My Top 10 Things to Watch Friday, December 2, 2022 1. US stock futures point to a weaker open as bond yields rise on stronger-than-expected job growth and wage inflation in November. Non-farm payrolls increased by 263,000. The country’s unemployment rate remains, as expected, at 3.7%. Average hourly earnings up 0.6% month-over-month and 5.1% year-over-year, both higher than expected. Persistent wage increases come two days after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said smaller interest rate hikes may be ahead. Although he said more needs to be done to curb inflation. 2. Marvell Technology (MRVL) gets multiple price target reductions. Future deficit. Orientation down on all ranges but less consumer. Quarterly shortfall on revenue and profit. Real problems. Bad data centers. corporate networking (China, not government) bad. Bad storage. We left Marvell about a month ago, selling the rest of our then small position. It’s been a tough year for chip stocks. We recently reduced exposure to the rest of our semis: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA) and Qualcomm (QCOM). 3. Here’s a change: Citi raises its price target on FedEx (FDX) to $190 per share from $165. “Earnings are probably good,” analysts say. Big change from the warnings of September 15 when CEO Raj Subramaniam told me on “Mad Money” that he was concerned about a global recession. The stock the next day fell 21% to $161. Shares closed Thursday at $180. 4. As expected, several price target increases for Ulta Beauty (ULTA) following company advice. Ulta beat its quarterly revenue and profit. Crushed estimates with year-over-year comparable store sales growth of 14.6%. 5. Cybersecurity Zscaler (ZS) is reporting better than expected numbers, but advice is not what people want. Thus, price targets are reduced on Wall Street and the stock has fallen more than 11% in pre-market. Although the shares jumped 8% in the previous session. 6. Asana (ASAN) loses 14% in pre-release. The labor management platform issues disappointing operating results and numerous price target drops for analysts. 7. Barclays downgrades Blackstone (BX) to equal weight due to overweight (hold back from purchase). BREIT (Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust) is attractive, but analysts cite near-term pressures. Redemption limits for shareholders have entered into force. 8. Railway strike averted. The Senate sends a working agreement to President Joe Biden for his signature. Maybe sell the news on CSX (CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NSC). Both saw their strength earlier this week as it became clear there would be no walkout. 9. RBC Capital Says DoorDash (DASH) Risk/Reward Is Less Comfortably Balanced; sector downgrades perform from outperform (hold from buy). Analysts are concerned about “likely hypersensitivity to order deceleration” in the economy next year. 10. Tesla (TSLA) announces the first delivery of its long-haul tractor-trailer. The EV maker claims a fully charged Semi can travel 500 miles on a single charge. PepsiCo (PEP) buys the first. Baird Equity Research says demand is strong; sees big unit sales in China. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AMD, NVDA, and QCOM. See here for a full stock list.) As a CNBC Investing Club subscriber with Jim Cramer, you’ll receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, AS WELL AS OUR DISCLAIMER. NO OBLIGATION OR FIDUCIARY DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED BY YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR PROFITS ARE GUARANTEED.
My top 10 things to watch Friday, December 2, 2022
1. US stock futures point to a lower open as bond yields rise on stronger-than-expected job growth and wage inflation in November. Non-farm payrolls increased by 263,000. The country’s unemployment rate remains, as expected, at 3.7%. Average hourly earnings up 0.6% month-over-month and 5.1% year-over-year, both higher than expected. Persistent wage increases come two days after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said smaller interest rate hikes may be ahead. Although he said more needs to be done to curb inflation.
2.Marvell Technology (MRVL) gets several price target reductions. Future deficit. Orientation down on all ranges but less consumer. Quarterly shortfall on revenue and profit. Real problems. Bad data centers. corporate networking (China, not government) bad. Bad storage. We left Marvell about a month ago, selling the rest of our then small position. It’s been a tough year for chip stocks. We recently reduced exposure to the rest of our semi-finals: Advanced micro-systems (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA) and Qualcomm (QCOM).
