Morning Preview: March 06, 2024

Auto PostDaily Market Report

Early Look

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Futures

Up/Down

%

Last

Dow

90.00

0.23%

38,697

S&P 500

17.25

0.34%

5,103

Nasdaq

118.50

0.66%

18,048

 

 

U.S. stock futures bouncing back from yesterday declines, as S&P futures moving back above 5,100, more than 40-points off the Tuesday afternoon low of 5,063 into Fed Chairman Powell testimony on Capitol Hill at 10:00 AM on the economy and monetary policy. Powell is due to deliver testimony before lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday, ahead of the February non-farm payroll report on Friday. Also, later this morning monthly ADP private payrolls data at 8:15 AM ET as well as JOLTs jobs data at 10:00 AM and a ton of other Fed speakers throughout the day. U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday, with weakness in mega-cap growth stocks weighing on the Nasdaq (AAPL, MSFT, TSLA, GOOGL), while investors assessed a slew of economic data. Note the S&P has not had three consecutive daily losses since the first week of January, looking to snap its 2-day losing streak. Other asset classes seeing strength in 2024 with gold making a third straight record high on Tuesday and Bitcoin a wild ride, hitting fresh all-time highs above $69K early Tuesday, before tumbling back below $60K just 4-hours later (but no up over 5% back above $66K). A decline in Treasury yields has failed to cushion stock losses the last 2-days with the 10-yr touching 1-month lows of 4.11% before rebounding to 4.16%. Software stocks giving the Nasdaq a boost this morning as cyber security company CRWD shares surge over 20% following earnings and guidance overnight, easing concerns in an industry that was hit from a soft outlook from peer PANW 2-weeks ago. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index slipped -6 points to 40,090, the Shanghai Index dipped -7 points to 3,038, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 275 points to 16,438. In Europe, the German DAX is flat at 17,698, while the FTSE 100 is up 22 points to 7,673.

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

  • The S&P 500 Index slumped -52.30 points, or 1.02%, to 5,078.65.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -404.64 points, or 1.04%, to 38,585.19.
  • The Nasdaq Composite dropped -1.65 points, or 1.65%, to 15,939.59.
  • The Russell 2000 Index declined -20.60 points, or 0.99% to 2,053.71.

Economic Calendar for Today

  • 7:00 AM ET                  MBA Mortgage Applications Data
  • 8:15 AM ET                  ADP Private Payrolls for February…est. 150K (prior 107K)
  • 10:00 AM ET                Fed Chairman Powell to testify on Capitol Hill before Congress
  • 10:00 AM ET                Wholesale Inventory M/M for January…est. (-0.1%)
  • 10:00 AM ET                JOLTs Job Openings for January…est. 8.9M (prior 9.026M)
  • 10:30 AM ET                Weekly DOE Inventory Data
  • 12:00 PM ET                Fed’s Daly to Give Keynote Address
  • 2:00 PM ET                   Federal Reserve Releases Beige Book
  • 4:15 PM ET                   Fed’s Kashkari Speaks at WSJ Event

Earnings Calendar:

  • Earnings Before the Open: ANF BF/B BRY CPB EVGO FL JD KFY REVG SOHO THO TRIN UNFI WVE XERS
  • Earnings After the Close: AEYE AIRG BRCC CDXC EARN EBS HDSN HNST INFN IPI KIDS KLXE LVLU OSPN SCOR TPVG VSCO VSEC YEXT ZYME

Other Key Events:

  • Goldman Sachs Annual Disruptive Technology Symposium, 3/6-3/7, in London
  • Morgan Stanley Energy & Power Conference, 3/4-3/7 in New York
  • Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, 3/4-3/6, in San Francisco, CA
  • RBC Capital Global Financial Institutions Conference, 3/5-3/6, in New York
  • TD Cowen 44th Annual Health Care Conference, 3/4-3/6, in Boston, MA
  • China Imports, Exports and Trade Balance for February
  • President Biden hold State of the Union address 9:00 PM ET.

 

 

Macro

Up/Down

Last

Nymex

0.78

78.93

Brent

0.51

82.55

Gold

-3.60

2,138.30

EUR/USD

0.0019

1.0874

JPY/USD

-0.30

149.73

10-Year Note

+0.027

4.164%

 

World News

  • The yen rallied on reports at least one BOJ policymaker will say it’s appropriate to end negative rates at the March meeting. The BOJ is also said to be getting more confident over the strength of wage growth.

