Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at a record high on Tuesday, boosted by the resumption of trade talks between the US and China- however US stock futures wavered overnight.
While July sales of newly built homes soared 36%, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index plunged to 84.8 in August from 91.7 in July. But the big market-mover will come tomorrow with the Federal Reserve’s virtual Jackson Hole conference– and a key inflation speech from Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile European stocks are up slightly higher this morning, after Germany extended its COVID-19 relief package until the end of 2021 (vs its initial March end-date).
Turning to earnings, Salesforce is now up 15% after a stellar beat-and-raise quarter. Most impressively, CRM boosted guidance for the year by $800M from 17% growth to 22% at the high end. “Even at all-time highs, we find CRM’s valuation comparatively attractive in an expensive space… CRM remains a top pick in large cap. BUY” summed up Canaccord Genuity’s David Hynes post-print.
Other stocks enjoying an after-earnings boost this morning include Urban Outfitters (up 17%); Hewlett Packard (up 7%), and Intuit (up 6%). Indeed, Intuit’s F4Q20 adjusted EPS of $1.81 (-$0.09 in F4Q19) far exceeded consensus of $1.11, leading Oppenheimer’s Scott Schneeberger to ramp up his price target from $308 to $355.
However analysts are mainly sticking to the sidelines on URBN despite the earnings beat- with RBC analyst Kate Fitzsimons noting that URBN’s optimism around comp inflections can sometimes not pan out (see 1H19).
Not so lucky: Pure Storage is currently falling 9% after disappointing investors with weak gross margins and the anticipation of continued headwinds for the third quarter. Similarly Autodesk is trading marginally lower this morning after lowering the high end of the FY2021 billings guidance by ~ $70M. Dycom Industries initially dipped 3% as revenue fell short, but is now trading higher.
Splunk is reporting its earnings after-market today. Going into the print RBC Capital’s Matthew Hedberg expects strong results driven by Security and Splunk Cloud. He has just boosted his Splunk price target from $190 to $210 (3% upside potential).
Corona: Fluidigm is spiking 22% after receiving Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its saliva-based test that can detect nucleic acid from the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus. Shares are already up over 150% YTD.
Also attracting attention is biotech CytoDyn, which has now reached the requisite number of patients in its Phase 3 trial of leronlimab for COVID-19 patients with severe-to-critical symptoms to perform an interim analysis following day 28. Results are anticipated by mid-October says CytoDyn.
Meanwhile Cisco has announced that it intends to acquire privately held BabbleLabs, to help users control unwanted noise in meetings. According to Cisco 98% of workers experience frustration from distractions during video meetings when working from home.
Goodbye Princess: Carnival Corp’s Princess Cruises is canceling cruises on two ships in early 2021 citing government-imposed port and border restrictions and the continued uncertainty of airline travel tied to the coronavirus pandemic. CCL shares are slightly down in pre-market trading.(See CCL’s stock analysis on TipRanks).
