Wall Street Breakfast: The Week Ahead

Listen on the go! A daily podcast of Wall Street Breakfast will be available by 8:00 a.m. on Seeking Alpha, iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

Economic reports in the week ahead

Investors will continue to evaluate the impact of the congressional vote on stimulus in the week ahead and the direction of interest rates. On the corporate calendar, earnings reports will only trickle in, but U.S. telecom giants Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) and AT&T hold big investor events. Gaming platform Roblox Corp (RBLX) is set to go public in a direct listing next week. Roblox expects its revenue to double in Q1 and daily active users to be up 59% to 68% from last year's level. Roblox joins a list of high-profile companies like Palantir Technologies and Spotify Technology that went public through the direct path. That list could include Instacart (ICART) shortly.

XPeng (NYSE:XPEV), Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX) and Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) on March 8; Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) and MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB) on March 9; Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB), Cloudera (NYSE:CLDR), REV Group (NYSE:REV) and BEST Inc. (NYSE:BEST) on March 10; JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) and DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) on March 11 and JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS) on March 12.

IPOs expected to price include Coupang (CPNG) and First High-School education (FHS) on March 11 and Joann (JOAN) and Hayward Holdings (HAYW) on March 12. The direct listing for Roblox (RBLX) is expected to start trading on March 10. The IPO lockup period expires on Nanobiotix SA (NASDAQ:NBTX) on March 11. Quiet period expirations during the week include Adagene (NASDAQ:ADAG), Apria (NASDAQ:APR), Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL), Bioventus (NASDAQ:BVS), Viant Technology (NASDAQ:DSP), LoanDepot (NYSE:LDI), Cloopen Group (NYSE:RAAS), Signify Health (NYSE:SGFY), Decibel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DBTX) and NexImmune (NASDAQ:NEXI).

Projected dividend increases (quarterly): The list of notable dividend increases anticipated to be announced next week includes Oracle (ORCL) to $0.30 from $0.24, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) to $0.39 from $0.3125, Retail Properties (NYSE:RPAI) to $0.07 from $0.06, Innovative Industrial (NYSE:IIPR) to $1.30 from $1.24, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) to $0.23 from $0.22, Hill-Rom (NYSE:HRC) to $0.23 to $0.22 and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) to $0.45 from $0.44.

There are a number of shareholder votes on mergers this week. The IHS Markit (NYSE:INFO)-S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) deal goes to a vote on March 11 and the Alaska Communications (NASDAQ:ALSK)-ATN International (NASDAQ:ATNI) merger goes to a vote on March 12.

Verizon (VZ), T-Mobile (TMUS) and AT&T (T) will hold analyst days next week. Taking the broad view, Bank of America expects the carriers to discuss 5G deployment efforts and capex expectations. "We suspect AT&T and Verizon will continue spending at the same level to attempt to take advantage of C-band spectrum as quickly as possible. Based on our conversation with the company, we believe T-Mobile will likely lower its prior '~$40bn over 3 years' capex budget per its 2018 merger deck. We suspect this is a mix of signing new long term tower deals, improved purchasing power, and greater insight into the merger integration effort," previews the firm. JPMorgan says it hopes to get a better view on how AT&T will account for the cost of the 15-17 films that will be streamed for 30 days on HBO Max this year, without which it is impossible to estimate segment EBITDA for the year. The firm also expects an update of long-term domestic and international subscriber guidance.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) holds its first Investor Day event as a public company. The presentation will give the company a chance to comment on what it sees as the total addressable market for sports betting in the U.S. and the path to profitability. Investor events are also scheduled for Cigna (NYSE:CI), Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and CyberArk Software (NASDAQ:CYBR).

Conferences rundown: The UBS Global Consumer and Retail Virtual Conference may be the headliner event of the week. Presenting companies include Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS), Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT). Other notable conference in the week includes the Deutsche Bank 29th Annual Media, Internet and Telecom Conference, the Citi Global Property CEO Conference including presentations by American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT),the RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference 2021, the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference including presentations by Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT), the Truist Securities Technology, Internet & Services Conference 2021 including presentations by BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC) and Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS), the Susquehanna 10th Annual Technology Conference, the HC Wainwright Global Life Sciences Conference, the Bank of America Securities Consumer and Retail Technology Conference featuring presentations by RealReal (NASDAQ:REAL) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), the Baird's Vehicle Technology & Mobility Conference, the D.A. Davidson 4th Annual Consumer Growth Conference, the Loop Capital Consumer, Industrials and TMT Investor Conference, the JP Morgan Gaming Lodging Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum and the Gabelli & Company 12th Annual Specialty Chemicals Conference.

Go Deeper: Check out Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch for a detailed list of events to watch.

