Stocks to watch: Eyes on GameStop, Lululemon and the SPAC deal for an autonomous robot gamer
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Investors will return from the Memorial Day break with a focus on Europe, where leaders will meet in Brussels. While the EU is unlikely to approve a complete ban on Russian oil, an embargo on maritime deliveries or the general nature of the discussion could impact the energy market. OPEC is also set to meet next week, although no major fireworks are expected with the production statement. Key economic reports to watch include updates on construction spending, factory orders, US auto sales and the May jobs report. Economists forecast that the addition of 329,000 jobs for the month will be lower than the 428,000 jobs added in April. The unemployment rate should drop from 3.6% to 3.5%. The IPO schedule is quiet again, but a fascinating SPAC could hit the market in the retail sector, with Walmart (New York Stock Exchange: WMT) backed by Symbotic is expected to draw attention amid supply chain and retail labor disputes. On the corporate calendar, the earnings confessional will see visits from HP Inc. (HPQ), GameStop (GME) and Lululemon, while annual meetings at Alphabet (GOOG) and Walmart (WMT) will be full of activism. shareholders. Finally, next week will be the last chance for investors to buy Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) before the 20-to-1 stock split takes effect on June 6.
Earnings Spotlight: Tuesday, May 31 – HP Inc. (HPQ), Salesforce (CRM), Athlete’s warehouse (SPWH), ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT), Victoria’s Secret (VSCO).
Earnings Spotlight: Wednesday, June 1 – Capri Holdings (CPRI), GameStop (GME), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Mongo DB (MDB), UiPath (NYSE: PATH), Mellow (CHWY).
Earnings Spotlight: Thursday, June 2 – Designer Brands (DBI), Hormel (HRL), SpartanNash (NASDAQ: SPTN), Broadcom (AVGO), Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU), CrowdStrike (CRWD) and Okta (OKTA).
Earnings Spotlight: Friday, June 3 – BRP Inc. (DOOO)
IPO monitoring: Zhong Yang Financial Group (NASDAQ: TOP) is expected to begin trading on June 1. Quiet periods are ending on Bausch + Lomb (BLCO), PepGen (PEPG) and Austin Gold (AUST) to free analysts to issue ratings. IPO lock-up periods expire on Creative Medical Technology (NASDAQ: CELZ) on June 1 and Maris-Tech (MTEK) on June 2, both stocks are down sharply from their IPO price level.
Projected dividend increases: Companies planning to increase their quarterly dividend payouts include NetApp (NTAP) at $0.52 from $0.50, Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) at $1.18 from $1.15 and Universal Health Realty (UHT) at $0.71 instead of $0.705.
Corporate events: Watch AmerisourceBergen (New York Stock Exchange: ABC), Levi Strauss (NYSE: LEVI) and LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) on June 1 with companies organizing investor days. The event calendar is also busy on June 2 with Ingredion (INGR), SunOpta (STKL), BlueLinx Holdings (BXC), Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), and ZoomInfo Technologies (ZI) all hosting investor/analyst days that could see guidance revisions and strategy updates. An intriguing development in the SPAC world will be that shareholders of RedBall Acquisition (RBAC) will vote on the deal to take SeatGeek public. SeatGeek’s is an official partner of some of the most recognized teams, venues and leagues around the world, and a direct competitor to Vivid Seats (NASDAQ: HEADQUARTERS). On any weekend, Amazon (AMZN) will proceed with its stock split after the closing bell on Friday. This only gives investors a few days to buy the e-commerce stock at the pre-split price. Learn more about next week’s events that could impact stock prices in Seeking Alpha’s Catalyst Watch.
Conference schedule: The conference program is headlined next week by the Jefferies Virtual Internet Summit with Etsy (ETSY), Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN), Redfin(NASDAQ:RDFN) and Yelp (NYSE: YELP) all were to appear. Other conferences of note include Deutsche Bank Global Financial Services Conference, Jefferies Software Conference, Barclays Future of Media Conference, RBC Capital Markets Global Consumer & Retail Conference, KeyBanc Industrials & Basic Materials Investor Conference, Cowen 50th Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, and DA Davidson Bitcoin & Blockchain Conference.
