Early Look

Friday, September 10, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	167.00	0.48%	34,920
S&P 500	17.25	0.38%	4,500
Nasdaq	58.50	0.37%	15,608

 

 

U.S. futures are looking sharply higher, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average looking to snap their respective 4-day losing streaks, the longest for the S&P since the middle of June. There hasn’t been much news for the recent sputtering of stocks on this holiday shortened week, though it is noteworthy that major averages remain roughly 1% off all-time highs in what has been a momentous run the last few months on dovish Fed policy and strong corporate earnings. Wall Street got a sentiment boost overnight after U.S. President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping held a surprise 90-minute phone call late Thursday, the first between the two world leaders in seven months. Asia shares got a boost from news of the talks, with the positive sentiment flowing through into a European session that was still navigating yesterday’s tapering decision from the ECB and news showing that the ongoing spread of Delta variant coronavirus infections lead to the slowest monthly economic growth in the UK since the January lockdowns. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 373 points (1.25%) to 30,331, the Shanghai Index rose 10 points to 3,703 and the Hang Seng Index surged 489 points (1.91%) to 26,205. The German DAX gains 50 points to 15,675, while the FTSE 100 rises 25 points to 7,050.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index dropped -20.79 points, or 0.46%, to 4,493.28

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -151.69 points, or 0.43%, to 34,879.38

·     The Nasdaq Composite slipped -38.38 points, or 0.25%, to 15,248.25

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -0.60 points, or 0.13% to 2,249.13

 

Events Calendar for Today

·     8:30 AM ET         Producer Price Index (PPI) MoM for Aug…est. 0.6%

·     8:30 AM ET         Producer Price Index (PPI) YoY for Aug…est. 8.2%

·     8:30 AM ET         PPI Core Ex: Food & Energy MoM for Aug …est. 0.5%

·     8:30 AM ET         PPI Core Ex: Food & Energy YoY for Aug…est. 6.6%

·     10:00 AM ET      Wholesale Inventories MoM for July…est. 0.6%

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

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: KR

 

Other Key Events:

·     Barclay’s Global Consumer Staples Conference (virtual) 2021, 9/8-9/10

·     Barclay’s CEO Energy-Power Conference 2021 (virtual), 9/8-9/10

·     Citigroup Annual BioPharma Conference (virtual), 9/8-9/10

·     Citigroup GEMS Conference 2021 (virtual), 9/8-9/10

·     Cowen 14th Annual Global Transportation & Sustainable Mobility Conference, 9/8-9/10

·     Credit Suisse 2021 Global Steel & Mining Conference (virtual), 9/8-9/10

·     Deutsche Bank 2021 Technology Conference (virtual), 9/9-9/10

·     JMP Securities Fintech Forum: Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Conference, 9/10

·     Wells Fargo 2021 Healthcare Conference (virtual), 9/9-9/10

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	1.12	69.18
Brent	1.04	72.57
Gold	-0.40	1,794.20
EUR/USD	0.0006	1.1831
JPY/USD	0.23	109.95
10-Year Note	+0.0287	1.3258%

 

 

World News

·     The Federal Reserve’s Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren will sell all their stocks, Wall Street Journal reporter Michael S. Derby said via Twitter. The moves come after the policymakers were criticized for actively trading stocks and bonds last year.

·     UK Jul GDP misses at +0.1% MoM vs. 0.6% consensus; on a YoY basis, +7.5% vs 8.0% consensus; UK July Industrial Production +1.2% MoM vs 0.4% consensus and +3.8% YoY vs 3.0% consensus

·     Germany Aug CPI (final) +3.9% YoY in line; and flat MoM in line

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     American Outdoor Brands (AOUT) Q1 Non-GAAP EPS $0.48 vs. est. $0.24; Q1 revs $60.8M vs. est. $57.4M; sees Q2 sales up more than 20%; Gross margin of 47.7% increased 70 basis points over the comparable quarter last year; Adjusted EBITDAS was $9.6 million, or 15.7% of net sales, compared with $8.7 million, or 17.3% of net sales; sees year EEPS $2.02-$2.26 vs. est. $2.21

·     Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) Q2 EPS $1.07 vs. est. $0.58; Q2 sales $377.6M vs. est. $358.5M; Q2 comp sales rose 3.6%; expects Q3 comparable store sales to be about in line with qtr-to-date trends compared to Q3 2019; sees Q3 Ebitda to be significantly higher than Q3 2019 Ebitda of $39.8M; sees total of four new store openings during fiscal year 2021 and relocation of one existing location

·     Toyota Motor Corp (TM) cut its production forecasts for September and October, blaming shortages of chips and other parts as suppliers; said it will produce 70,000 fewer vehicles than previously planned this month, and 330,000 fewer vehicles next month.

