Early Look

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Futures	Up/Down	%	Last
Dow	306.00	0.90%	34,145
S&P 500	35.25	0.81%	4,383
Nasdaq	109.25	0.73%	15,118

 

Markets are rallying after yesterday’s massive selloff that saw the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 hit their lowest levels in a month, S&P touch a 2-month low, and the Dow crater to its lowest levels since June. Today is also the first day of the Federal Reserve’s two-day September meeting that will have investors looking for hints on when the central bank will begin tapering its bond purchases. Oil prices are also rebounding after news that the production in the Gulf of Mexico will remain impacted for the rest of the year, and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) said its West Delta 143 platform will not resume operations until the first quarter of 2022. Across the pond in Europe, Universal Music Group has surged more than 35% in its debut on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index and Shanghai Index are closed for the second straight day, while the Hang Seng Index is up 106.5 points. In Europe, the German DAX is down 96 points while the FTSE 100 is rebounding 90 points.

Market Closing Prices Yesterday

·     The S&P 500 Index plunged -75.35 points, or 1.78%, to 4,357.64

·     The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost -614.08 points, or 1.78%, to 33,970.80

·     The Nasdaq Composite tumbled -330.07 points, or 2.19%, to 14,713.90

·     The Russell 2000 Index declined -54.67 points, or 2.44% to 2,182.20

 

Economic Calendar: 

·     7:45 AM ET                 ICSC Weekly Retail Sales

·     8:30 AM ET                 Current Account for Q2

·     8:30 AM ET                 Housing Starts MoM for Aug

·     8:30 AM ET                 Building Permits MoM for Aug

·     8:55 AM ET                 Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales

·     4:30 PM ET                 API Weekly Inventory Data

 

Earnings Calendar:

·     Earnings Before the Open: APOG, AZO, CBRL

·     Earnings After the Close: ADBE, FDX, INNV, ISR, SFIX

 

Other Key Events:

·     Credit Suisse 2021 Consumer Retail Conference (virtual), 9/21-9/22

·     Credit Suisse 7th Annual Oil & Gas Non-Bus Tour (virtual), 9/21-9/23

·     European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2021 Virtual Congress, 9/16-9/21

·     Goldman Sachs 30th Annual Communacopia Conference (virtual), 9/21-9/23

·     JPMorgan 12th Annual U.S. All Stars Conference (virtual), 9/21-9/23

·     Oppenheimer Fall Healthcare Life Sciences & MedTech Summit (virtual), 9/20-9/23

·     Roth Capital 8th Annual Solar Symposium (virtual), 9/20-9/23

·     Stephen’s 11th Annual Bank Forum, in Little Rock, AR, 9/20-9/22

 

 

Macro	Up/Down	Last
Nymex	0.88	71.02
Brent	0.79	74.71
Gold	4.25	1,768.05
EUR/USD	0.0011	1.1737
JPY/USD	0.13	109.52
10-Year Note	+0.02	1.329%

 

 

World News

·     Justin Trudeau will remain Canada’s Prime Minister after winning a snap election he had called last month, though his Liberal Party was unable to capture a parliamentary majority, winning 156 of the 338 seats.

 

Sector News Breakdown

Consumer

·     KAR Auction Services (KAR) withdrew its FY21 financial outlook due to the continued disruption caused by the chip shortage and lack of visibility into used vehicle volumes in its marketplaces; the company sees Q3 adj EBITDA $95M-$100M and expects approximately 2/6M vehicles sold in 2021

·     AutoZone (AZO) Q4 EPS $35.72 vs est. $29.81 on revenue $4.9B vs est. $4.57B, same-store sales +4.3%

 

Energy

·     ConocoPhillips (COP) is nearing a deal to purchase Shell’s (RDS.A) assets in the Permian Basin for close to $9.5B

·     Orbital Energy Group (OEG) won a contract to construct 1,910 miles of rural broadband network in Virginia for undisclosed terms

·     Occidental Petroleum (OXY) said it reduced debt by about $1.3B in August and September

Industrials and Materials

·     Alcoa (AA) announced plans to restart 268,000 metric tons per year of aluminum capacity at the Alumar smelt in Sao Luis, Brazil, which has been fully curtailed since 2015; company sees Q4 restart expenses between 5c-7c per share

·     FedEx (FDX) announced an increase to shipping rates starting January 3, 2022. FedEx Express, Ground, and Home Delivery shipping rates will each increase by an average of 5.9%

·     Herc Holdings (HRI) announced new strategic initiatives and capital allocation plan, and raised its 2021 adj EBTIDA guidance to $870M-$890M from $840M-$870M, sees FY22 adj EBITDA $1.05B-$1.15B, set 2021-2024 organic CAGR growth goals of 12-15% in rental revenue and 17-20% in adj EBITDA, and announced a dividend of 50c/share

·     Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA) cut its Q3 guidance, now seeing sales down ~$40M from levels assumed in its prior guidance and adj EBITDA to $130M-$140M from its prior midpoint of $138M as sales volumes continue to be impacted by supply chain disruptions, which they see continuing into 2022, and impacting global production by 11M units from its prior view of a 7M impact

·     Lennar (LEN) Q3 adj EPS $3.27 vs est. $3.26 on revenue $6.94B vs est. $7.25B, net new orders 16,277 vs est. 16,248, gross margin on home sales in-line 27.3%, and backlog 25,819 vs est. 24,946; guides Q4 new orders to 15,200-15,400 and sees Q4 deliveries about 18,000, though expects unprecedented supply chain challenges to continue into the foreseeable future

Financials

·     Piper Sandler (PIPR), Jefferies (JEF) were rated as new Buys at Goldman

·     U.S. Bancorp (USB) agreed to purchase the personal banking arm of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) in a deal worth $8B, including $5.5B in cash and 44M USB shares (2.9% stake).

 

Healthcare

·     SmilDirectClub (SDC) announced plans to launch its products in France in the beginning of 4Q21 and will introduce premium clear aligners, a telehealth platform, and whitening system at its first smileshop in Paris

·     Viridian Therapeutics (VRDN) announced a proposed underwritten public offering of common and preferred stock to use the proceeds to advance development of ots VRDN-001 and VRDN-002 programs

·     Conformis (CFMS) cut its Q3 product revenue, now seeing $13.7M-$14.3M from $15.5M-$16.5M, and says experienced higher levels of deferred and rescheduled knee and hip procedures as a result of Delta variant Covid surge

·     Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said its Covid booster shot is 94% effective when given two months after first dose and increases antibody levels 4-6x higher than only one shot.

 

Technology, Media & Telecom

·     Sportradar (SRAD) announced Michael Jordan will assume a role as a special advisor and increase his investment in the company

·     UBER said it is tracking towards adj EBITDA breakeven in Q3, seeing it in the range ($25M)-$25M vs its prior forecast of a loss exceeding ($100M), while narrowing its quarterly bookings forecast to $22.8B-$23.2B from $22B-$24B, and further said it expects to deliver sequential EBITDA improvement in Q4 with an outlook between $0-$100M

·     Disney (DIS) was named as a new Buy with a $225 price target at Daiwa