From Briefing.com: 4:57 pm SunEdison suspends dividends on preferred stock (SUNE) : Co announced that it has suspended payment of quarterly dividends on the Company's 6.75% Series A Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock. Dividends on the Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock are payable in cash or common stock (with a floor price of $7.34) and suspended dividends will accumulate in arrears. The Company's Board of Directors intends to reassess its dividend policy on an ongoing basis.
4:31 pm Semtech beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 above consensus (SMTC) :
Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.17 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 9.0% year/year to $118.6 mln vs the $116.08 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.26-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.24 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $124-132 mln vs. $117.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
The broader market closed Wednesday higher after spending most of the day in negative territory. Truth be told, the markets did not know which way to trade today, as action often was green one minute and red the next. A volatile session coming off strong gains yesterday culminated in the S&P 500 leading action higher by adding 8.10 points (+0.41%) to close 1986.45. The Nasdaq Composite followed, up 13.83 points (+0.29%) to close 4703.42, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 34.24 points (+0.20%) to close 16899.32. The markets managed back-to-back gains following the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 4.8% in mortgage applications. Also, the ADP National Employment Report showed a 214,000 increase in February and the Fed Beige Book which described overall economic activity across the twelve Fed Districts as expanding at a "modest" or "moderate" pace.
Sectors closed the session XLE +2.45%, IYZ +1.47%, XLF +1.10%, XLU +0.52%, XLP +0.29%, XLV +0.16%, XLI +0.08%, XLY -0.09%, XLB -0.40% as Technology (XLK 42.31, +0.12 +0.28%) finished near the middle of the pack on mostly negative action (until the final half hour of trading). Component eBay (EBAY) saw pressure on the session as the stock was initiated before the bell with a Market Perform rating at BMO Capital.
Chinese Tech (QQQC 20.41, +0.45 +2.24%) names were strong today as a +4.1% finish to the Nikkei and a +3.1% finish to the Hang Seng indices drove names higher. The region-wide rally masked some movement on the foreign exchange front where the People's Bank of China set the yuan fix at its lowest level since early February (6.5490). Meanwhile, Moody's lowered its outlook on Chinese public debt to 'Negative' from 'Stable', but affirmed the country's AA3 rating. Elsewhere, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda appeared in parliament once again, reiterating that the central bank expects to hit the 2.0% inflation target during the first half of 2017. QQQC names which closed the session higher included NQ +6.33%, VNET +4.74%, SMI +3.50%, QIHU +2.61%, ATHM +2.16%, SINA +1.25%.
Solar (TAN 23.96, +0.65 +2.79%) names were among the best performing sub-sector today as component SunEdison (SUNE 1.79, +0.29 +19.33%) led the pack higher following near-end-of-day reports that the company's takeover of Vivint Solar (VSLR 4.89, -1.63 -25.00%) was in jeopardy. The report sent VSLR's stock to lows of the session and losses remained a minute-by-minute occurrence until the bell finally rang. Today, many solar names were on a rebound as the broader market felt pressure as the sector as a whole has been somewhat beaten down for an extended period of time. Other TAN names which finished ahead of the pack included SCTY +8.05%, SEDG +7.72%, TERP +6.53%, CSIQ +2.98%, TSL +2.15%, JASO +2.01%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (697.70, +1.27 +0.18%), trading ended at highs of the day, albeit at moderate gains. Component Cognizant Tech (CTSH 57.68, -0.53 -0.91%) was lower on the day as the company was selected by Bonnier Group, the Nordic-headquartered international media group, to standardize its finance and accounting processes. Other names which closed higher with the broader sector included MU +5.51%, XRX +2.72%, WDC +2.71%, STX +2.11%, CSC +1.58%, FFIV +1.50%, IBM +1.44%, QCOM +1.42%, ADI +1.30%, AKAM +1.22%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Cisco (CSCO 26.90, +0.07 +0.26%) confirmed its intent to acquire Israeli-based Leaba Semiconductor for about $380 million.
According to reports, IBM (IBM 136.30, +1.93 +1.44%) is planning to sell up to $150 million of its stake in Lenovo (LNVGY 16.42, -0.70 -4.09%).
Parkervision (PRKR 0.22 -0.00 -3.08%) filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting a review of the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in ParkerVision v. Qualcomm (QCOM 52.85, +0.74 +1.42%).
Zynga (ZNGA 2.25, +0.09 +4.17%) appointed former Electronic Arts (EA 66.09, +0.61 +0.93%) unit EVP, Frank Gibeau, as CEO effective March 7. The company announced co-founder and current CEO Mark Pincus will serve as Executive Chairman.
Cognizant (CTSH) has been selected by Bonnier Group, the Nordic-headquartered international media group, to standardize its finance and accounting processes.
German competitive authority Bundeskartellamt has initiated proceeding against Facebook (FB 109.95, +0.13 +0.12%) on suspicion of data protection rule infringement.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
NetSuite (N 61.73, -0.25 -0.40%) acquired IQity's cloud business. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
NCR Corp (NCR 24.41, +0.06 +0.25%) acquired SaaS-based software firm CimpleBox. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Checkpoint Systems (CKP 10.20, +2.32 +29.44%) to be acquired CCL Industries for $10.15 per share in cash, or about $443 million.
Intelli-Check (IDN 1.13, +0.08 +7.62%) entered into an agreement providing for the repurchase of about 979K shares of common stock for about $1 million from former CEO Nelson Ludlow and former SVP Bonnie Ludlow.
Verizon (VZ 52.12, +0.66 +1.28%) and Hearst form Joint Venture for digital video consumers.
In reaction to quarterly results:
Tribune Publishing (TPUB 9.19, +0.69 +8.12%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.34 and $461.8 million, respectively. The company expects 2016 Cap Ex to be between $30-35 million.
InterXion (INXN 32.03, +0.53 +1.68%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of 0.17 and 100.7 million. The company also issued in-line guidance for FY16 revenues of 416-431 million.
EPIQ Systems (EPIQ 14.11, +0.21 +1.51%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.29 and $136.3 million. EPIQ expects FY16 EPS of $0.87-0.90 on revenues of $520-540 million.
Veeva Systems (VEEV 25.76, +0.68 +2.71%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.12 and $114.3 million, respectively. For Q1, VEEV sees worse than expected EPS of $0.11 on better than expected revenues of $114.5-116 million. For FY17, VEEV expects EPS of $0.54-0.56 and revenues of $508-513 million.
Guidewire Software (GWRE 52.45, +1.93 +3.82%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.24 and $102.1 million, respectively. For Q3, GWRE expects in-line EPS and revenues of $0.40-0.08 and $90.3-94.3 million. For FY16, EPS is expected to come in better than the Street anticipations at $408.5-416.5 million.
TiVo (TIVO 8.00, -0.55 -6.43%) reported net breakeven for Q4 on revenues which rose 10.9% versus last year to $101.7 million. TIVO also reported EBITDA of $26.6 million for Q4. For FY17, TIVO gave worse than expected guidance for revenues in the range of $400-420 million.
Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: CABO, DTSI, GSIG, PSTG, SMTC, SINA, WB/ALSK, CIEN, MEI, PRFT, SFE, SSYS, TECD, TRMR, TSL
Analyst actions:
MELI was upgraded to Hold from Reduce at HSBC,
RTMVY was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies;
SNDK was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho,
PSO was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman,
NOK was downgraded to Mkt Underperform from Mkt Perform at Charter Equity
4:10 pm : The stock market ended its Wednesday affair on a higher note as investors focused on rate hike implications from a better-than-expected reading of the ADP National Employment Report and rising oil prices. Meanwhile, strong sector leadership from the financial group (+0.9%) helped fuel today's advance. The S&P 500 (+0.4%) managed to outperform both the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%).
