Early Look

Friday, August 27, 2021

U.S. futures are pointing to a rebound for U.S. stocks as markets prepare for a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that could provide with clues about the central bank’s timeline for pulling back on stimulus. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dipped Friday to 1.345% as investors awaited Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, while U.S. stocks bounce after yesterday’s decline. Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, ending a streak of all-time closing highs on concerns over developments in Afghanistan, while fears of a potential shift in U.S. Federal Reserve policy prompted a broad but shallow sell-off. All three major U.S. stock indexes ended the session in the red, with the S&P and the Nasdaq notching their first down day in six. The sell-off firmed after hawkish commentary Dallas President Robert Kaplan who said he believes the economic recovery warrants tapering to commence in October, St. Louis’s James Bullard called for a start in the fall, while Kansas City’s Esther George said a move should be made sometime this year (none are policy voters in 2021). Meanwhile, the economy grew at a slightly faster pace than originally reported in the second quarter, fully recovering its losses from the most abrupt downturn in U.S. history, according to the Commerce Department. But jobless claims, though still on a downward trajectory, ticked higher last week. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -101 points to 27,641, the Shanghai Index rose 20 points to 3,522, and the Hang Seng Index was down slightly at 25,407. In Europe, the German DAX is little changed at 15,790, while the FTSE 100 is also little changed at 7,125.

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Personal Income MoM for July…est. 0.2%

·     8:30 AM ET         Personal Spending MoM for July…est. 0.3%

·     8:30 AM ET         PCE Price Index MoM for July…est.

·     8:30 AM ET         PCE Price Index YoY for July

·     8:30 AM ET         Core PCE Price Index MoM for July…est. 0.3%

·     8:30 AM ET         Core PCE Price Index YoY for July…est. 3.6%

·     8:30 AM ET         Advance Goods Trade Balance for July

·     10:00 AM ET      University of Michigan Confidence, Aug-F…est. 70.7

·     1:00 PM EST       Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: BIG, HIBB

Other Key Events:

·     UBS China Telco, Media, Internet Virtual Conference 2021, 8/23-8/27

·     Jackson Hole 2021 Economic Policy Symposium, 8/26-8/28

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index slumped -26.19 points, or 0.58%, to 4,470.00

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -192.38 points, or 0.54%, to 35,213.12

·     The Nasdaq Composite dropped -96.05 points, or 0.64%, to 14,945.81

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -25.29 points, or 1.13% to 2,213.98

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Gap Inc. (GPS) 2Q adj EPS $0.70 vs est. $0.46 on revs $4.2B vs est. $4.13B, Gap global comps -5%, ON global comps flat; guides FY adj EPS $2.10-2.25 from $1.60-$1.75 and vs est. $1.80, sees FY sales about +30% vs est. +24.3%

·     Peloton (PTON) disappoints as misses top/bottom line, slashes price on bikes and warns of higher costs; 4Q revs $937Mm vs est. $927.2Mm, EPS loss ($1.05) vs est. ($0.45), 4Q avg net monthly connected fitness churn 0.73%; guides 1Q revs about $800Mm below est. $1B; identified material weakness over financial reporting with respect to identification and valuation of inventory; won’t result in any restatements of historical results

·     Big Lots (BIG) shares fall -8%; Q2 EPS $1.09 vs. est. $1.13; Q2 revs $1.46B vs. est. $1.48B; Q2 comp store sales fell (-13.2%) vs. est. decline (-11.4%); sees Q3 EPS loss (20c-10c) vs. est. +$0.09; expects full-year EPS of $5.90 to $6.05, which is below expectations of $6.66

·     Hibbett Sports (HIBB) Q2 EPS $2.86 vs. est. $1.42; Q2 revs $419.3M vs. est. $320.89M; Q2 comp store sales fell (-6.4%) as brick-and-mortar comparable sales declined (-3.8%) and e-commerce sales decreased (-20.4%); raises FY22 GAAP EPS view to $11.00-$11.50 from $8.50-$9.00 (est. $9.19); raises year comp sales view to positive mid-teens, up from prior range of positive high-single digits to positive low-double digits

