Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Stocks to Watch - a preview of key events scheduled for the next week. Follow this account and turn the e-mail alert on to receive this article in your inbox every Saturday morning. A podcast of Stocks to Watch is also available on Sundays on Seeking Alpha, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify (click the highlighted links).
The largest healthcare conference of the year will dominate the headlines this week when the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco begins on January 13. Beyond the huge number of presentations from biotech firms and Big Pharma, there is a bit of M&A intrigue in the air. Surrounding last year's event, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) announced a merger with Celgene and Eli Lilly (LLY) revealed its buyout of Loxo Oncology. Meanwhile, the retail sector will be focused on the ICR Conference in Orlando from, with a flood of holiday sales and guidance updates expected to turn heads. On the earnings front, Dow stocks Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and UnitedHealth (UNH) lead off the earnings parade during the week. Also of note, China's Vice Premier Liu He could sign a "Phase 1" deal in Washington and it's all quiet on the Middle Eastern front for the moment.
Notable earnings reports: JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Citigroup (C), IHS Markit (INFO) and Aphria (APHRA) on January 14; Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) United Healthcare (UNH), BlackRock (BLK), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Alcoa (AA) and PNC Financial (PNC) on January 15; Morgan Stanley (MS), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and CSX (CSX) on January 16; Fastenal (FAST), J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Schlumberger (SLB) and State Street (STT).
Go deeper: See Seeking Alpha's complete list of earnings reporters.
ICR preview: Retail gets real interesting next week when one the biggest events of the year takes place January 13-15 in Orlando. Heading into the retail blockbuster. JPMorgan singles out Lululemon (LULU) and Boot Barn (BOOT) as two retailers to watch in particular around. Lululemon has raised its Q4 same-store sales guidance range at ICR in 4 of the past 5 years, while Boot Barn is seen pre-announcing strong same-store sales growth for the holiday quarter. The roster of participating companies includes Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), AgroFresh Solutions, Alico, Aphria, Aritzia, At Home Group (HOME), Aurora Cannabis (ACB), Big 5 Sporting Goods (BGFV), Boot Barn (BOOT), Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW), Cardlytics, Carrols Restaurant (TAST), Chico's FAS (CHS), Chuy's Holdings (CHUY), Citi Trends (CTRN), Crocs (CROX), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Dave & Buster's Entertainment (PLAY), Del Taco Restaurants (TACO), Delta Apparel (DLA), Denny's (DENN), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), El Pollo Loco (LOCO), FAT Brands (FAT), Five Below (FIVE), The Flowr (FLWR), Freshpet (FRPT), GameStop (GME), Genesco (GCO), Goosehead Insurance (GSHD), Green Thumb Industries (OTCQX:GTBIF), Guess (GES), Helen of Troy (HELE), Herman Miller (MLHR), Kura Sushi USA (KRUS), KushCo Holdings (KSHB), Landec Corporation (LNDC), Lands' End (LE), Luckin Coffee (LK), Lululemon (LULU), MarineMax (HZO), Medifast (MED), Mohawk Group (MWK), New Age Beverages (NBEV), Noodles (NDLS), Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS), OneSpaWorld (OSPN), Party City (PRTY), Performance Food Group (PFGC), Perrigo Company (PRGO), PetIQ (PETQ), Planet Fitness (PLNT), Primo Water (PRMW), Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews (RRGB), Rocky Brands (RCKY), RTW Retailwinds (RTW), Ruth's Hospitality (RUTH), Shake Shack (SHAK), SpartanNash (SPTN), Sportsman's Warehouse (SPWH), SunOpta (STKL), Sysco Corporation (SYY), The Chefs' Warehouse (CHEF), The Container Store (TCS), The Cronos Group (CRON), The ONE Group (STKS), Tillys (TLYS), Tilray (TLRY), Vince Holding (VNCE) and ZAGG (ZAGG).
