Catalyst watch: Apple earnings, Twitter drama and media eyes on NAB Show

shapecharge/iStock via Getty Images

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch - a breakdown of some of next week's actionable events that stand out. Check out Saturday morning's regular Stocks to Watch article for a full list of events planned for the week or the Seeking Alpha earnings calendar for companies due to report.

Monday - April 25

• Volatility watch - Options trading is elevated on Aytu BioPharma (AYTU) and Sonos Group N.V. (NASDAQ:SEV). No surprise, but Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) are right at the top of the list of most discussed stocks on Reddit's WallStreetBets and StockTwits. Short interest as a percentage of total float is elevated again on Skillz (SKLZ) and Cinemark Holdings (CNK).
• All day - The NAB Show runs through April 27. The world's largest annual conference for broadcast, entertainment and technology professionals will feature exhibiting companies from 38 nations. Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI), Veritone (VERI), and Quantum Corporation (QMCO) have highlighted their appearances this year. Some of the key stocks to watch for potential analyst reactions are Gray Television (GTN), Nexstar Media Group (NXST), E.W. Scripps Company (SSP), TEGNA (TGNA), Audacy (AUD), and iHeartMedia (IHRT).

Tuesday - April 26

• All day - The Surface Transportation Board will hold public hearings to address recent service issues and recovery efforts. Executives from Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX Corporation (CSX), Norfolk Southern (NSC), and Union Pacific (UNP), Canadian National (CN), Canadian Pacific (CP), and Kansas City Southern are expected to attend the hearing. The focus of the hearings will be to push the rails companies to detail action plans to address the issues. Ahead of the hearing, Union Pacific said congestion on tracks was hurting its ability to meet shipping demand.
• Premarket - The Chardan 6th Annual Genetic Medicines Manufacturing Summit 2022 will include presentations from REGENXBIO (RGNX), Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (WVE), Century Therapeutics (IPSC), Achilles Therapeutics plc (ACHL), Taysha Gene Therapies (TSHA), Passage Bio (PASG) and Tenaya Therapeutics (TNYA). The event has led to share price spikes for participating companies in the past.
• All day - Shareholders with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co. (ATSPT) will vote on the deal to take AI firm SoundHound public. The company has added $2 million to the PIPE to bring the deal’s total PIPE proceeds to $113 million.
• All day - Bull Horn Holdings Corp. (BHSE) holds a meeting to vote on extending the deadline to combine with Coeptis Therapeutics (OTCPK:COEP) in a SPAC deal.
• All day - Shareholders with 51job (JOBS) formally vote on the deal to take a buyout offer from DCP Capital and Ocean Link Partners.
• 10:15 a.m. Appian (APPN) holds an investor session at its Appian World 2022 event. Shares of Appian have rallied after similar events.
• 11:00 a.m. Callaway Golf Company (ELY) will hold an Investor Day event with presentations and Q&A sessions led by members of the Callaway and Topgolf executive leadership teams.
• Postmarket - Companies reporting earnings with double-digit share price moves up or down implied by options trading include QuantumScape (QS), Sigma Labs (SGLB), Teradyne (TER) and Boyd Gaming (BYD).
• Postmarket - Nasdaq is due to post its short interest report.

Wednesday - April 27

• All day - ACM Research (ACMR) will release its preliminary revenue range for Q1 ahead of the full earnings report due in on May 6.
• All day - Companies reporting earnings with double-digit share price moves up or down implied by options trading include Spotify (SPOT) and Steven Madden (SHOO).
• All day - Praxis Precision Medicines (PRAX) will host an Epilepsy Day event. During the event, Praxis’ management team will review the company’s Epilepsy franchise.
• All day - Crypto will see more global exposure with the first spot Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and spot Ethereum (ETH-USD) exchange traded funds launching in Australia on the CBOE Exchange.
• 12:00 p.m. Vir Biotechnology (VIR) will host a virtual Hepatitis Portfolio R&D Day for the investment community.
• 4:30 p.m. Frontier Group Holdings (ULCC) holds its earnings call following the airline company's Q1 earnings report. The call will be closely watched within the airline sector with both Frontier and JetBlue Airways (JBLU) looking to acquire Spirit Airlines (SAVE).

Thursday - April 28

• All day - Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (SV) will hold a shareholder meeting to vote on taking NuScale Power public in a SPAC deal. NuScale Power says its mission is to provide scalable advanced nuclear technology for the production of electricity, heat, and clean water to improve the quality of life for people around the world. The SPAC deal will value the combined company at about $1.9B. Fluor (FLR) and Nucor Corporation (NUE) are also investors in NuScale Power.
• All day - Activision Blizzard (ATVI) shareholders will vote on Microsoft’s (MSFT) buyout offer.
• Premarket - Companies reporting earnings with double-digit share price moves up or down implied by options trading include Limelight Networks (LLNW), United States Steel (X), Overstock.com (OSTK) and Peabody Energy (BTU).
• 8:00 a.m. Twitter (TWTR) will hold its earnings call after reporting earnings. A key question around the efforts of Elon Musk to buy the company is if a second bidder emerges, which could force Musk to increase his offering price.
• 11:00 a.m. Eledon Pharmaceuticals (ELDN) will hold a virtual R&D Day event. The presentations will include a deep dive on the company’s investigational drug, tegoprubart, and the promise of CD40 Ligand targeted immunotherapy for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, kidney transplantation, islet cell transplantation, and IgA nephropathy. Shares of Eledon Pharmaceuticals are down 33% YTD.
• 11:00 a.m. Blue Apron (APRN) will participate in the Jefferies Online Meal Kit Summit to discuss the next avenues for growth and the possible effects of inflation on the meal kit sector. There has been volatile trading on Blue Apron (APRN) over the last few months with the broad online retail sector.
• Postmarket - Companies reporting earnings with double-digit share price moves up or down implied by options trading include Robinhood Markets (HOOD), Roku (ROKU), and IMAX (IMAX).
• 5:00 p.m. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) holds its earnings call during which some analysts think the tech giant could provide new annual capital return guidance on buybacks and the dividend payout. Since announcing its initial share buyback and dividend strategy in March of 2021, Apple has cumulatively returned more than 95% of its free cash flow to investors. A wildcard during the call would be a mention of any progress with the iCar. A recent patent filing from Apple claimed protection for a "vehicle that has a plurality of cameras, a network interface, a memory, and one or more computer processors."

Friday - April 29

• Premarket - Earnings from the energy sector will come in from Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Phillips 66 (PSX). Those reports could spill over to impact shares prices on dozens of companies. ProPetro Holding (PUMP) has traded in the same direction as Exxon on earnings days eight consecutive times, while Talos Energy (TALO) has followed Chevron directionally eight straight earnings days as well.
• All day - Deutsche Bank (DB) will hold a fixed income investor conference call to go over Q1 results.
• All day - Trupanion (TRUP) will hold its annual Q&A session in Omaha, Nebraska.