Early Look

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	72.00	0.21%	34,424
S&P 500	11.25	0.26%	4,204
Nasdaq	56.50	0.42%	13,692

 

 

Stock futures are looking higher, adding to yesterday’s gains as the yield on the 10-year slips back below 1.6%, easing inflation fears for a second straight day. Concerns over persistent inflation have softened the last few days with more Fed speakers just yesterday (Bullard, Bostic, Brainard) again all said prices will rise in coming months but all see it as transitory. Crypto currency volatility continues as well, with many (Bitcoin back under 37K, Ethereum) pulling back after yesterday’s rebound. On the agenda today (in a relatively quiet period for news with earnings winding down) attention turns to several housing data reports with Case-Shiller Home Price Index, FHFA House Price Index and New Home Sales, while consumer confidence figures will offer some insight into current business and employment conditions. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 189 points to 28,553, the Shanghai Index jumped 84 points to 3,581 and the Hang Seng Index surged 498 points to 28,910, In Europe, the German DAX is up about 110 points to 15,550, while the FTSE 100 is flat around 7,050. U.S. stocks surged all day on Monday, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq jumping more than 1% as a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields helped lift high multiple and mega cap technology stocks (AAPL, AMZN, FB, GOOGL) as fears about inflation took a back seat as investors again bought the dip after mixed stock reaction last week. Yields on the 10-year Treasury bond hit a two-week low, around 1.6%. Markets exhibited no concern on reports President’s Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill will likely be smaller than hoped as the two sides remain wide apart.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index jumped 41.19 points, or 0.99%, to 4,197.05

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 186.14 points, or 0.54%, to 34,393.98

·     The Nasdaq Composite spiked 190.18 points, or 1.41%, to 13,661.17

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 12.07 points, or 0.54% to 2,227.34

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     7:45 AM ET         ICSC Weekly Retail Sales

·     8:55 AM ET         Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales

·     9:00 AM EST      Monthly Home Prices MoM for March

·     9:00 AM EST      S&P CaseShiller 20 City for March…est. 1.2%

·     10:00 AM EST    Consumer Confidence for May…est. 119.4

·     10:00 AM EST    New Home Sales MoM for April…est. 970K

·     10:00 AM EST    Richmond Manufacturing Index for May…prior 17

·     4:30 PM ET         API Weekly Inventory Data

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: AZO, CBRL, CTRN, DY, IMBI, VSAT

·     Earnings After the Close: A, CSWC, DV, INTU, JWN, RAMP, RRGB, SKY, TOL, URBN, ZS

 

Other Key Events:

·     Goldman Sachs TechNet Conference Asia Pacific 2021 (virtual), 5/24-5/28

·     JPMorgan Global technology, Media & Communications Conference (virtual), 5/24-5/26

·     UBS Global Healthcare Conference (virtual), 5/24-5/26

·     Jefferies IT Services Summit (virtual), 5/25

·     Microsoft Build Conference (virtual), 5/25-5/27

·     New Relic Future Stack Conference (virtual), 5/25-5/27

·     Truist Securities 22nd Annual Financial Services Conference (virtual), 5/25-5/26

·     UBS Global Oil & Gas Conference (virtual), 5/25-5/27

·     Wolfe Research Transport & Industrials Conference (virtual), 5/25-5/27

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	-0.43	65.62
Brent	-0.30	68.16
Gold	1.15	1,882.20
EUR/USD	0.0041	1.2257
JPY/USD	0.16	108.91
10-Year Note	-0.015	1.593%

 

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Alaska Air (ALK) sees Q2 total rev % change versus 2019 down about 32%-37%; plan to return to 100% of 2019 capacity by summer of 2022; sees Q2 passenger load factor about 70% to 75%; after summer of 2022 expect to return to growth rates that are similar to pre-pandemic levels

·     America’s Car-Mart (CRMT) Q4 EPS $6.19 vs. est. $2.80; Q4 revs $279.1M vs. est. $220.6M

·     Azek (AZEK) files to sell 15M shares of common stock

·     Bally’s Corporation (BALY) announced that it has entered the mobile sports betting market with the beta launch of its mobile sportsbook, Bally Bet, in Colorado

·     Shake Shack (SHAK) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush

·     Lordstown Motors (RIDE) slides 14%; reports Q1 operating loss $106.2M; said timeline to start of production in late-September 2021, which will be at limited capacity, remains on track; Q1 net loss of $125M, capex of $53M and cash of $587M on March 31, 2021; said expected year-end 2021 liquidity of between $50M-$75M in cash and cash equivalents (on March 17th, had said expects to end 2021 with $200M of cash on hand)

 

Energy

·     A quadrupling in the cost of polysilicon has pushed solar module prices up 18% YTD after plunging 90% over the previous decade, a reversal that threatens to delay projects and slow the uptake of solar power (TAN) just as major governments increasingly support it in an effort to slow climate change, Bloomberg reports.