IPO watch: The IPO market slowly starts to heat up again with Phoenix Tree (DNK), Velocity Financial (VEL), I-Mab (IMAB) and Lizhi (LIZI) all expected to price. The four IPOs are on the smaller size, with only real estate finance player Velocity Financial expected to bring in more than $130M. There are also quiet period expirations on Monopar Therapeutics (MNPR) and Indonesia Energy (INDO) to track. IPO share lockup periods expire for DouYu International (DOYU), Assetmark Financial (AMK), Phreesia (PHR), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (MIRM) and Fulcrum Therapeutics (FULC) on January 14 as well as Intercorp Financial (IFS), Medallia (MDLA), Afya (AFYA) and Innate Pharma (IPHA) on January 16.
Go deeper: Catch up on all the latest IPO news.
Projected dividend changes: BlackRock (BLK) to $3.43 from $3.30, Citizens Financial (CFG) to $0.39 from $0.36, CMS Energy (CMS) to $0.41 from $0.3825, Con Edison (ED) to $0.755 from $0.74, Fastenal (FAST) to $0.225 from $0.22, Jacobs (J) to $0.19 from 17, Alliant Energy (LNT) to $0.38 from $0.355, NRG Energy (NRG) to $0.30 from $0.03c, Realty Income (O) to $0.232 from $0.2275, Oneok Inc (OKE) to $0.94 from $0.915. Go deeper: Read the latest dividend analysis.
M&A tidbits:SRC Energy (SRCI) and PDC Energy (PDCE) shareholders vote on the merger between the two companies on The tender offer for the Merck (MRK)-ArQule (ARQL) deal expires on January 14.
NRF 2020: The National Retail Federation's big event includes heavyweight speakers like BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) CEO Chris Baldwin, Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella, Walmart U.S. (WMT) CEO John Furner, Kohl's (KSS) CEO Michelle Glass, Lowe's (LOW) CIO Seemanti Godbole, Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman, Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Kevin Johnson, Recode's Kara Swisher, Ralph Lauren (RL) CIO Janet Sherlock, Mastercard (MA) CEO Ajay Banga, Under Armour (UAA) Brand Chief Kevin Plank, Best Buy (BBY) CEO Corie Barry and WW International's (WW) Mindy Grossman.
Analyst/investor meetings: Wingstop (WING) hold its first analyst day event since its IPO on January 16. Other highlights in the week ahead include investor events for Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) and International Seaways (INSW), as well as a special Peacock Day to highlight Comcast's (CMCSA) new streaming service. An ESG conference call by Cisco (CSCO) and Goldman Sachs (GS) on January 14 could also turn some heads with both companies increasing their environmental sustainability focus.
JPMorgan Healthcare Conference: The list of companies heading to San Francisco from January 13-16 includes start-ups to those with more than $300B in market cap. The roster of attendees also encompasses the entire global healthcare landscape - including pharmaceutical firms, healthcare service providers, not-for-profits and medical device companies. Watch for possible preliminary earnings updates and full-year forecasts from and keynote addresses from JPMorgan's (JPM) Jamie Dimon and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Emma Walmsley. A a partial list of companies due to appear includes Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Syneos Health (SYNH), Patterson Companies (PDCO), Ideaya Biosciences (IDYA), United Therapeutics (UTHR), Amarin (AMRN), LabCorp (LH), Emergent BioSolutions (EBS), Alexion (ALXN), SpringWorks Therapeutics (SWTX), TherapeuticsMD (TXMD), Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT), Precision Biosciences (DTIL), Alnylam (ALNY), Orchard Therapeutics (ORTX), Bausch Health (BHC), Ionis Pharmaceutical (IONS), Mylan (MYL), Inovalon (INOV), Magenta Therapeutics (MGTA), Biomarin (BMRN) and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT).
North American Bitcoin Conference: Rally caps will be on for cryptocurrencies at the high-profile event running in Miami from January 13-15. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) heads into the event hovering near the 8K level.