Barron's mentions

The publication makes a strong case that the pullback in Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) is overdone. Despite the slide in the stock following the canceled development of a promising drug, it is noted that not enough has actually changed for Vertex to warrant the loss of confidence. A sleeper pick in the e-commerce sector is also called out. MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. (NASDAQ:MYTE) is seen benefiting from tailwinds in the luxury market. The company is growing by about 7% annually and is set up for further expansion in the U.S. and China. Finally, the concerns of Lowe's (LOW) being a COVID-19 play are dismissed. "With Covid receding, Lowe’s is set to become a more-profitable company, while housing might be more resilient than it’s given credit for. Just as important, Lowe’s has also been a turnaround story, and with life returning to normal, it can finally demonstrate how far it has come," reads the rundown on the home improvement retailer.

Sources: EDGAR, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Verge, Renaissance Capital

Comments

[User 825841]

March 5th was a fabulous day of gains. Up 2.32% that day. Today, Monday 8th not as good but still closed up 1.22%. I cannot and will not complain when there are gains no matter the amount. Last two Market Days raised my total portfolio gains to 38% from inception on April 15, 2020. I love the Market. Today bought more shares in CIM, TSN, MDU, and UGI. They closed up.

[Phil Dumfee]

A March crash preceded the October 1929 crash. We're in the 8th inning.

[soleprop]

Oh goody, goody! More paper, more debt.

All around the Mulberry Bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought it was all in fun, POP, goes the weasel.
A penny for a spool of thread, a penny for a needle, that's the way the money goes. POP goes the weasel.

[Phil Dumfee]

What I saw on Mulberry Street. Understandable the queen would be concerned about the darkness of the baby's skin. They used to ship slaves all over the world. Now a descendant one of them is a royal with offspring. Historically it's revolutionary.

[User 825841]

One would assume stock Market will gain on Monday but maybe not. The vote by the House on the 1.9 Trillion Bill is on Tuesday. Then it needs to go to the President to sign. So maybe the Market will wait until the Bill is signed? Or maybe the Market will feel it's a done deal and react on Monday. My Portfolio was up 2.32% on Friday with every stock in the green and if that is any indication of what is to come then Monday could take off like a rocket to the moon.

[SebW]

@Aristocrat & Dividend King Investor the thing is the stimulus has already priced in so many times I believe. What seemed to have moved the market is the fear of inflation and rising bond yields.... So yet another stimulus package and high money printing is more like a bearish signal to the inflation fears... So we could continue to see red days after a green Monday tomorrow ;)

[User 825841]

@SebW I think Wall Street will be happy because the FED is propping everything up for a while longer. Make no mistake, inflation is coming, but until it becomes painful the Market will continue it's upward movement.

[Bankable]

@Aristocrat & Dividend King Investor, sorry to disagree but markets are forward looking. Everyone knows inflation is coming or here already. Markets will react accordingly. Nasdaq off 2% this morning. Bigger falls coming as the market reacts to the increased debt and inflation. I think this will be a painful year for investors despite the economy reopening.

[S Suen]

I use to get Wallstreet Breakfast via email directly. I don't get them now yet I am still subscribed. Wonder why.

[johnsoriaknows]

Probably the biggest story next week will be bargain hunting before the next leg of the 2021 bull market starts in earnest this coming week (for the following reasons ...and there are more): 1) the $1.9B stimulus being passed, 2) a confident Federal Reserve Chairman with a number of tools at his disposal if last week's yield chatter/volatility/upswing becomes persistent, and COVD-19 vaccines accelerating with J&J/Merck working together to ramp the production of the one-shot vaccine. Bears will be demolished.

Indeed, last week the market brought many companies, and small biotech companies to their knees including Protalix (PLX) stock even though it has $80M in cash and stearing at a certain second FDA drug approval ($190M market cap). PLX suffered probably more that the majority of biotechs because of its low float and investors' fears that the April 27, 2021 PDUFA date for PRX-102 could be delayed a second time PLX.

PLX stock price was manipulated down all the way to $3.8/share on the morning of March 6, 2021. The market recovered nicely in the afternoon and so was PLX price bouncing from the 200-day moving average to end the day up 7c at $4.19/share. Just two weeks before the stock price traded North of $7 regardless of the PDUFA date uncertainty. Several analysts have a $13/share price target upon PRX-102 approval on April 27, 2021. PLX PPS could be signifcantly higher because of the low float and if market conditions are bullish on April 27, 2021. Recall that Cormedix (CRMD) jumped from $8 to $18/share in about 4 weeks before its PDUFA date last week. CRMD is now flirting with $7 following the receipt of a CRL from the FDA citing manufacturing plant irregularities.

Here is updated infromation on PLX:

seekingalpha.com/...

Good luck to all and get you vaccine!

[Invader from Earth]

You gotta love the ongoing hype for betting with the children’s lunch money... how regressive is gambling? Enormous...

[GreenEggs&Ham]

@Invader from Earth Gambling is an addictive drug

[Phil Dumfee]

@GreenEggs Theodore Geisel. Great man. Stock market is a casino. The house sees your cards.

[Zane Farris]

Appreciate the content, wish Rina Sherbel wasn't yelling the whole thing though