·     National Beverage (FIZZ) Q1 EPS $0.58 vs. est. $0.51; Q1 revs $311.7M vs. est. $299.19M; Gross margin was 40%; operating income was $70.3 million or 22.6% of sales; and cash was $245.5M

·     Zumiez (ZUMZ) Q2 EPS $0.94 vs est. $0.79 on revenue $268.7M vs est. $180.5M; Q3 sales through Sept 6th +23.2% YoY vs 1st 37 days in 3Q20; not providing outlook for Q3 or full-year at this time

·     Destination XL (DXLG) 5.73M share Spot Secondary priced at $6.10

·     VICI Properties (VICI) 100M share Secondary priced at $29.50

 

Energy, Industrials and Materials

·     Fortress Transportation (FTAI) 12M share Secondary priced at $25.50

·     Radiant Logistics (RLGT) Q4 EPS in-line $0.21 on revenue $257.9M vs est. $227.35M

·     Yellow Corp (YELL) less-than-truckload, percent change for shipments per workday in qtd was down 5.2%; LTL percent change for revenue per shipment in qtd was up 18.5%

 

Financials

·     Affirm (AFRM) Q4 EPS loss (-$0.48) vs. est. loss (-$0.29); Q4 revs $261.8M vs. est. $226.39M; Q4 GMV $2.5B, up 106%; Active merchants grew by 412% to nearly 29,000 for Q4, including several thousand newly integrated Shopify merchants; Q4 active consumers grew 97% to 7.1M; sees Q1 revenue $240M-$250M vs. est. $233.89M; sees FY22 revenue $1.16B-$1.19B vs. est. $1.17B; sees FY22 GMV $12.45B-$12.75B

·     Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) said it expects positive cash flow in Q3 of $16M-19M despite the recent impact of attrition and cancellations related to the COVID-19 delta variant spread (compares with a negative cash flow of $1M in Q2, and -$32M in Q2 of last year)

·     United Insurance Holdings (UIHC) estimates current year catastrophe losses of ~$27M for Q3.

·     Farmer Bros. (FARM) Q4 EPS loss (-$0.24) on revs $102.86M

·     WillScot Mobile Mini (WSC) 21.41M share Spot Secondary priced at $28.50

 

Healthcare

·     Apellis (APLS) announced that while its phase 3 OAKS study evaluating intravitreal pegcetacoplan in patients with geographic atrophy met the primary endpoint for both monthly and every-other-month treatment, the DERBY study did not meet the primary endpoint of GA lesion growth, showing a reduction of 12% and 11% with monthly and every-other-month treatment

·     Cigna (CI) assumed at Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen with a price target of $235, down from $300

·     Humana (HUM) assumed at Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen and raise tgt to $479 from $470

·     OrthoPediatrics (KIDS) entered into a distribution agreement with a subsidiary of SeaSpine (SPNE) to exclusively distribute the 7D Surgical FLASH Navigation platform for pediatric applications.

·     Agilon Health (AGL) 17M share Secondary priced at $30.00

·     Impel NeuroPharma (IMPL) 3M share Secondary priced at $15.00

·     Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (OCDX) 22M share Secondary priced at $17.50

·     Senators may seek to cap the prices that Medicare pays for certain medications so that they’re no higher than what other government programs, like the Department of Veterans Affairs, will pay, STAT reports exclusively

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Sumo Group Plc (SUMO) Q2 EPS loss (-$0.11) vs. est. loss (-$0.14); Q2 revs $58.8M vs. est. $56.69M; sees revenue $236.8M-$238.8M vs. est. $200.9M; sees adjusted loss per share 51c to 52c vs. est. loss (79c)

·     Verint Systems (VRNT) Q2 EPS $0.58 vs. est. $0.42; Q2 revs $216M vs. est. $207.74M; sees Q3 revs $215M-$220M vs. est. $220.2M; sees year revs $872M plus/minus 2% vs. est. $863.2M

·     Zscaler (ZS) Q4 Non-GAAP EPS $0.14 vs. est. $0.09; Q4 revs $197.1M vs. est. $186.8M; sees Q1 EPS about $0.12, in-line with ests on revs $210M-$212M vs. est. $200M; sees year revs $940M-$950M vs. est. $902M; sees year billings $1.23 billion to $1.25 billion above est. $1.14 billion

·     PowerSchool (PWSC) Q2 revenue $145.4M vs. est. $142.86M; sees Q3 revenue $140M-$143M vs. est. $142.86M; sees Q3 adjusted EBITDA $36M-$39M; sees FY21 revenue $542M-$545M vs. est. $536.85M

·     Bumble (BMBL) 18M share Secondary priced at $54.00

·     McAfee (MCFE) 20M share Secondary priced at $22.50

·     Sea Limited (SE) 11M share Secondary priced at $318.00

·     ChipMOS (IMOS) reports August revenue of $86.7M (-0.8% M/M; +26.1% Y/Y).

·     Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSM) August revenue was up 11.8% Y/Y to NT$137.43B or about $4.98B; sales were up 10.3% compared to July 2021.

·     Take-Two (TTWO) backs FY22 EPS view $1.95-$2.20 (below est. $4.58) and backs FY22 net bookings view $3.2B-$3.3B; reiterated its outlook for its fiscal year 2022, ending March 31, 2022, which was originally provided on May 18, 2021 and reiterated on August 2, 2021