Stock Futures Relatively Flat After Nasdaq Composite & S&P 500 Hit Fresh Records
U.S stock futures are edging slightly higher ahead of the Wednesday session on Wall Street after major benchmarks hit new highs. Investors today will be looking at July’s durable goods report today. This could provide some insights into how much the Delta variant has affected economic activity. But the bigger event to watch this week is none other than the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. And that is going to take place on Thursday. Namely, investors are looking for cues on when the central bank will taper its asset purchase program.
“What the market really wants to hear is … that the Fed is willing to adjust if in fact, the Delta variant does have a negative impact on the economy going forward,” “And so that is going to be the key message — that willingness to be flexible depending upon what happens to the U.S. economy, that it is not full speed ahead adhering to a taper timeline.“- Kristina Hooper, Invesco Chief Global Market Strategist
Tuesday’s session also saw a resurgence in meme stocks, where GameStop (NYSE: GME) stock posted its best gains since March. Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) and BlackBerry (NYSE: BB) have surged by 20% and 9% respectively. Apart from this section of the stock market, the market is arguably quiet with most investors eagerly waiting for the Fed summit later this week. As of 6:57 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are pointing to further gains today, moving 0.05%, 0.04%, and 0.03% higher respectively.
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Salesforce Earnings On Tap After The Stock Market Closes Today
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is the world’s top cloud-based customer relationship management company. Since the company went public in 2004, the company’s services have gained traction tremendously. This is a result of the market’s strong demand for Salesforce’s services and the expansion of its cloud ecosystem. Today, the company will report its second-quarter earnings after the closing bell. From the past four quarters, the company has been reporting better than expected revenue and earnings. And many analysts are expecting them to continue this momentum this second-quarter’s season.
Mark Murphy of J.P. Morgan in February had rated Salesforce overweight with a $250 price target. “Based upon improving partner feedback across all three business segments and continued improvements in key survey metrics, we expect Salesforce to report a healthy, consistent Q2, as it capitalizes on the global prioritization of customer experience transformation.”
Admittedly, Salesforce stock seems to be out of favor among investors as of late. But it’s only a matter of time until investors are reminded of their massive growth opportunities. The company’s ability to offer integrated solutions for customers’ business problems is likely to have been the key growth driver. Nonetheless, the increasing investment in international expansions and data centers might have put a dent in the company’s profitability. However, if you have a long investment horizon, Salesforce could still have plenty of room to expand over the next several decades.
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Snowflake Earnings, Can Growth Keep Up With Expectations?
Alongside Salesforce.com, Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) will also be reporting its second-quarter earnings this afternoon. When looking for the best stocks to buy in the stock market today, investors are often spoilt for choices. Especially when you have companies like Snowflake spoiling Wall Street with dizzying growth. Now, with the Nasdaq Composite trading at a record level, many top cloud stocks are certainly not looking cheap. Therefore, investors may be getting a case of the jitters about what might unfold in Snowflake’s earnings report today.
The company has projected product revenue for the quarter of between $235 million and $240 million. That would be up between 88% and 92% from the previous year period. As for the full-year outlook, the management has guided to a growth of 84% to 87%. On top of the strong guidance from the management, Snowflake stock recently has also received favorable coverage from analysts. Rosenblatt’s Blair Abernethy published a note on Monday morning, maintaining a buy rating on SNOW stock. He hiked the firm’s one-year price target from $265 to $295 per share.
Snowflake expects its product revenues to rise from $554 million in fiscal 2021 to $10 billion in fiscal 2029. Should that happen, it would achieve an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.6%. With the company’s early leadership position in its corner of the data management and analytics spaces, it could continue to benefit as more companies accelerate their digital transformation.
XPeng Ships First Batch Of P7 To Norway
Leading Chinese smart electric vehicle company XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) started shipping the first batch of its flagship smart sedan, the P7, to Norway. This marks the first time that XPeng has exported its flagship sedan to a market outside China. XPeng’s rival, Nio (NYSE: NIO) also plans to begin delivering cars to Norway this year.
“We are dedicated to meeting the growing customer demand for our smart EVs in China and internationally by bringing the most sophisticated and stylish models to our customers … We are eager to bring these advanced capabilities and services to our international customers in highly localized forms,“- He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng.
XPeng has been ramping up its production capacity and model launches as competition in China’s electric vehicle market intensifies. This month, XPeng said it plans to double its production capacity at one of its key plants. The company will be reporting its earnings on August 26 before the opening bell. With impressive delivery numbers and its expansion into international markets, I wouldn’t be surprised if XPEV stock could bring more gains later this year.
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Stock Market Earnings Releases To Note Today
With the broader stock market bouncing back further from a volatile week, there would be fewer distractions from this earnings week. Particularly, investors would have a rather good mix of companies to watch today. If you’re looking to jump in on the action pre-market, major retail names such as Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) and Kingsoft Cloud (NASDAQ: KC) are set to report their earnings. If you are looking for reopening plays, retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), Express (NYSE: EXPR), and Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ: SCVL) are also on deck.
For those keen on companies reporting earnings post-market, there are plenty of notable players as well. These include salesforce.com, Snowflake, Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK), and Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) among others. Regardless, as the stock market seems to be making a comeback, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on the latest movers now.
