The Daily Briefing For April 27th: Stocks In Rally Mode On A Series of Better Earnings Against Estimates.

Overnight Summary: The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at 4055.99 lower by -0.38% while Tuesday closed at 4071.63 lower by -1.58%. The overnight high of 4101.25 was hit at 7:05 a.m. EDT. The low was hit at 4073.75 at 4:05 p.m. EDT, a range of ~28 points high to low which is below the recent range of 45. At 7:15 a.m. EDT, the current price was 4100.25 which is 0.59% and 24.25 points. The overnight session has been straight up but really took off after midnight rising from 4085 to the current price.

News You Need to Know: As pickleballers spend billions on the sport, tennis players are accused of vandalizing their nets. (MarketWatch)

Earnings Out After The Close: 

• Beats: MTH +0.90, WSC +0.70, MOH +0.60, KALU +0.58, HP +0.50, TNET +0.49, FIX +0.43, CCS +0.39, EQT +0.38, MYRG +0.37, AXS +0.36, NOW +0.32, PLXS +0.30, ACGL +0.28, CACI +0.26, META +0.25, ORLY +0.25, PXD +0.25, SNBR +0.22, KLAC +0.20, BMRN +0.20, AR +0.17, CASH +0.16, MEOH +0.16, AFL +0.15, CHDN +0.15, SLM +0.14, ALGN +0.13, GSHD +0.13, HELE +0.13, GGG +0.12, EPR +0.11, PTEN +0.11, NVRO +0.11, TER +0.11, LSTR +0.10, ROKU +0.10, NOV +0.10, FBIN +0.10, SPSC +0.09, EVTC +0.09, MMSI +0.09, PEB +0.08, TYL +0.07, TDOC +0.07, ETD +0.07, IEX +0.07, CNMD +0.06, NLY +0.06, LC +0.06, WH +0.06, KRC +0.05, TROX +0.05, ACHC +0.04, EBAY +0.04, MXL +0.04, SUI +0.04, SAFE +0.04, AB +0.03, SAVE +0.03, AGI +0.03, CLB +0.03, ENSG +0.03, ICLR +0.03, MAA +0.03, AVB +0.02, PPC +0.02, WOLF +0.02, WM +0.02, CHE +0.01, ESI +0.01, EW +0.01, PTC +0.01, RHI +0.01, WCN +0.01, ROL +0.01, CLS +0.01 of note.
• Flat: CHRW +0.00, MAT +0.00, STAG +0.00 of note.
• Misses: AZPN (0.74), RJF (0.31), ENVX (0.26), FIBK (0.26), VKTX (0.25), COLB (0.23), STC (0.20), PEGA (0.14), FTAI (0.11), NOVA (0.11), NTGR (0.09), UCTT (0.06), ASGN (0.05), MC (0.05), QS (0.05), URI (0.04), PI (0.03), TWOU (0.03), AM (0.02), CP (0.02), CVBF (0.02), UDR (0.02), OII (0.02), LXFR (0.02), AWK (0.01) of note.

Unusual Options Activity:

Daily Screen in Erlanger Chartroom that highlights unusual Call and Put Options activity in the S&P 500.  It looks for volume outliers relative to the Open interest in Calls or puts.  Usually, the stock price activity reflects the outlier situation (earnings/buyout/announcement), but once in a while, you can uncover stocks prior to a pop or drop.

Capital Raises:

• IPOs Priced or News: None of note.
• New SPACs launched/News:
  • Evo Acquisition Corp. (EVOJ) Announces Termination of Business Combination Agreement with 20Cube Logistics Pte. Ltd.
  • Progress Acquisition Corp. (PGRW) Receives Nasdaq Notification of Noncompliance with Listing Rule.
  • ShoulderUp Technology Acquisition Corp. (SUAC) Announces Stockholder Approval of Extension Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Investment Management Trust Agreement.
• Secondaries Priced:
  • BXRX: Pricing of $4 Million Public Offering.. 3,478,262 shares at $1.15.
• Notes Priced of note:
  • SIX: Announces Pricing of $800 Million of 7.250% Senior Notes due 2031.
• Common Stock filings/Notes:
  • CING: Filed Form S-1.. 4,500,000 Shares of Common Stock.
  • MVLA: Filed Form S-1.. Up to 23,523,776 shares of common stock.
  • OWLT: Filed Form S-3.. Up to 171,428,550 Shares of Class A Common Stock.
• Direct Offering: None of note.
• Selling Shareholders of note: None of note.
• Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note.
• Mixed Shelf Offerings: None of note.
• Debt/Credit Filing and Notes:
  • SLG: Completes $500 Million Refinancing of 919 Third Avenue.
• Tender Offer: None of note.
• Convertible Offering & Notes Filed: None of note.