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

  • Nordstrom (JWN) Q4 adj EPS $0.96 vs est. $0.88 on revs $4.42B vs est. $4.238B, inventory -2.7% y/y vs sales +2.2%; sees FY revs -2% to +1% vs est. +1.53%, comps -1% to +2%, EBIT mgn 3.5-4.0% and EPS $1.65-2.05 vs est. $1.98.
  • Ross Stores (ROST) approves $2.1B stock buyback, boosts quarterly dividend 10%; Q4 EPS $1.82 vs est. $1.65 on revs $6.023B vs est. $5.793B; guides Q1 comps +2-3%, EPS $1.29-1.35 vs est. $1.27; sees FY comps +2-3% and EPS $5.64-5.89 vs est. $5.91.
  • ChargePoint (CHPT) Q4 EPS loss (-$0.23) vs. est. loss (-$0.13); Q4 revs fell -24% y/y to $115.8M vs. est. $118.8M; sees Q1 revenue $100M-$110M below consensus $126.1M; Q4 gross margin was 19% as compared to 22% y/y.
  • Couchbase (BASE) Q4 adj op Inc ($4.1)Mm vs est. ($7.755)Mm on revs $50.089Mm vs est. $46.66Mm, adj gr mgn 90.4%; sees Q1 revs $48.1-48.9Mm vs est. $47.04Mm, total ARR $206.5-209.5Mm and adj op Inc ($8.5)Mm – ($7.5)Mm vs est. ($9.007)Mm; sees FY revs $203-207Mm vs est. $204.58Mm, total ARR $235.5-240.5Mm and adj op Inc ($27.5)Mm – ($22.5)Mm vs est. ($27.54)Mm.
  • Oddity Tech (ODD) Q4 adj EPS $0.17 vs. est. $0.12; Q4 revs rose 44% y/y to $97.25M vs. est. $85.5M; sees FY24 adjusted EPS $1.49-$1.54 vs. est. $1.57 and sees FY24 revenue $620M-$630M vs. est. $591.61M; Q4 Gross margin was 69.4%, increasing by 400 bps versus gross margin of 65.4% y/y.
  • Thor Industries (THO) Q2 revenue $2.21B below consensus $2.27B; cuts FY24 EPS view to $5.00-$5.50 from $6.25-$7.25 (est. $6.69); cuts FY24 revenue view to $10B-$10.5B from $10.5B-$11B (est. $10.65B) and lowers its FY24 consolidated gross profit margin in the range of 14.0% to 14.5% vs. prior view 14.5% to 15.0%.

Energy, Industrials and Materials

  • Cadre Holdings (CDRE) Q4 EPS $0.25 vs. est. $0.18; Q4 revs $124.6M vs. est. $121.76M; sees FY24 revenue $553M-$572M vs. est. $534.0M and guides FY24 adjusted EBITDA $104M-$108M.
  • Old Dominion (ODFL) downgraded to Neutral at Bank America citing lagging volume growth.
  • Viper Energy (VNOM) 11.5M share Spot Secondary priced at $35.00.

Financials

  • Bit Digital (BTBT) reports February production 128.7 Bitcoin, down 11.7% from prior month; active hash rate was approximately 2.73 EH/s as of February 29.
  • MeridianLink (MLNK) Q4 adj EPS loss (-$0.29) vs. est. loss (-$0.07); Q4 revs rose 6% y/y to $74.6M vs. est. $74.57M, driven by lending software solutions revenue of $59.5M, reflecting growth of 8% y/y; sees Q1 revenue $75M-$78M vs est. $81.63M and FY revs $313M-$323M vs. est. $329M.

Healthcare

  • Akero Therapeutics (AKRO) 11M share Secondary priced at $29.00.
  • BridgeBio (BBIO) 8.6M share Secondary priced at $29.00.
  • Cerus Corp. (CERS) Q4 adj EPS ($0.01) vs est. ($0.02), adj EBITDA $4.7Mm vs est. $2.838Mm on revs $46.8Mm vs est. $49.27Mm; guides FY revs $172-175Mm vs est. $185.87Mm.
  • DexCom (DXCM) announced that the FDA has cleared Stelo by Dexcom – the first glucose biosensor that doesn’t require a prescription.
  • Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL) Q4 EPS $0.00 vs est. ($0.03) on revs $35.8Mm vs est. $34.1Mm.

Technology, Media & Telecom

  • Crowdstrike (CRWD) 4Q adj EPS $0.95 vs. est. $0.83; Q4 revs $845.3M vs. est. $839.6M; sees 2025 revenues $3.92B-$3.99B vs. est. $3.94B; Q4 Ending ARR grows 34% y/y to reach $3.44B and net new ARR growth accelerates to 27% y/y and reaches a record $282 million; to acquire Flow Security to expand its cloud security leadership with data security posture management.
  • Box Inc. (BOX) Q4 adj EPS $0.42 vs. est. $0.38; Q4 revs $263M vs est. $262.97M; sees Q1 adj EPS $0.35-$0.36 on revs $261M-$263M vs est. $0.38/$260.96M; guides FY 25 PS and sales both below consensus; authorizes expansion of stock buyback by $100M.
  • HashiCorp. Inc (HCP) Q4 EPS $0.05 vs. est. $0.01; Q4 revs $155.78M vs. est. $149.29M; sees FY25 EPS $0.05-$0.07 vs. est. $0.14 and sees FY25 revenue $643M-$647M vs. est. $654.79M; said board approved $250M share repurchase plan.
  • JD.com (JD) announces new $3B share repurchase program; Q4 EPS $0.75 vs. est. $0.63; Q4 revs rose 3.6% y/y to $43.11B vs. est. $42.16B; said higher sales and a jump in nonoperating income offsetting various impairments.
  • Ooma Inc. (OOMA) Q4 adj EPS $0.13 vs. est. $0.12; Q4 revs rose 9% y/y to $61.7M vs. est. $61.46M; Q4 Subscription and services revenue increased to $58.0M from $52.6M y/y; sees FY25 adjusted EPS $0.51-$0.55 vs. est. $0.61 and revs $250M-$253M vs. est. $256.26M.
  • Entravision (EVC) Q4 EPS ($0.21) vs est. $0.07 on revs $320.063Mm vs est. $308.48Mm; says on March 4 received communication from Meta that it intends to wind down its ASP program globally and end relationship with all its ASPs … company estimates Meta’s ASP program represented approx $23.8Mm of the $57.7Mm consolidated EBITDA and $586.4Mm of company’s $1.107B revs for FY23.

_________________________________________________________________

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.

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