MAY 18, 2015
US futures slipping at this 7AM hour following mostly red arrows around the world with little on the economic calendar today but what could be a revealing week as some heavyweight retails announce earnings on Tues and Wed., and we get a look at the FOMC minutes on Wednesday. Overnight, crude rose back over $60/barrel as oil bulls and bears play tug-of-war. Increased fighting in the Middle East spurns fears that supply may be disrupted in that area, while traders remain cautious over the upcoming OPEC meeting and the expected recovery in t US shale production.
NEWS:
- BABA: Alibaba sued in US by luxury brands over counterfeit goods, reuters reports
- AAPL: Top U.S. hedge funds continued to dump Apple amid rally, reuters reports
- ENDP: Endo to buy generic drug maker Par Pharmaceutical in a +$8B deal
- RIO: Rio Tinto plans to sell Pacific Aluminum for $1B, reports reuters
- AAPL: Apple has acquired high-precision GPS firm Coherent Navigation, reports thenextweb
- GOOG: GOOGL: AMZN: EBAY: Google to launch “buy” buttons, which will take them to a Google product page, where they can purchase the item(s).
- SYT: Barrons out positive on Syngenta even without Monsanto
- RL: Barrons out positive, sees possible +15-20%
- AAL: JBLUE: UAL: LUV: DAL: US airlines expect to carry a record number of passengers this summer, reports wsj
- JBLU: announces flights into and out of Mexico City starting in October
- JKS: JinkoSolar to Supply 50 MW of Solar Panels to Tegnatia for Projects in Turkey, reports prnewswire
- GILD: The WHO has added new treatments for hepatitis C to its essential medicines list, including Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi and Harvoni, but says prices must come down before most people will be able to access them, from daily drug bulletin
- CELG, XLRN: Celgene and Acceleron annouce fast track approval for luspatercept
- ANN: ASNA: Ascena Retail Group acquires Ann Inc for $47/share
- MDVN: Enzalutamide meets primary endpoints
ON THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:
10AM: NAHB Housing Market Index
EARNINGS:
- JASO: Q1 EPS of $0.13 beats by $0.07: revenue of $387.7M misses by $22.44M: conference call 8AM EST
SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:
A, LF, MOMO, NOAH, PLAB, TTWO, URBN
ANALYSTS’ RATINGS CHANGES:
UPGRADES:
- CTRP: upgrade: neutral to overweight: JPM: pt raised from $63 to $87
- CBI: upgrade: sell to neutral: Goldman: pt raised from $40 to $55
- CPQ: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $44
- EMES: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $41
- NFX: upgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $46
- CLR: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $60
DOWNGRADES:
- YELP: downgrade: overweight to neutral: Piper: pt cut from $70 to $46
- KSU: downgrade: buy to neutral: BofA/Merrill:
- CPG: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $28
- CHK: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $16
- CTXS: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $69
- CVX: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $99
- GPOR: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $34
- LINE: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $10
- MUR: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $38
- RRC: downgrade: conviction buy to neutral: Goldman: $60 (thats a double downgrade)
- HES: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $68
INITIATIONS:
- PCDE: initiated: Conviction Buy: Goldman: $77
- NSA: initiated: overweight: Morgan Stanley: $16
- NSA: initiated: buy: Jefferies: $17
- TNP: initiated: overweight: JP Morgan: $13
- ASC: initiated: overweight: JP Morgan :$16
PRICE TARGET CHANGES:
- AMAG: pt raised from $60 to $85: Leerink
- CLVS: pt raised from $90 to $125: Stifel