Capital Raise Summary From The TradeXchange, bringing traders and investors real time news and Squawk Box, and other sources.

News After The Close:

• After Hours: 
  • Trading Up: ATOM +43%, META +12%, TER +7%, NOVA +7%, TDOC +5%, SUI +5%, CSWC +5%, MTH +4%, AGI +4%, KLAC +4%, PINS +4%, HELE +4% of note.
  • Trading Down: PI -27%, NTGR -11%, ALGN -9%, MXL -8%, WOLF -6%, URI -5% of note.
• News After The Close:   
  • Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: META, ROKU, EBAY, ALGN, NOW, KLAC, PXD (CNBC)
  • U.S. House narrowly passes Republican’s debt ceiling bill that aims to spark negotiations with Biden and the Senate on avoiding default. (Reuters)
  • EBAY stock jumps 4% as company swings to quarterly profit. (MarketWatch)
  • META will layoff more workers in May.
  • ROKU stock pops after earnings beat, though ad market remains challenging. (MarketWatch)
  • Disney (DIS) Sues DeSantis After Oversight Board Voids Theme-Park Agreements. (WSJ)
  • A San Francisco office tower worth $300 million in 2019 “is for sale, with bids due soon. They are expected to come in at about $60 million .. an 80% decline in value in just four years.” (WSJ Carl Q Tweet)
  • General Electric (GE) awarded $684 million U.S. Navy contract

• Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
  • Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) Announces Leadership Transition Plan.  Giovanni Caforio, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, has decided to retire as CEO.
  • Helen of Troy (HELE) Announces CEO Succession Plan.  CEO Julien Mininberg intends to retire February 2024.
  • Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) Announces That Scott D. Sheffield to Retire at Year-End; Richard P. Dealy Named as Next Chief Executive Officer. (See buybacks and dividends too)
  • Qilian (QLI) Received a Letter from Nasdaq Related to Regain Compliance.
  • ServiceNow (NOW) Appoints Netflix Vice President of Engineering Deborah Black to Board of Directors.
  • Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) Board agreed to appoint Mr. Gonzalo Guerrero Yamamoto as Chairman of the Board and Mr. Patricio Contesse Fica as Vice Chairman of the Board.
  • Vivakor Inc. (VIVK) Receives Notification of Deficiency from Nasdaq Related to Delayed Filing of Annual Report on Form 10-K.
  • Westport (WPRT) Receives Nasdaq Notification Regarding Minimum Bid Price Compliance and Announces Board of Director Approval of Share Consolidation.
• Buyback Announcements or News:
  • FirstCash (FCFS) Stock Repurchases Total 782,000 Shares. (see Dividends)
  • Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) announces new $4 billion share buyback authorization.
  • Startek (SRT) Authorizes $20 Million Share Repurchase Program and Revises Repayment Schedule of Senior Debt Facilities.
  • Vornado (VNO) Authorization of $200 Million Share Repurchase Program. (see Dividends)
• Stock Splits or News: None of note.
• Dividends Announcements or News: 
  • Capital Southwest Corp. (CSWC) increases dividend $0.01 to $0.59 per share.
  • EBAY: Board Has Declared A Cash Div Of $0.25 per share.
  • Energy Transfer (ET) increases quarterly cash distribution to $0.3075 per share from $0.305 per share.
  • Ethan Allen (ETD) increases quarterly dividend to $0.36 per share from $0.32 per share.
  • Comfort Systems (FIX) increases quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share from $0.175 per share.
  • FirstCash (FCFS) $0.33 Quarterly Cash Dividend Declared.
  • Methanex (MEOH) The Board approved a 6% dividend increase to $0.185 per share per quarter.
  • Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) declares a quarterly base-plus-variable cash dividend of $3.34 per share.
  • Sunoco LP (SUN) increases quarterly distribution to $0.8420 per share from $0.8255 per share.
  • TotalEnergies SE (TTE) Board of Directors decided the distribution of a first interim dividend of 0.74 € per share for fiscal year 2023, an increase of 7.25%.
  • Vornado (VNO) Announces Postponement of Common Share Dividends Until Year-End.

