and EUR5.4 billion

·     Samsung (SSNLF) and Intel (INTC) are both seeking to win orders for Apple’s (AAPL) in-house developed Mac processors, but industry sources believe TSMC (TSM) will remain the sole supplier for the next-generation Mac series – Digitimes

·     Facebook (FB) is set to announce a rebranding that could see the creation of a newly-named parent company — in the sprit of Alphabet and Google — that sits atop its network of social media and communications apps. – The Verge reports