From Briefing.com: 4:48 pm Sierra Wireless beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 & FY16 in-line (SWIR) : •Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 5.1% year/year to $142.8 mln vs the $139.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.09-0.17 vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $150-160 mln vs. $154.13 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
•Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $0.60-0.90 vs. $0.70 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $630-670 mln vs. $640.13 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:13 pm Motorola Solutions beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line; guides FY16 EPS in-line (MSI) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.41; revenues fell 2.5% year/year to $1.19 bln vs the $1.17 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.82-0.88 vs. $0.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs up 1-3%
•Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $4.45-4.65 vs. $4.58 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms rev growth outlook of 5-7%
4:12 pm SunPower misses by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line; guides FY16 revs above consensus (SPWR) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.23); revenues rose 0.7% year/year to $433.6 mln vs the $328.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus.?Non-GAAP Gross Margin 13.6%.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $310-360 mln vs. $684.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. ?Gross margin of 12-14%;
? EBITDA of $0 to $25 million;
?MW deployed in the range of 360 MW to 385 MW.
•Co issues reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $3.2-3.4 bln vs. $3.17 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.?Gross margin of 14-16%;
?EBITDA of $450-500 mln;
?Capital expenditures of $210-260 mln;
?GW deployed in the range of 1.6 GW to 1.9 GW.
4:11 pm Universal Display beats by $0.05, misses on revs; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (OLED) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.05 better than the single analyst estimate of ($0.01); revenues fell 4.8% year/year to $29.7 mln vs the $30.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of +10-20% to ~$210.1-229.3 mln vs. $221.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
•"The OLED landscape continues to expand. New OLED products are launching, capacity is building, equipment bookings are increasing and the pipeline of OLED design activities is broadening."
4:12 pm Amtech Systems beats by $0.33, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (ASYS) :
•Reports Q2 (Mar) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.33 better than the two analyst estimate of ($0.44); revenues fell 7.4% year/year to $22.48 mln vs the $21.15 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $30-33 mln vs. $30.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Gross margin for the quarter ending June 30, 2016 is expected to be in the mid 20s percent range, negatively impacted by product mix, with operating margin slightly negative.
•At March 31, 2016, the Company's total order backlog was $67.3 million (solar $51.3 million), compared to total backlog of $42.9 million (solar $31.3 million) at December 31, 2015.
4:10 pm Diodes beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line (DIOD) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $222.7 mln vs the $224.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $230-240 mln vs. $235.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a flat note as investors looked ahead to tomorrow's release of the April Employment Situation Report (Briefing.com consensus 207k). Other contributing factors for today's trade included an uptick in oil, a bid in the Treasury complex, a leg higher in the dollar, and the underperformance of the heavily-weighted consumer discretionary sector (-0.6%). The Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) ended its day behind the S&P 500 (UNCH) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%).
Overnight, international bourses adopted a risk-off posture ahead of tomorrow's release of the Employment Situation Report for April. The Briefing.com consensus expects nonfarm payrolls to increase by 207,000 and the consensus expects hourly earnings to increase 0.3%. The influential jobs report follows yesterday's ADP Employment Change for April (156,000; Briefing.com consensus 196,000), which likely lowered expectations for the employment reading.
The U.S. market opened on a higher note as a rebound in crude helped increase risk appetite in the broader market. WTI crude traded as high as $45.98/bbl as investors weighed the impact of a wildfire in the Canadian oil sands town of Fort McMurray. The area produces approximately 17.0% of Canada's oil output and evacuation efforts impacted short-term production from the area. WTI crude ended its day off its high as an uptick in the U.S. Dollar Index (93.76, +0.58) acted as a headwind for the dollar-denominated commodity.
The major averages pared gains along with oil as risk appetite declined ahead of tomorrow's data. By the end of the day, six sectors ended beneath their flat lines as consumer discretionary (-0.6%), telecom services (-0.6%), materials (-0.5%), and utilities (-0.4%) rounded out the leaderboard. On the flipside, energy (+0.7%) and health care (+0.5%) finished with the largest gains.
