U.S. share futures treaded cautiously higher on Monday ahead of more large-cap earnings reports, central bank meetings and a key employment report due later this week.
Market Snapshot
At 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 48 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.5 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 27.5 points, or 0.17%.
Pre-Market Movers
Chevron — Shares rose 1.6% after Goldman Sachs upgraded Chevron to buy from neutral and hiked its price target. Analysts said the oil giant is due for a breakout.
Ford Motor — Shares declined 1.1% after Jefferies downgraded the stock to hold, citing weakness in Model E guidance.
Walt Disney — The stock rose 0.7% after Disney reportedly brought back two former executives who were previously considered potential successors to Bob Iger, according to a Financial Times report citing people familiar. The two are Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.
XPeng— The U.S.-listed shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng fell 2% in premarket trading. UBS on Monday downgraded the company to neutral from buy after the stock’s extraordinary run-up, saying it expects near-term upside has been priced in. The stock is up 135% this year.
Hasbro — The toymaker added 2.9efore the bell after Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. Bank of America said the company should beat expectations for earnings when it reports on Thursday given the strong demand for the Lord of the Rings Magic set.
United Parcel Service — Shares fell 1% after Credit Suisse downgraded UPS to neutral from outperform, citing labor concerns.
GoodRX — The digital healthcare platform saw shares rise more than 8% premarket after Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform, saying its pharmacy benefit management partnerships – like Express Scripts and CVS’ Caremark – help not just generate a new revenue stream but also solidify the company’s position in the healthcare ecosystem. Cowen also raised its price target to reflect about 78% potential upside.
ON Semiconductor — ON Semiconductor reported quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.21 by 9.92 percent. This is a 0.75 percent decrease over earnings of $1.34 per share from the same period last year. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.09 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.02 billion by 3.66 percent. This is a 0.43 percent increase over sales of $2.08 billion the same period last year.
Market News
SoFi's Stock Pops As Fintech Company Boosts Its Earnings Outlook
Shares of SoFi Technologies Inc. were gaining 8% in Monday's premarket action after the financial-technology company upped its earnings outlook for the full year, while beating expectations for the latest period.
The company generated a second-quarter net loss of $58 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a loss of $106 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling a 7-cent loss on a per-share basis.
The company reported quarterly sales of $489.00 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $474.60 million by 3.03 percent. This is a 37.32 percent increase over sales of $356.09 million the same period last year.
Adobe Could Add Another 25% to Its Blistering Rally, Morgan Stanley Says
Adobe Inc.’s blistering rally has further to go, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss, who sees the creative software maker’s shares adding a further 25% over the next year.
Adobe has jumped 57% this year, fueled by optimism over its artificial intelligence strategy, and Weiss’s new Street-high target of $660 sees the stock rising to within a whisker of its 2021 record of $688.37.
“Greater clarity on AI-enabled products and the monetization roadmap increase our confidence in reaccelerating the creative cloud organic growth engine,” Weiss wrote in a note, upgrading the stock to overweight from equal-weight.
UK Regulator Aims for Decision on Microsoft-Activision Deal By Aug. 29
Britain's antitrust regulator on Monday opened up its inquiry into Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal for comments as it aims for a final decision by Aug. 29 on a $69 billion takeover it had previously blocked in April.
The Competition and Markets Authority also on Monday published Microsoft's arguments explaining why the deal should be re-evaluated, as the U.S. software giant battles to win UK approval to buy "Call of Duty" maker Activision.
A court involved in the case had already published Microsoft's argument that the binding commitments accepted by the European Union shortly after Britain had blocked the deal had now changed the situation.
Citigroup Lifts S&P 500's Year-End Target to 4,600
Citigroup raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 by 15% as it now sees a higher probability of a soft landing for the U.S. economy, as well as, an earnings upside.
The bank sees the S&P 500 ending 2023 at 4,600 points, a 0.4% uptick from Friday's closing of 4,582.23.
For 2024, the outlook seems brighter with Citi seeing the index jump to 5,000 points, up from a previous forecast of 4,400, and about 9% from current levels.
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