Morning News

MAY 27, 2015

US futures quiet following yesterday’s plunge after the sharp rise in the dollar saw investors dumping equities and commodities. With a light economic calendar, retailers could give some directions with TIF, KORS and CHS reporting earnings before the market opens , and retail chain store sales data due out at 8:55.

NEWS:

OZRK: Bank of the Ozarks will replace Exelis in the S&P MidCap 400
HRL: Hormel Foods buys Applegate for $775M
FEYE: announces plans to offer $600M senior notes
BLUE: FPRX: bluebird bio and Five Prime enter into partnership on CAR T cell therapy development and commercialization
AAPL: Apple granted multi-touch keyboard patent
INO: Inovio Pharmaceuticals Partners with GeneOne Life Science for MERS Immunotherapy Clinical Development, as reported by the company website
ABBV:MS: announces repurchase of $5B in common stock from Morgan Stanley, reports wsj
PLUG: Plug Power Announces Master Sales Agreement With Large Footwear Manufacturer for GenKey Hydrogen Fuel Cell Solution, reports cnn
EOX: announced that they will not go ahead with the previously announced stock offering

ON THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

7AM: MBA Mortgage Applications
8:55AM: Redbook Chain Store Sales
1PM: $13B, 2 Year FRN Auction
1PM: $35B, 5 Year Note Auction

EARNINGS:

KORS: FQ4 EPS of $0.90 misses by $0.01.Revenue of $1.08B in-line: weak guidance: conference call 8AM EST
CHS:Q1 EPS of $0.28 in-line.Revenue of $693.3M misses by $20.74M conference call 8:30AM EST
TIF: Q1 EPS of $0.81 beats by $0.11.Revenue of $962M beats by $43.32M: strong guidance
TOL: FQ2 EPS of $0.37 beats by $0.02.Revenue of $852.58M misses by $8.57M: conference call 11AM EST
BMO:Q1 EPS of $1.71 beats by $0.05.Revenue of $4.5B misses by $40M: conference call 2:00PM EST
BWS: Q1 EPS of $0.44 beats by $0.08.Revenue of $602.28M beats by $8.96M: raises FY15 EPS view to $1.84-$1.94 from $1.78-$1.88:conference call 9AM EST
DSW: Q1 EPS of $0.53 beats by $0.06.Revenue of $655.49M beats by $2.08M: conference call 8:30AM EST

NOTABLE EARNINGS AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

ANW, COST, CPRT, PANW, PLKI, RENT, SMTC, TLYS, UHAL

NOTABLE EARNINGS RECAP FROM LAST NIGHT:

VNET:FQ1 EPS of RMB0.12 misses by RMB0.09.Revenue of RMB860.1M misses by RMB39.26M soft guidance
TIVO: FQ1 EPS of $0.08 beats by $0.01.Revenue of $92.4M beats by $1.05M: strong guidance
NMBL:FQ1 EPS of -$0.10 beats by $0.03.Revenue of $71.3M beats by $1.53M strong guidance

ANALYSTS’ RATINGS CHANGES:

UPGRADES:

TSO: upgrade: perform to outperform: Oppenheimer: $105
PSX: upgrade: perform to outperform: Oppenheimer:$55
MPC: upgrade: perform to outperform: Oppenheimer:
HFC: upgrade: perform to outperform: Oppenheimer
RAI: upgrade: market perform to outperform: Cowen: $86
AMED: upgrade: hold to buy: SunTrust:pt raised from $31 to $36
CCE: upgrade: hold to buy: HSBC: $48

DOWNGRADES:

RYAYY: downgrade: outperform to in-line: Imperial Capital: pt cut from $85 to $70
YHOO: downgrade: buy to hold: Evercore: $48
AOL: downgrade: buy to hold: Needham
AZO: downgrade: buy to hold: Gabelli
TMUS: downgrade: outperform to neutral: Macquarie

INITIATIONS: