US futures rising at this 7AM hour, following green arrows around the world as the markets pin hopes on a forthcoming deal in the ongoing Greek monetary crisis. Investor attention will also be drawn to some important economic data due out this morning, including durable goods numbers, as well as a new home sales. Fed member Powell is due to speak at 8:30 this morning in Washington.
NEWS:
- ORCL:AMZN: announces the expansion of its cloud-computing offerings, bringing the company into more direct competition with Amazon Web Service
- TWC: Commercial Network Services has filed a net neutrality complaint against Time Warner Cable
- ADEP: Two unnamed “global companies in the digital storage industry” have placed orders that total over $2.5M
- CAT: announces that it will lay off another 50 workers at its East Peoria IL manufacturing facility
- GDOT: announces that its contract to manage and issue Wal-Mart MoneyCard debit cards was extended for another 5 years
- GOOG: GOOGL: Getty joins EU’s Google complaint, reports the Wall Street Journal
- VIMC: wins $22M contract in Shanxi Province
- GCI: announces that its publishing company will begin a 3 year stock repurchase program of up to $150 million
- WSR: announces 3.75M share offering
- JNPR: RKUS: Juniper Networks and Ruckus Wireless Team to Bring High-Performance, Scalable and Open Network Solutions to the Enterprise, reports businesswire
ON THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:
- 8:30AM: Durable Goods
- 8:30AM: Fed Powell speaks (voting member)
- 8:55AM: Redbook Chain Store Sales
- 9AM: FHFA House Price Index
- 9:45AM: PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
- 10AM: Richmond Fed Manufacturing
- 10AM: New Home Sales
- 1PM: $26B 2 Year Note Auction
EARNINGS:
- IHS: FQ2 EPS of $1.50 beats by $0.05.Revenue of $591M beats by $15.63M: raises guidance FY15 from $5.77-$5.97 to $5.80-$6.00: conference call 8AM EST
- BBRY: Q1 EPS of -$0.05 misses by $0.02.Revenue of $658M misses by $25.65M: anticipates positive free cash flow in FY16: conference call 8AM EST
- CCL: conference call 10AM EST
- DRI: FQ4 EPS of $1.08 beats by $0.15.Revenue of $1.88B beats by $10M: upbeat guidance, FY16 adjusted EPS $3.05-$3.20, consensus $2.88:conference call 8:30AM EST
SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS FROM LAST NIGHT:
- SONC: FQ3 EPS of $0.36 in-line.Revenue of $164.75M beats by $0.58M.
ANALYSTS’ RATINGS CHANGES:
UPGRADES:
- T: upgrade: neutral to buy: UBS: pt raised from $34 to $42
- T: upgrade: equal weight to overweight: Barclays: pt raised from $34 to $39
- VOD: upgrade: neutral to buy: Normura
- JBLU: upgrade: underweight to equal weight: Morgan Stanley
- ALK: upgrade: equal weight to overweight: Morgan Stanley
- TWH: upgrade: sector weight to overweighT: KeyBanc:
- VNR: upgrade; market perform to outperform: Raymond James
- HME: upgrade: underweight to equal weight: Morgan Stanley
- ALR: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: pt raised from $50 to $60
DOWNGRADES:
- TAP: downgrade: buy to neutral: Normura:
- DGX: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman:
- HA: downgrade: equal weight to underweight: Morgan Stanley
- AAL: downgrade: overweight to equal weight: Morgan Stanley: pt cut from $62 to $49
- WDC: downgrade: overweight to neutral: JP Morgan:
- AMCX: downgrade: buy to hold: Topeka: $85
INITIATIONS:
- YELP: initiated: buy: Topeka:
- GRBU: initiated: buy: Topeka
- NEM: reinstated: outperform: Credit Suisse: $30
- ISIS: reiterates: buy: Needham: $91
- FIVE: initiated: outperform: RBC Capital: $48
PRICE TARGET CHANGES:
- GDOT: pt raised from $18 to $22: Compass Point
- GDOT: pt raised from $22 to $24: Piper Jaffray
- DNKN: pt raised from $60 to $62: RBC Capital
- VRTX: pt raised from $130 to $145: RBC Capital
- WPX: pt raised from $17 to $23: Imperial Capital
- GIII: pt raised from $74 to $86: Piper Jaffray