Warehouse robots: Shareholders with SVF Investment Corp. 3 (NASDAQ: SVFC) are meeting to vote on the agreement to take Symbotic (SYM) public. Symbotic is described as a leader in automation technology reinventing the supply chain with its end-to-end AI-powered robotics and software platforms. The deal will value Symbotic at a pro forma net worth of approximately $5.5 billion. The disruptive platform already serves some of the world’s largest retailers, grocers and wholesalers, including Walmart (WMT), Albertsons (NYSE: ACI) and C&S Wholesale Grocers. Recently, Walmart announced an expanded business agreement with the supply chain technology company to implement a robotics and software automation platform across the retail giant’s 42 regional distribution centers in course of the next few years. With the industry’s largest contract backlog of over $5 billion, Symbotic already operates systems that serve more than 1,400 stores in 16 states and 8 Canadian provinces. Of note, Symbotic posted Q2 revenue of $96.3M, adjusted EBITDA of -$26.2M and quarterly net income of -$29.9M. Walmart (WMT) is an early backer of Symbotic and SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY) is a sponsor of SPAC.
Lululemon revenue overview: Lululemon (LULU) is due to report earnings on June 2 on consensus expectations of revenue of $1.55 billion and EPS of $1.43. Despite weakness in the retail sector, LULU is posting profits with some momentum after Morgan Stanley raised the stock to an overweight rating on what the company calls a compelling opportunity to buy compound growth in the retail at a reduced valuation relative to historical benchmarks. On the LULU conference call, watch for potential comments on the international opportunity. Bank of America believes the main growth engine to quadruple international trade from current levels will be China.
Annual meetings to note: Companies holding annual meetings next week include Airbnb (ABN), Chegg (CHG), (ANET), Alphabet (GOOG), (NVDA), Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Revlon (REV) and Walmart (WMT). Alphabet will face 17 shareholder resolutions at its annual meeting next week, up from eight the previous year. One of the resolutions calls for a company audit to help address effects, biases, or inequities with Google Search, its algorithms, artificial intelligence technology, and other products. Meanwhile, a contentious resolution to be voted on at Walmart’s meeting calls on the retail giant to disclose the risks and business costs that would arise from adopted or proposed public policies that severely restrict reproductive rights and explain the actions that management would take in addition to litigation and legal compliance. to reduce the risk of losing employees.
Box office overview: The American film industry is looking for a big holiday weekend, with the long-delayed Top Gun: Maverick finally set to feature. Analysts predict a box office gain of between $98 million and $125 million in what could also be a sentiment boost for shares of movie chain AMC Entertainment (AMC), Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF), Cinemark (NYSE: CNK), IMAX (IMAX) Marc (NYSE: MCS), Reading International (RDI), Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF) and National CineMedia (NCMI). The US box office generated $2.4 billion this year through May 25, compared to a total of $4.5 billion last year and $2.1 billion in 2020. Most projections indicate that the box office tally for the year is below the pre-pandemic level of $11.3 billion. in 2019, even if the higher ticket prices give a boost.
Mentions of Barron: Cryptocurrencies are on the cover this week after the $1.6 trillion loss in value over the past six months rocked the sector. Is the downward spiral over? Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down 60% from the peak price, but it should be noted in the last great crypto winter that Bitcoin lost 82% of its value and took three years to return to its previous high. In general this year, cryptocurrencies have behaved like risky assets, with concerns about inflation, interest rates and liquidity outweighing the concept of providing a store of value. This trend should continue. In the healthcare sector, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) gets a positive rating. The added values of Opdualag and Camzyos treatments are particularly singled out. Where are the bargains after the sharp stock market decline of 2022? Alphabet (GOOG), Lam Research (LRCX), Meta Platforms (FB), Micron Technology (MU), Netflix (NFLX) and Teradyne (TER) are on Barron’s watchlist.
Sources: EDGAR, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Renaissance Capital
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