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value.

S&P 500 , Dow Jones ,  NASDAQ , and Russell 2000 . (as of 8:02 a.m. EDT).  Asia higher ex ASX and Europe higher ex the FTSE. VIX Futures are at 19.90 from 20.94 yesterday.  Gold and Silver higher with Copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude Oil higher with Natural Gas higher as well. US 10-year Treasury sees yields at 3.48% from 3.39% yesterday. The U.S. Dollar is lower versus the Euro, lower versus the Pound and lower against the Yen. Bitcoin is at $29,092 from $28,925 yesterday, higher by 2.07%.

Sector Action – (1/3/6/12/YTD Updated Weekly with Monday release):  

• Daily Positive Sectors: Technology of note.
• Daily Negative Sectors: Utilities, Industrials, Healthcare, energy, Real Estate, Financials of note.
• One Month Winners: Utilities, Healthcare, Energy  of note.
• Three Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Defensive of note.
• Six Month Winners: Technology, Basic Materials, Industrial of note.
• Twelve Month Winners: Energy of note.
• Year to Date Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Cyclical of note.

Tech companies including Microsoft Corp. were among the stock market’s few bright spots Wednesday, as investors digested corporate earnings that offered mixed messages about the state of the U.S. economy.  Major indexes on Wednesday morning clawed back some of the previous day’s losses before edging lower leading to the closing bell. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% while the S&P 500 dipped 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked 0.7%, or 229 points, lower.  Those declines spanned trucking firms, energy producers and regional banks. Tech was the only sector in the S&P 500 to notch gains Wednesday, according to FactSet, climbing 1.7%. (WSJ – edited by QPI)

Click here for a video explanation of Erlanger Value Lines.

Upcoming Earnings Of Note: (From Chartroom Software – sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)

• Thursday After the Close:

• Friday Before the Open:

Earnings of Note This Morning:

• Beats:  of note.
• Flat:  of note.
• Misses:  of note.
• Still to Report: None of note.

Guidance:

• Positive Guidance: EXTR, ALGN, EBAY, MMSI, META, EW, CACI, EVTC, MOH, ESI, TER, WST, EXLS, AIT, HAS, B  of note.
• Negative Guidance: PEB, PLXS, TDOC, WOLF, NTGR, ASGN, LSTR, MXL, PI, IEX, SUI, KRC, SAVE, BC of note.

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart:

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

• Gap Up: ATOM +34%, MCRB +14%, META +11%, PTEN +7%, TWOU +7%, NOVA +7%, MOH +6%, TER +5%, SUI +5%, TROX +5%, CSWC +5%, BCS +5%, IONQ +4%, TDOC +4%, FIX +4%, ASTS +4%, CASH +4% of note.
• Gap Down: PI -24%, NTGR -14%, VNO -13%, WOLF -13%, MXL -9%, ENVX -7%, STM -6%, ALGN -6%, URI -5%, NOV -4%, CLB -4% of note.

Insider Action: No stock sees Insider buying with dumb short selling.  No stock sees Insider buying with smart short sellers.

Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.