In the consumer discretionary space (-0.6%), Amazon (AMZN 659.09, -11.81) lost 1.8%, trimming its post-earnings gain to 9.5%. Elsewhere, Dow component Nike (NKE 58.19, -0.92) slipped 1.6% as it traded lower in sympathy with retail names. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 42.91, -0.90) fell 2.1% after April same store sales readings disappointed.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.1%) displayed relative weakness as FedEx (FDX 160.37, -4.88) trimmed its year-to-date gain to 7.6%. Matson (MATX 32.82, -4.71) plunged 12.6% and rounded out the index after missing earnings estimates for the first quarter. Elsewhere, airlines name continued their recent retreat as American Airlines (AAL 32.80, -0.40) extended its weekly loss to 5.5%. The Transportation Average has declined 2.6% so far this week.
Independent oil and gas companies outperformed in the commodity-sensitive energy space (+0.7%). Apache (APA 54.82, +4.09) gained 8.1% after beating bottom-line estimates for the quarter and raising its North American onshore production guidance. EOG Resources (EOG 81.26, +1.92) gained 2.4% ahead of this evening's earnings report. WTI crude ended its day higher by 1.3% at $44.34/bbl. The broader energy sector has declined 2.8% this week, compared to a loss of 3.5% in oil over that period.
The Treasury complex rallied as equities remained near their session lows. The yield on the 10-yr note sank from 1.80% (+3 bps) at the beginning of the session to 1.74% (-4 bps) by the close. The yield on the 10-yr note has fallen nine basis points since last Friday's settlement at 1.83%.
Today's volume was above the recent average as more than 949 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.
Today's economic data included April Challenger Job Cuts and weekly initial claims:
•The Challenger Job Cuts report revealed 250,061 job cut announcements from January to April, marking the highest total for that period since 2009.
•Initial claims filings for the week ending April 30 were 274,000 (Briefing.com consensus 259,000), an increase of 17,000 from the prior week's unrevised level.?Notwithstanding the jump in initial claims, they remained below 300,000 for the 61st straight week, extending their best streak since 1973. The four-week moving average for initial claims bumped up 2,000 to 258,000.
•Continuing claims for the week ending April 23 decreased by 8,000 to 2.121 million. ?That is the lowest level since November 4, 2000, and the four-week moving average of 2.140 million is the lowest level since November 11, 2000.
Tomorrow's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for April (Briefing.com consensus 207k) and Consumer Credit for March (Briefing.com consensus $18.0 billion), which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.
•Nasdaq Composite -5.8% YTD
•Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD
•S&P 500 +0.3% YTD
•Dow Jones +1.4% YTD
DJ30 +9.45 NASDAQ -8.55 SP500 -0.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 11236/1.736 bln/1869 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1419/949.8 mln/1550
3:30 pm :
•The dollar index rallies for the third consecutive day, weighing on commodities, currently up +0.6% near the 93.77 level?Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.8% at 82.71
•Crude oil sees a notable and sustained downtrend after opening near $46.00/barrel and clocking in initial morning gains, still green for the day?June crude oil futures rose $0.56 (+1.3%) to $44.34/barrel
?Oil supply is being threatened due to unrest in Libya and a wildfire in Canada, A contributing factor to the boost in oil prices ?A huge wildfire spreading in Canada has caused 88,000 people to evacuate their homes in Fort McMurray, which happens to be the center of the country's oil sands region
?This area produces approximately 17% of Canada's oil output
?In other news, unrest in Libya is also helping prop up oil prices as a stand-off between eastern and western political factions threatens oil supplies
•Natural gas plummets & consolidates near the lows of the day after EIA nat gas storage data showed a larger than expected build?June natural gas closed $0.06 lower (-2.8%) at $2.08/MMBtu
?Working gas in storage was 2,625 Bcf as of Friday, April 29, 2016, according to EIA estimates
?Natural gas inventory showed a +68 of bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of approximately +66 bcf
?At 2,625 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range
•In precious metals, gold sees an early morning drop & consolidates just below the previous day's close?June gold ended today's session down $2.50 (-0.2%) to $1271.70/oz
•Silver declines to a fresh new low of the day and closes there to end afternoon pit trading?July silver closed today's session $0.03 higher (+0.2%) at $17.33/oz
•Base metal copper experiences its third consecutive day of declines in afternoon pit trading?July copper closed $0.04 lower (-1.8%) at $2.15/lb
Stocks were in the green for the majority of the morning session, reversing the two-day losing streak. Gains would not hold, however, as the markets sold off near midday and ultimately ended split. Action was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which added 9.45 points (+0.05%) to 17660.71. The Nasdaq Composite was the worst performer, down 8.54 points (-0.18%) to 4717.09. The S&P 500 ended with losses less than a point (-0.02%) to 2050.63. Economic data today was limited to the Challenger Job Cuts report which revealed 250,061 job cut announcements from January to April and Initial Claims for the week ending April 30, which were 274,000; Continuing Claims for the week ending April 23 declined by 8,000 to 2.121 million.
