Early Look

Friday, May 22, 2020

Stock futures in the U.S. are trending lower, adding to yesterday’s late day losses as a controversial new security law in Hong Kong and no China GDP forecast are refueling the concerns over U.S.-China relations. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. would react “strongly” toward those moves on Hong Kong. China’s top economic official said on Friday that the government won’t set a growth target, and vowed more spending to help fight the virus and repair the damaged economy. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -164 points to 20,388, while the Shanghai Index dropped 54 points (1.89%) to 2,813 and the Hang Seng Index plummeted 1,349 points or 5.56% to settle at 22,930 after news that China will tighten control over Hong Kong with a new security law, sparking fears of fresh unrest. In Europe, the German DAX is down over 30 points to 11,030, while the FTSE 100 is down around 50 points to 5,950. Oil prices tumble, on track to snap its 6-day winning streak over worries about China growth and fresh friction between Beijing and Hong Kong. On Thursday, the contract rose 1.3% to settle at $33.91, which was the highest since March 10. The long holiday weekend could also make investors wary of holding on to stocks into the three-day Memorial Day break.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index dropped -23.10 points, or 0.78%, to 2,948.51

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -101.78 points, or 0.41%, to 24,474.12

·     The Nasdaq Composite slumped -90.90 points, or 0.97%, to 9,284.88

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 0.63 points, or 0.05% to 1,347.56

Economic Calendar for Today

·     No Major Economic Data Released Today

World News

·     China’s top economic official said on Friday that the country won’t set a growth target for 2020, and pledged to spend more to repair economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak

·     The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet climbs to a record $7.04T for the week ended May 20, $103B higher than the previous week. Includes $1.8B of corporate-debt ETF purchases in the first six days of the program. Holds $4.09T of U.S. Treasury securities, $32B higher than the previous week

·     U.K. British retail sales recorded their biggest monthly drop on record in April, while government borrowing ballooned due to the country’s lockdown aimed at stopping the spread of the new coronavirus; Retail sales in the U.K. fell 18.1% on the month

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Chuy’s Holdings (CHUY) Q1 adjusted EPS 1c/$94.5M vs. est. 7c/$96.91M; Q1 comparable restaurant sales decreased 9.7%; said through the first 10 weeks of the quarter, comparable restaurants sales increased 3.3%; suspends buybacks and withdraws guidance for remainder of year; 1Q restaurant level operating margin 13.5% vs. 15.4% y/y

·     Decker’s Brands (DECK) Q4 EPS 57c/$374.9M vs. est. 21c/$374.19M; on a constant currency basis, net sales decreased 4.5%; 4Q UGG net sales -17.9% vs. -7.20% YoY while HOKA net sales +51.8% vs. +33.2% YoY and Teva net sales +12.5% vs. -3.80% YoY

·     e.l.f. Beauty (ELF) Q4 EPS 10c/$74.7M vs. est. 5c/$67.06M; Q4 adjusted EBITDA decreased 3% to $11.7M from $12.0 million in the three months ended March 31, 2019; suspends guidance for the year; anticipates sales to be negatively impacted until consumers return to normal shopping patterns

·     ePlus (PLUS) Q4 EPS $1.24/$366.5M vs. est. 95c/$354.6M; Q4 EBITDA up 20% at $23.5M, and gross margin up 10bps at 25.1%.

·     Ross Stores (ROST) 1Q EPS ($0.87) including 58C inventory charge, vs. est. EPS $0.00, 1Q net sales $1.84B vs. est. $2.02B; not providing guidance for 2Q or FY

Energy, Industrials & Materials

·     Deere (DE) Q2 EPS $2.11 on revenue $8.22B vs. est. $1.80 and $7.71B; sees FY net income $1`.6B, below the $2.1B estimate and lowers shipment volumes in Agriculture and Turf

·     Qatar Petroleum will invite Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) for talks to form a joint venture to expand gas production at the country’s North Field, energy minister and QP chief Saad Al-Kaabi – Bloomberg

Financials

·     Intuit (INTU) Q1 adj EPS $4.49 vs. est. $4.64 on revs $3.0B vs. est. $3.02B, had cash & investments of $4B as of Apr 30, drew down $1B revolver May 7

Healthcare

·     Agilent (A) Q2 adjusted EPS 71c/$1.24B vs. est. 61c/ $1.21B; said their business was tracking well into late March when we experienced significant disruption in the U.S. and Europe as customers closed or restricted access to their facilities to slow the spread of COVID-19

·     Abbott (ABT) said interim analysis of a study in urgent care clinics indicates its Covid-19 rapid test, ID NOW, performs best in patients tested earlier after their symptoms start to show, when they are most likely to go in for care

·     Amarin Corporation plc (AMRN) announced support for a clinical trial to investigate the effects of icosapent ethyl (IPE) (VASCEPA®) on inflammatory biomarkers and other patient outcomes in individuals with COVID-19

·     Geron (GERN) said it plans a Phase 3 clinical trial in refractory myelofibrosis, which is expected to open for screening and enrollment in 1Q 2021

·     Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SNDX) shares fall -19% as its trial did not achieve the primary endpoint of demonstrating a statistically significant overall survival (OS) benefit over hormone therapy alone

·     Boston Scientific (BSX) 25.55M share Spot Secondary priced at $34.25

·     ContraFect (CFRX) 11.798M share Spot Secondary priced at $4.45

·     Dynavax (DVAX) 14M share Spot Secondary priced at $5.00

·     Hoth Therapeutics (HOTH) 1.8M share Spot Secondary priced at $2.75

·     Inari Medical (NARI) 8.203M share IPO priced at $19.00

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Nvidia (NVDA) Q1 adj EPS $1.80 on revs $3.08B (up 39% YoY) vs. est. $1.69 and $3.0B; sees Q2 revs $3.65B plus/minus 2% vs. est. $3.28B; said Q1 data center revenue of $1.14B was up 80% YoY; Q1 GAAP gross margin 65.1% vs 58.4% reported last year

·     HP Enterprise (HPE) Q2 adjusted EPS 22c/$6.01B vs. est. 30c/$6.19B; noted the global economic lockdowns since February significantly impacted our fiscal Q2 financial performance; exited Q2 with $1.5 billion dollars in orders across the portfolio; not providing Q3 or FY20 guidance; sees cash funding payments of $1B-$1.3B over next 3 years

·     International Business Machines (IBM) said it would cut an unspecified number of jobs, the first such reduction since Chief Executive Arvind Krishna took the helm

·     Lions Gate (LGF/A) 4Q adj EPS $0.21 vs. est. $0.22 on revs $944.3Mm vs. est. $930.87Mm, 4Q adj OIBDA $125.8Mm

·     Netease (NTES) said it seeks June 11^th Hong Kong listing and JD.com (JD) seeks June 18th

·     Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Q3 adjusted EPS $1.17/$869.4M vs. est. 93c/$829.48M; sees Q4 adjusted EPS $1.37-$1.40 on revs $915M-$925M vs. est. $1.30 and $915.91M; guides FY revs $3.37-3.38B (was $3.35-3.39B), sees FY adj EPS $4.78-4.81 (was $4.55-4.65); sees Q4 total billings $1.19B-$1.21B, representing year-over-year growth of between 13%-14%

·     Perspecta (PRSP) Q4 adjusted EPS 55c/$1.1B vs. est. 51c/$1.07B; sees FY21 adjusted EPS $1.90-$2.03 on revs $4.26B-$4.41B vs. est. $1.96/$4.23B

·     Splunk (SPLK) Q1 adjusted EPS loss (56c)/$434M vs. est. loss (57c)/$442.85M; sees Q2 revenue $520M below consensus $550.57M and sees Q2 adjusted operating margin (15%)-(10%); Q1 ARR was $1.775 billion, up 52% year-over-year and Q1 cloud revenue was $112 million, up 81% YoY