• 5 things to know before the stock market opens. (CNBC)
• 5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day. (Bloomberg) 
• Bloomberg Lead Story: Deutsche Bank Plans More Job Cuts After Traders Trail Peers. (Bloomberg)
• Bloomberg Most Shared Story: First Republic Faces Potential Curb on Borrowing From The Fed.  (Bloomberg)
• Comcast (CMCSA) beats estimates despite slowing broadband growth, higher Peacock losses. (CNBC)
• House Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) gets debt plan passed in the House, escalating standoff with Biden. (CNBC)
• Merck (MRK) revenues drop after a dramatic drop in antiviral treatment. (CNBC)
• American Airlines (AAL) ekes out a profit as the carrier ramps up flying. (CNBC)
• Southwest Airlines (LUV) posts wider than expected loss as the toll of the holiday crisis carries into Q1. (CNBC)
• Caterpillar (CAT) beats as demand remains strong, despite manufacturing costs rising. (Reuters)
• Eli Lilly (LLY) raises annual profit forecast as diabetes drug strength. (Reuters)
• NFL Draft kicks off tonight at 8:00 p.m. EDT in Kansas City. (1440)

Moving Average Update:

• Score remains at 28%….”Surprised Clark?”….”Oh, Eddie… If I Woke Up Tomorrow With My Head Sewn To The Carpet, I Wouldn’t Be More Surprised Than I Am Right Now”

Geopolitical: 

• President’s Public Schedule:
  • The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing, 9:00 a.m. EDT
  • The President participates in a Take Your Child to Work Day greet, 12:15 p.m. EDT
  • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, 1:45 p.m. EDT
  • The President participates in a campaign call with grassroots supporters, 6:45 p.m. EDT

Economic:

• Jobless Claims 8:30 a.m. EDT
• Q1 GDP (Advanced) is due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT and is expected to drop to 2.0% from 2.6% in Q4.
• March Pending Home Sales are due out at 10:00 a.m. EDT and are expected to rise to 1.00% from -0.8%.
• EIA natural Gas Report 10:30 a.m. EDT
• KC Mfg Index 11:00 a.m. EDT

Federal Reserve / Treasury Speakers: None of note.

M&A Activity:

• IDEX Corp (IEX) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Iridian Spectral Technologies for cash consideration of 150 mln Canadian dollars.

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

• Sellside Conferences:
  • Ladenburg Thalmann Tech Expo
    •  Previously posted and ongoing conferences:
      • Kempen Life Sciences Conference (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Morningstar Investment Conference (04/25/23-04/27/23)

• Company Meetings: AZN, CCK, GLW, ISRG, LMT, PFE, SNA, TXN
• Fireside Chat: None of note.
• Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: ACAQ, AULT, BRFH, FDMT, RNA, SLNH, VLD
• Update: SGMO.
• R&D Day: None of note.
• Company Event: None of note.
• Industry Meetings:
  • Society of Biological Psychiatry 78th Annual Scientific Convention 2023 (04/27/23-04/29/23)
  • Cleveland Clinic Lung Cancer Symposium 2023
  • Public Health Agency (CARPHA) 67th Annual Health Research Conference (04/27/23-04/29/23)
  • Newport Beach International Boat Show (NBIBS) 2023 (04/27/23-04/30/23)
    • Previously posted and ongoing conferences:
      • American Academy of Neurology AAN 75th Annual Meeting 2023 (04/22/23-04/27/23)
      • The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2023 (04/23/23-04/27/23)
      • SPIE Optics & Optoelectronics 2023 (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • North American Dealer Information Technology Association (NADITA) 2023 (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • ITS Americas Conference (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • CinemaCon 2023 (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • RSA Conference (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • ITS Americas Conference (04/24/23-04/27/23)
      • WindEurope Conference 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Carbon, Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • BioTrinity Conference 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Space Technology Conference 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • CubeSat Developers Workshop (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Datacloud Global Congress 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Global Hepatitis Summit 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Planet Microcap Showcase 2023 (04/25/23-04/27/23)
      • Envestnet Summit (04/26/23-04/27/23)
      • Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) Annual Meeting 2023 (04/26/23-04/28/23)
      • American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) 24th Annual Meeting (04/26/23-04/30/23)

Top Tier Sell-side Upgrades & Downgrades:

The recommendations listed below in this “Upgrade/Downgrade” section are compiled from what we believe are Tier I, II and III firms. Recommendations posted are taken from a variety of sources each day and we only post upgrades or significant initiations as well as downgrades to underweight or sell. The purpose of this posting it to make the reader aware of market moving recommendations. None of these recommendations should be interpreted as actual recommendations from CAPIS or its employees.

Today’s Upgrades and Downgrades:

Previous Day’s Upgrades and Downgrades: