Early Look

Friday, September 3, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	60.00	0.17%	35,484
S&P 500	8.25	0.19%	4,543
Nasdaq	18.50	0.12%	15,619

 

 

The long holiday weekend is upon us (back-to-school), with U.S. stock futures steadily higher ahead of the all-important August payroll report, a closely watched data point to see when the Federal Reserve might unveil its plans to begin withdrawing its massive pandemic-era stimulus. Economists are looking for a reading of +728K nonfarm payrolls (vs. +943K in July), +665K private payrolls (vs. +703K in July), and +25K manufacturing payrolls (vs. +27K in July); the unemployment rate expected to drop to 5.2% from 5.4%, while average hourly earnings estimated to rise +0.3% MoM and +4.0% Yoy. Stocks pared gains after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched all-time highs Thursday with energy and health-care shares leading the charge, as oil prices touched their highest levels in about a month back above $70 per barrel. Yesterday bright spots included Smallcaps and Transports as well with tech mixed. It now remains to be seen if markets will put the pedal-to-the-metal, or sharply reverse, with Friday’s much anticipated August employment report. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 584 points to 29,128, the Shanghai Index slipped -15 points to 3,581, and the Hang Seng Index dropped -188 points to 25,901 to close out the week. In Europe, the German DAX is up around 20-points to 15,860, while the FTSE 100 gains about 10 to 7,175, another strong week for European and Asian markets.

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Nonfarm Payrolls for Aug…est. 728K

·     8:30 AM ET         Private Payrolls for Aug…est. 665K

·     8:30 AM ET         Manufacturing Payrolls for Aug…est. 25K

·     8:30 AM ET         Unemployment Rate for Aug…est. 5.2%

·     8:30 AM ET         Average Hourly Earnings for Aug…est. +0.3%

·     9:45 AM ET         Markit Composite PMI, Aug-F

·     9:45 AM ET         Markit Services PMI, Aug-F

·     10:00 AM ET      ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI for Aug…est. 61.5

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

 

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index gained 12.86 points, or 0.28%, to 4,536.95

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 131.29 points, or 0.37%, to 35,443.82

·     The Nasdaq Composite climbed 21.80 points, or 0.14%, to 15,331.18

·     The Russell 2000 Index advanced 16.69 points, or 0.74% to 2,304.02

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	0.26	70.25
Brent	0.47	73.50
Gold	3.65	1,813.30
EUR/USD	-0.0003	1.1872
JPY/USD	-0.01	109.93
10-Year Note	+0.01	1.304%

 

 

World News

·     Japan’s beleaguered Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, surprised markets in Asia Friday by announcing plans to step down in the coming weeks, ending an unpopular tenue at the head of the world’s third largest economy. Suga, 72, took over the office of Prime Minister following the resignation of Shinzo Abe

·     Chinese Caixin Services PMI August 46.7 below the expected reading of 52.0 (prior 54.9) and the Caixin Composite PMI for August also contraction territory at 47.2 (vs. previous 53.1)

·     Eurozone July Retail Sales missed at -2.3% MoM vs 0.1% consensus, 3.1% YoY vs 4.8% consensus

·     Eurozone Aug Services PMI (final) missed at 59.0 vs 59.7 consensus

·     German Aug Services PMI (final) missed at 60.8 vs 61.5 consensus

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     Beyond Meat, Inc. (BYND) said that its COO is stepping down effective immediately.

·     Didi Global (DIDI) rises initially after Bloomberg reported that Beijing’s municipal government has proposed an investment in Didi Global Inc. that would give state-run firms control of the world’s largest ride- hailing company.

·     Joann Inc. (JOAN) 2Q sales $496.9Mm vs est. $533.2Mm; Q2 adjusted Ebitda $23.5Mm; Q2 adjusted net loss $8.3Mm

·     Oxford Industries (OXM) 2Q adj EPS $3.24 vs est. $2.33 on sales $329Mm vs est. $308.2Mm; guides 3Q sales $220-230Mm vs est. $206Mm, sees 3Q adj EPS $0.20-0.30; guides FY sales $1.085-1.105B vs est. $1.05B, sees FY adj EPS $6.45-6.70 vs est. $5.22

·     Quanex Building (NX) Q3 adj EPS $0.42 on sales $279.9M vs. est. $272.6M; expect inflation, labor costs, and supply chain challenges to continue pressuring margins throughout q4 of this year; reaffirming net sales guidance of approximately $1.04B-$1.06B vs. est. $1.05B

·     Tilly’s (TLYS) 2Q EPS $0.66 vs est. $0.51 on revs $202Mm vs est. $189.7Mm; guides 3Q EPS $0.30-0.34 vs est. $0.24, sees 3Q sales about $187-193Mm vs est. $173Mm

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·      Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) reports an average of 79 drilling rigs operating for the month of August, 2021

 

Financials

·     Marathon Digital (MARA) published unaudited bitcoin (BTC) production and miner installation updates for August. The company produced 469.6 new minted bitcoins during August 2021, increasing total bitcoin holdings to approximately 6,695 with a fair market value of approximately $316.4M. Cash on hand was approximately $70.9M and total liquidity, defined as cash and bitcoin holdings, was approximately $387.3M

 

Healthcare

·     Cooper Companies (COO) 3Q adj EPS $3.41 vs est. $3.29 on revs $763.4Mm vs est. $726.8Mm; guides 4Q adj EPS $3.24-3.44 vs est. $3.49, sees 4Q revs $730-760Mm vs est. $748.7Mm; guides FY revs $2.893-2.923B vs est. $2.875B, sees FY adj EPS $13.20-13.40 vs est. $13.33