Equities jumped out of the gate as a rally in crude oil helped spur the broader market; June Crude Oil Futures rose +1.3% today. The energy component gained in overseas trade as stories pointing to a potential short-term supply shortage made the rounds. Specifically, concerns emerged that a wildfire in the Canadian oil sands town of Fort McMurray may impact production levels. The entire town has been evacuated as the area continues to deal with wildfires that erupted on Sunday. Furthermore, continued unrest in Libya also contributed to supply shortage speculation.
Tomorrow's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for April and Consumer Credit for March, which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.
Sector trading, as measured by the S&P, ended Thursday XLE +0.82%, XLV +0.42%, XLP +0.02%, XLF -0.04%, XLI -0.05%, XLU -0.39%, XLB -0.50%, XLY -0.64%, IYZ -2.14%. For its part, Technology (XLK 41.94, +0.01 +0.02%) also managed modest gains after a volatile session. Component and telecom name CenturyLink (CTL 28.20, -2.77 -8.94%) was the worst performing name in the space today following better than expected Q1 EPS, and in-line revenues on tepid Q2 EPS guidance.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (692.67, +0.09 +0.01%) sector, trading was up and down buy ultimately ended with slight gains after most of the latter half of the session was in the red. Component Teradata (TDC 26.27, +1.87 +7.66%) was a notable out-performer today following the company's better than expected Q1 print and FY16 guidance; additionally, TDC announced the replacement of CEO Mike Koehler with Victor Lund. Other names in the space which closed higher today included YHOO +2.61%, PYPL +1.67%, IBM +1.54%, QCOM +1.27%, CSC +1.07%, GOOG +0.82%, NVDA +0.60%, ADBE +0.60%, MU +0.60%, EA +0.58%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
•Apple (AAPL 93.24, -0.38 -0.41%) and German software firm SAP AG (SAP 77.07, -0.41 -0.53%) announce partnership for mobile work experience through SAP HANA platform.
•Valeant Pharma (VRX 34.49, -0.28 -0.81%) and IBM (IBM 146.47, +2.21 +1.53%) announced a collaboration to develop an iPhone/iPad app to assist surgeons who perform cataract surgery.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Microchip (MCHP 47.82, -0.60 -1.24%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.3595 per share from $0.359 per share.
•Harris (HRS 74.78, +0.36 +0.48%) received $41 million in orders for production, spare parts, depot, and installation of advanced satellite communications terminals under the U.S. Army's Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program.
•CA Tech (CA 29.36, -0.05 -0.17%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.255 per share from $0.25 per share.
•CSC (CSC 33.05, +0.35 +1.07%) has completed the acquisition of Xchanging plc.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Teradata (TDC) announced Victor Lund will replace Mike Koehler as CEO effective immediately.
•Alliance Data Systems (ADS 200.24, -0.51 -0.25%) announced its Columbus, Ohio-based card services business signed a new long-term agreement to provide private label credit card services for Hot Topic stores. Under the new agreement, Alliance Data will offer a customized private label credit program for Hot Topic.
•According to the company's blog, eBay (EBAY 23.81, +0.01 +0.04%) acquired Swedish-based Expertmaker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Elsewhere in the tech space:
•Synacor (SYNC 3.64, +2.23 +158.16%) was awarded a contract from AT&T (T 38.74, -0.14 -0.36%). SYNC noted expected revenues from the contract are about $100 million per year, after full product deployment in 2017.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Vonage (VG 4.11, -0.80 -16.21%) to acquire Nexmo for $230 million in cash and stock. The company projects annual cost synergies of $5 million related to the deal.
•Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH 27.24, -0.18 -0.66%) received a contract with max ceiling vale of $400 million from the Department of Defense.
•Zhaopin (ZPIN 16.05, +1.14 +7.65%) received a non-binding proposal letter to be taken private by executives of the company and Sequoia Investment Management for $17.75 per ADR in cash.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Baring Private Equity Asia to acquire a 35% stake in telecom firm Telus (TU 30.77, -0.07 -0.23%), valuing Telus at CAD 1.2 billion.
•Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW 48.66, +10.34 +26.98%) to provide air cargo services to support Amazon's (AMZN 659.09, -11.81 -1.76%) package deliveries, expects earnings and cash flow accretion over time. The company granted AMZN the option to acquire up to 20% of common shares.
•Science Applications (SAIC 52.25, +0.10 +0.19%) received a $141 million task order from the US Navy to provide technical solutions to the Naval Sea Systems Command Program.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, NICE Systems' (NICE 63.99, +0.87 +1.38%) CFO Sarit Sagiv announced her intention to leave the company in the coming months to pursue other opportunities.
•United Online (UNTD 10.78, +0.03 +0.28%) to be acquired by B. Riley (RILY 10.11, flat) for about $170 million in cash or $11.00 per share. Closing is expected by the end of the third calendar quarter of 2016. RILY also noted, "We are also providing guidance regarding Adjusted EBITDA of $9 to $13 million for the year-to-date period through July 2016."
•Fleetmatics (FLTX 38.27, +2.09 +5.78%) announces Jill Ward to Succeed Jim Travers as CEO effective January 1, 2017. Travers will remain Chairman.
•Kratos Defense and Security (KTOS 4.50, -0.83 -15.57%) subsidiary receives $3.87 mln award from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
In reaction to quarterly results:
•Equinix (EQIX 330.89, -3.94 -1.18%) reported worse than expected Q1 funds from operations of $1.68 on in-line revenues which rose 31.2% versus last year to $844.16 million. Additionally, EQIX guided Q2 revenues in the range of $893-899 million and FY16 revenues of at least $3.595 billion (up from prior $3.55 billion) - both of which are ahead of expectations.
•Telus (TU) reported in-line Q1 EPS and revenues of C$0.70 and C$3.11 billion, respectively.
•CenturyLink (CTL) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.71 on in-line revenues which fell 1.1% versus last year to $4.4 billion. Further, CTL guided Q2 EPS worse than expectations at $0.57-0.62 and revenues in-line at $4.38-4.43 billion.
•Microchip (MCHP) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.70 on revenues which rose 3.9% versus last year to $568.4 million. MCHP also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.70-0.79 and $799.1-841.9 million, respectively.
•TripAdvisor (TRIP 62.04, -1.09 -1.73%) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.32 and $352 million, respectively.
•Gartner (IT 95.16, +7.57 +8.64%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.61 and $557.3 million, respectively. IT also guided FY16 EPS and revenues in-line at $2.67-2.89 (up from $2.15-2.37) and $2.41-2.47 billion (up from $2.39-2.45 billion), respectively.
•Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 35.67, -0.87 -2.38%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.15 and $75.2 million, respectively.
•Qorvo (QRVO 46.66, +2.15 +4.83%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.04 and $608.1 million, respectively. QRVO also issued upside guidance for Q1 of EPS of about $1.05 and revenues of about $650 million.
•Companies scheduled to report earnings tonight/tomorrow morning: TWOU ATVI MDRX AMBR ASYS ANET TEAM ABTL WIFI ECOM CVT CYBR DIOD ELON EGAN FEYE FISV GSAT GPRO GSIT GUID IMMR IMPV SAAS INAP JCOM MCHX MRIN MRVL MELI MTD MSI MFLX UEPS PCTY PCTI PEGA QLGC SWIR SQ SSNC SPWR SNCR DATA TRMR TRUE UBNT UNXL UNTD OLED WEB YELP/CTSH GOGO GSIG MOSY TDS USM
Analyst actions:
•FRP was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Drexel Hamilton, NXPI was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman
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