Voice tech on display: The Project Voice conference next week is aimed at juxtaposing the major ecosystems and new voice/AI developments. Keynotes are expected from Amazon's Alexa team, Google (GOOGL), Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Oprah magic: Keep an eye on WW International (WW) with Oprah Winfrey still out on tour promoting the brand. This week, Oprah is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region with special guest Tina Fey. Future guests on the Oprah-WW tour include Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez. Shares of WW gained 10.5% last week.
Sales and business update: Caterpillar (CAT) is expected to issue its monthly report on global machinery sales. Holiday sales reports are due in from Target (TGT) on January 15 and Signet Jewelers (SIG) on January 16. Credit card write-offs reports are also due in from American Express (AXP), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Capital One (COF), Discover Financial (DFS), JPMorgan (JPM) and Synchrony Financial (SYF).
Seltzer launch: Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) digs further into the hard seltzer battle this week with the launch of a Bud Light Seltzer brand. The beer giant is hoping to ride the seltzer wave on the back of a brand that's been in decline. Next month, the company is running a Super Bowl commercial to promote its seltzer drinks. White Claw and Boston Beer's (SAM) Truly are the two dominant seltzer brands in the U.S., while Constellation Brands (STZ) is upping its marketing budget on a line of hard seltzer drinks.
Bezos treks to India: Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to meet India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and local officials next week when he visits India. Bezos is also scheduled to attend the Amazon SMBhav small business event in New Delhi. The company is looking to alleviate fears in India over the impact of Amazon growing rapidly in the region.
Needham Growth Conference: The 22nd Annual Needham Growth Conference provides institutional, private equity and venture capital investors with access to approximately 340 growth companies from a broad range of industries including communications & enterprise infrastructure; healthcare; industrial technology; Internet, entertainment & consumer; semiconductors & semiconductor equipment; and software & services. The long list of participants includes Fluent (FLNT), nLIGHT (LASR), Avalara (AVLR), ACM Research (ACMR), Semtech (SMTC), Avid Technology (AVID), Alteryx (AYX), Mitek (MITK), SiTime Corporation (NST), Cohu (COHU), Appian Corporation (APPN), eGain (EGAN), Everbridge (EVBG), GP Strategies (GPX), Rimini Street (RMNI), FormFactor (FORM), Boingo Wireless (WIFI), Everspin (MRAM), Trupanion (TRUP), Heritage-Crystal Clean (HCCI), Adesto (IOTS), EverQuote (EVER), Telenav (TNAV), Energous Corporation (WATT), Super League (SLGG), IPG Photonics (IPGP), Vishay Intertechnology (VSH), Perion Network Management (PERI), Opera Limited (OPRA), TiVo Corporation (TIVO), LiveXLive Media (LIVX), Ooma (OOMA), ChannelAdvisor (ECOM), Rambus (RMBS), Coupa Software (COUP), Harmonic (HLIT), Five9 (FIVN), CalAmp (CAMP), Gaia (GAIA), Comscore (SCOR), Upland Software (UPLD), Camtek (CAMT), MKS Instruments (MKSI), Diodes (DIOD), SMTC Corporation (SMTX), Digimarc (DMRC), OneSpan (OSPN), PowerFleet (PWFL), Universal Electronics (UEIC), Vonage (VG), Rubicon Project (RUBI) and DocuSign (DOCU).
Barron's mentions: Shipping stocks are sized up after the recent rally in share price with tankers. Teekay Tankers (TNK), Nordic American Tankers (NAT), Euronav (EURN), Frontline (FRO), Scorpio Tankers (STNG) and DHT Holdings (DHT) are seen continuing to benefit from higher tanker rates. Apple (AAPL) and Bank of America (BAC) are profiled favorably by the publication once again, while defense stocks are also seen running even higher. Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Raytheon (RTN) are predicted to grow earnings at rates ranging from 9% to 15% a year through 2021, which the publication thinks is probably well ahead of earnings for the broader stock market.
Sources: CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, Edgar