·     PNM Resources Inc (PNC): 2 additional parties filed motions to join merger stipulation before New Mexico public regulation commission; M-S-R Power and Los Alamos County request hearing examiner allow parties to join other 11 signatories supporting agreement

·     Beam Global (BEAM) 1Q EPS ($0.14) vs. est. ($0.17) on revs $1.372Mm vs. est. $1.8Mm

 

Financials

·     KE Holdings (BEKE) slips after Reuters reports China’s market regulator has begun an investigation into suspected anti-competitive practices by BEKE, which is backed by Chinese tec   h behemoth Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) https://reut.rs/3yzY86B

·     Coinbase (COIN) initiated with an Overweight and $371 tgt at JPMorgan as sees Coinbase occupying a key position in the U.S. market for transacting cryptocurrencies

·     Ocwen Financial Corporation (OCN) said its wholly-owned subsidiary, PHH Mortgage Corporation, has entered into an agreement with AmeriHome Mortgage Company, LLC to purchase, in bulk, mortgage servicing rights with a total unpaid principal balance of approximately $48 billion

 

Healthcare

·     Canopy Growth (CGC) upgraded to Buy from Hold at MKM Partners ahead of earnings as believes that after Q4 and through the reopening of Canadian economy, co will return to sequential growth and have better aligned its supply chain to capture demand opportunities

·     eHealth (EHTH) said in a regulatory filing that Derek Yung will resign as CFO and principal financial officer, effective June 11, to pursue an executive position at a company that is not a competitor of eHealth.

·     Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL) announced results from the metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cohort 6 of COSMIC-021, the phase 1b trial of cabozantinib (CABOMETYX(R)) in combination with atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors

·     iRhythm Technologies (IRTC) received FDA’s 510K clearances for a new design of its flagship Zio monitor and its updated artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities

·     The Joint Corp. (JYNT) will replace Cubic Corp. (CUB) in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Thursday, May 27. Veritas Capital is acquiring Cubic in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final closing condition

·     Petco (WOOF) announces offering of 22M shares of Class A common stock for holders

·     Oak Street Health Inc (OSH) files for offering of up to 10.0M shares of common stock

·     Scholar Rock’s (SRRK) said its spinal muscular atrophy candidate apitegromab receives FDA Fast Track designation

 

Industrials & Materials

·     Aircraft leasing firm SMBC Aviation Capital has agreed to buy an additional 14 Boeing (BA) 737 MAX aircraft with a low-cost carrier configuration, with deliveries due to begin later this year, it said on Tuesday.

·     Carpenter Technology Corporation (CRS) said it will increase base prices by 6% to 9% on new, non-contract orders across all specialty alloy products.

·     Dycom (DY) Q1 adj EPS loss (4c) vs. est. 6c; Q1 revs $727.5M vs. est. $752.1M; ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $330.6M; sees Q2 revenue in-line to modestly lower, which is below est. $843.25M

·     Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (ATSG) announced that its leasing subsidiary Cargo Aircraft Management has committed to provide four additional Boeing 767-300 converted freighters to DHL Network Operations (USA), Inc. under the terms of stand-alone dry lease agreements

·     Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. (HYFM) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire House & Garden, Inc., Humboldt Wholesale, Inc., Allied Imports & Logistics, Inc., and South Coast Horticultural Supply, Inc.

·     Nordson (NSDN) Q2 EPS $2.12 vs. est. $1.64; Q2 sales $590M vs. est. $548M; sees FY EPS $7.20-$7.50 vs. est. $6.65 and sales up about 8%-10%

·     GrafTech (EAF) files to sell 20M shares of common stock for holders

·     Rexford Industrial (REXR) 9M share Spot Secondary priced at $55.60

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     TrueCar (TRUE) board increased maximum value of shares of stock that may be repurchased under its previously-announced share repurchase program to $150 mln

·     Globant (GLOB) announces offering of 1M common shares