·     F45 Training Holdings Inc. (FXLV) 2Q EPS ($1.04) vs est. $0.02 on revs $26.8Mm vs est. $24.5Mm, comps +126%; guides FY revs $132-137Mm vs est. $131.5Mm

·     Ollie’s Bargain (OLLI) Q2 adj EPS $0.52 vs. est. $0.55; Q2 revs $415.9M vs. est. $435.9M; Q2 comp store sales down (-28.0%) from prior year

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Select Energy (WTTR) files to sell 3.6M shares of Class A common stock for holders

Financials

·     WesBanco Inc. (WSBC) board authorized adoption of new stock repurchase plan for purchase of up to an additional 3.2 mln shares

·     WEX Inc. (WEX), announced that its Board of Directors has extended its share repurchase program that was initiated in 2017 and was set to expire on September 30, 2021. Under the renewed repurchase program, the Company may repurchase up to $150 million worth of the company’s common stock.

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Bill.com Holdings (BILL) Q4 Non-GAAP EPS loss (-$0.07) vs. est. loss (-$0.04); Q4 revs rose 86% to $78.3M vs. est. $62.1M; Q4 Organic Core Revenue Increased 73% YoY; Q4 Transaction Fees Increased 204% YoY; Subscription fees were $31.2M, up 32% YoY; sees Q1 EPS loss 921c-20c) on revs %=$103.2M-$104.2M vs. est. loss (5c) and $67.8M

·     Dell Inc. (DELL) Q2 Non-GAAP EPS $2.24 vs. est. $2.03; Q2 revs $26.1B vs. est. $25.53B; client solutions group revenue for q2 was up 27% to $14.3B; said qtrly VMware revenue was $3.15B, up 8%; said expects to pay down at least $16.0B in debt for FY 2022; ended qtr with remaining performance obligations of $46B, up 24% and cash and investments of $13.6B

·     Domo Inc. (DOMO) 2Q adj EPS ($0.30) vs est. ($0.36) on revs $62.8Mm vs est. $60.9Mm; guides 3Q revs $63.5-64.5Mm vs est. $63.4Mm, sees adj EPS loss $0.33-0.37 vs est. loss $0.37; guides FY adj EPS loss $1.31-1.39 vs est. loss $1.34

·     Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) 3Q adj EPS $1.00 vs est. $0.84 on revs $15.3B vs est. $15.9B; guides 4Q adj EPS $0.84-0.90 vs est. $0.81; guides FY adj EPS $3.69-3.75 vs est. $3.49

·     Marvell Technology (MRVL) Q2 adj EPS $0.34 vs. est. $0.31; Q2 revs $1.076B vs. est. $1.08B; sees Q3 EPS $0.10 plus/minus $0.04 vs. est. $0.37; sees Q3 revs $1.145B plus/minus 3% vs. est. $1.15B

·     NXP Semiconductor (NXPI) approved a $2 bln expansion of its 2021 share repurchase program and has approved payment of an interim dividend of $0.5625 per ordinary share for Q3

·     VMWare (VMW) Q2 Non-GAAP EPS $1.75 vs. est. $1.64; Q2 revs $3.14B vs. est. $3.1B; said Q2 Subscription and SaaS ARR increasing 26% year-over-year to $3.2 billion; said remain on track for planned spin-off from Dell Technologies Inc. in early Nov 2021; combination of subscription and SaaS and license revenue was $1.51 billion, an increase of 12% QoQ; subscription and SaaS revenue for Q2 was $776 million, an increase of 23% YoY

·     Workday (WDAY) Q2 EPS $1.23 vs. est. $0.78; Q2 revs $1.26B vs est. $1.24B, subscription revs $1.11B +19.5%; qtr end subscription revenue backlog $10.58B +23.1%; adj op margin 23.2% vs est. 19.6%

·     Mogu (MOGU) announces new $10M share repurchase program

·     Apple Inc (AAPL) on Thursday said it had reached a proposed settlement on a class-action lawsuit brought by small developers on its App Store and would make changes to its business as a result.

·     Alibaba (BABA) shares fall after China is seeking to tighten oversight of the algorithms technology companies use to drive their business, issuing far-reaching draft rules in Beijing’s latest move to crackdown on its internet sector.