Before the opening bell, investors digested the February ADP Employment Change report, which indicated an increase of 214,000 over the past month (Briefing.com consensus 190,000). This above-consensus reading added to the recent slew of positive data that may lend itself to rationalizing a potential rate hike sooner than the market currently expects. Additionally, this report precedes the more influential Employment Situation Report, which will be released on Friday.
Separately, the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report showed a larger-than-expected crude inventory build (10.4 million barrel build; est 3.6 million). Despite the bearish reading oil managed to rise sharply after the report before ending its day off its best level. WTI crude ended its pit session higher by 0.5% at $34.57/bbl.
The positive move in oil helped the commodity-sensitive energy space (+2.5%) top the leaderboard as telecom services (+1.1%) and the financial sector (+0.9%) followed. Meanwhile, heavyweights health care (+0.2%) and technology (+0.2%) ended their day off their lows.
In the energy space, independent oil and gas names managed to top the leaderboard. On that note, Anadarko Petroleum (APC 42.65, +2.54) managed to climb 6.3% while ConocoPhillips (COP 36.49, +2.03) advanced 5.9%. Dow component Exxon Mobil (XOM 82.70, +1.42) gained 1.8% after the company stated, at its analyst meeting, that it could fund new capital projects as well as maintain its dividend.
Economically-sensitive financials (+0.9%) likely benefited from potential increases in their earnings prospects as the fed fund futures market estimates the likelihood of a rate increase at the FOMC's December meeting at 63.0%. Meanwhile, the sector continues to rebound from a difficult start to the year. On that note, Citigroup (C 42.22, +0.95) and Bank of America (BAC 13.41, +0.27) climbed a respective 2.3% and 2.1% today, but remain down 18.4% and 20.3%, respectively, for the year.
The health care space (+0.2%) ended above its flat line as biotechnology outperformed. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 268.12, +2.85) gained 1.1%.
The Federal Reserve released its March Beige Book, which described overall economic activity across the twelve Fed Districts as expanding at a "modest" or "moderate" pace. Consumer spending increased in the majority of districts while manufacturing activity was described as flat for the most part. With regard to wages and inflation, the Beige Book described price levels as rising slightly while wage growth was described as ranging from "flat" to "strong".
The Treasury complex traded narrowly lower throughout today's session. The yield on the 10-yr note ended higher by one basis point at 1.84%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (98.18, -0.17) tumbled as the dollar/yen pair ended the day lower by 0.6% at 113.39.
Today's participation fell in-line with the recent average with more than 1.065 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Index, the February ADP Employment Change report, and the Fed's Beige Book for March:
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 4.8% in mortgage applications.
The ADP National Employment Report showed a 214,000 increase in February (Briefing.com consensus 190,000) while the January reading was revised lower to 193,000 from 205,000.
The ADP reading precedes Friday's more influential government Employment Report, which is expected to show a 190K increase in Nonfarm Payrolls, greater than last month's 151K increase.
Tomorrow's economic data will include the 7:30 ET release of the Challenger Job Cuts report for February. Meanwhile, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 270k), Q4 Productivity (Briefing.com consensus -3.3%), and Unit Labor Cost data (Briefing.com consensus +4.7%) will be released at 8:30 ET. Finally, January Factory Orders (Briefing.com consensus +2.0%) and ISM Services (Briefing.com consensus +53.1) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. DJ30 +34.24 NASDAQ +13.83 SP500 +8.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1969/1.753 bln/1009 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2042/1.065 bln/1001
3:40 pm :
Energy futures were volatile again today
Despite a bearish EIA storage report, oil reversed sharply following the post-data sell-off
Ultimately, instead of ending with a solid loss, Apr crude oil ended today's session +0.5% at $34.57/barrel
Natural gas continues to feel pressured from the mild weather and supply situation
Apr nat gas closed out the day -3.5% at $1.68/MMBtu
In the metals space, however, copper gained 2% to $2.18/lb, while precious metals gained as well
Apr gold rose 0.9% to $1241.50/oz and May silver rallied 1.8% to $15.02/oz
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