·     Forte Biosciences (FBRX) shares tumble over -80%; said FB-401 for the treatment of Atopic Dermatitis failed to meet primary endpoint and the company will not continue to advance it

·     Cellect Biotechnology (APOP) rises 55%; announced the first ApoGraft transplantation in a Leukemia patient in the company’s clinical trial at Washington University in the U.S. The trial, initiated in October, will enroll 18 patients with cancers affecting the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes, that are undergoing transplantation

·     AstraZeneca (AZN) & the EU have agreed a C-19 vaccine supply & ended the litigation; the deal will ensure delivery of the remaining C-19 shots to EU countries; will deliver 60m doses by the end of Q3 & 135m by year end

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Broadcom (AVGO) Q3 Adj EPS $6.96 vs. est. $6.888; Q3 revs $6.78B vs. est. $6.76B; Q4 revenue guidance of approximately $7.35B vs. est. $7.23B; Q4 adjusted Ebitda guidance of approximately 61% of projected revenue; expect free cash flow to remain strong in Q4

·     DocuSign (DOCU) 2Q adj EPS $0.47 vs est. $0.40 on revs $511.8Mm vs est. $485.3Mm, billings $595.4Mm +47%; guides 3Q revs $526-532Mm vs est. $517Mm, sees 3Q adj gr mgn 79-81% and adj op mgn 17-19%; guides FY revs $2.078-2.088B vs est. $2.044B, sees adj gr mgn 79-81% and adj op mgn 16-18%

·     Guidewire Software (GWRE) Q4 adj EPS $0.37 vs. est. $0.25; Q4 revs $229.4M vs. est. $222.35M; sees Q1 revs $162M-$166M vs. est. $174.6M and Q1 ARR $586M-$590M; sees FY22 revs $780M-$790M vs. est. $769.23M and sees FY22 ARR $657M-$667M

·     Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) Q3 adj EPS $0.47 vs. est. $0.42; Q3 revs $6.9B vs. est. $6.93B; sees Q4 EPS $0.44-$0.52 vs. est. $0.49; reinstating share repurchase program and targeting share repurchases of up to $250M in Q4 fy21; raises FY Gaap diluted net eps outlook to $0.80 to $0.88 and non-Gaap diluted net eps outlook to $1.88 to $1.96

·     Medallia Inc. (MDLA) Q2 adj EPS loss (-$0.09) vs. est. loss (-$0.08); Q2 revs $144.1M vs. est. $138.17M; won’t be providing guidance for 3q of fiscal yr 2022, suspending its guidance for full year as a result of pending transaction

·     MongoDB Inc. (MDB) Q2 non-GAAP EPS loss (-$0.24) vs. est. (-$0.39); Q2 revs $198.7M vs. est. $184.2M; said Q2 results were exceptionally strong across the board, highlighted by Atlas revenue growth of 83%; recently surpassed 200Mm cumulative downloads from our website and had more than 75Mm downloads over the last 12 months alone; sees Q3 non-GAAP EPS loss (42c)-(39c) vs. est. loss (-$0.37); sees Q3 revs $202.0M-$204.0M vs. est. $198.3M

·     Ooma Inc. (OOMA) 2Q adj EPS $0.13 vs est. $0.09 on revs $47.1Mm vs est. $46.4Mm; guides 3Q adj EPS $0.08-0.11 vs est. $0.07, sees 3Q revs $47.8-48.5Mm vs est. $46.7Mm; guides FY adj EPS $0.40-0.46 vs est. $0.35, sees FY revs $188.5-190Mm vs est. $186.5Mm

·     PagerDuty (PD) 2Q adj EPS ($0.13) vs est. ($0.15) on revs $68Mm vs est. $65.6Mm; guides 3Q adj EPS loss $0.09-0.10 vs est. loss $0.09, sees 3Q revs $69-71Mm vs est. $68.3Mm; guides FY revs $273-276Mm vs est. $270.5Mm, sees FY adj EPS loss $0.35-0.39 vs est. loss $0.39

·     Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Q2 adj EPS $1.97 vs. est. $1.47; Q2 revs $1.8B vs. est. $1.79B; raises FY22 adj EPS view to $6.50-$6.70 from $6.15-$6.40 (est. $6.51); boosts FY22 revenue view to $7.3B-$7.4B from $7.15B-$7.3B (est. $7.33B)

·     Yext Inc. (YEXT) 2Q adj EPS ($0.06) vs est. ($0.07) on revs $98.1Mm vs est. $95Mm; guides 3Q revs $97.5-98.5Mm vs est. $97.2Mm, sees 3Q adj EPS loss $0.06-0.08 vs est. loss $0.05; guides FY revs 386-388Mm vs est. $385.2Mm, sees FY adj EPS loss $0.20-0.24 vs est. loss $0.18

·     Reddit Inc, the operator of online message boards that became the go-to destination for day traders chasing this year’s frenzy for so-called ‘meme’ stocks, is seeking to hire investment bankers and lawyers for an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Reddit was valued at $10 billion in a private fundraising round last month – Reuters

·     Sphere 3D (ANY) shares down -28%; to issue 22.6M common shares and warrants to purchase 11.3M common shares for gross proceeds of $192.1M, in a registered direct offering