Stock Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of Jobless Data
The U.S. stock futures are edging up Thursday morning, signaling that stocks are continuing their momentum as September gets off to a start. Today, a lot of the attention today will be on initial jobless claims. The latest data on jobless claims, which act as a proxy for layoffs, is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Expectations are for 345,000, a decline from the prior week’s total of 353,000. That would be the lowest since March 14, 2020.
“The private payrolls numbers have been all over the map during the pandemic,” …”But with so much pressure on improvement on the labor market front coming from the Fed, this could send a signal that jobs growth is stagnating. That’s likely a good thing for the markets, though, as it means easy money policy continues.“- Mike Loewengart, Managing Director of Investor Strategy at E-Trade Financial
There will also be the release of other economic data including the U.S. trade balance for July, factory orders, second-quarter productivity, and labor costs. As of 7:12 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are edging up by 0.15%, 0.17%, and 0.21% respectively.
ChargePoint (CHPT) Stock Surges As Sales Top Forecasts
EV charging company ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT)announced its second-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street’s expectations on Wednesday. Revenue came in 61% higher year-over-year to $56.1 million. ChargePoint may have missed its second-quarter earnings estimates, but the company is lifting its outlook for the full-year revenue to $225 to 235 million, from $195 to $205 million. With the increase in guidance, many investors are bullish on CHPT stock in the stock market today.
“ChargePoint’s strong second-quarter results demonstrate our continued growth and leadership in the electric revolution … We achieved record revenue, significantly grew our commercial, fleet and residential businesses, launched a charging integration with Mercedes, announced our agreement to acquire e-mobility technology provider has·to·be and acquired eBus and commercial vehicle management provider ViriCiti.“- Pasquale Romano, President and CEO of ChargePoint.
Impressive numbers aside, news of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package is also positive for ChargePoint. The infrastructure bill proposes $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations. This marks the first-ever investment in EV charging stations by the federal government. Considering the company only went public earlier this year, its limited financial data might put some investors on the sidelines. However, if you believe that electric vehicles will dominate the future of transportation, ChargePoint stock offers a compelling risk-reward investment.
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DocuSign (DOCU) Earnings On Tap After The Stock Market Closes Today
DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) is set to report its second-quarter earnings after the closing bell today. Founded in 2003, the company is best known for its eSignature solution, which allows customers to digitally receive and sign documents. With an increasingly digital world thanks to the pandemic, DocuSign is well-positioned to capture growth over the long run.
According to Wells Fargo, DocuSign was among software stocks poised to succeed in 2021. The bullish remark came after the financial firm published its post-earnings rundown on the U.S. software industry. From there, it concluded that there has been an impressive performance year-to-date from software providers, including DocuSign. On top of that, DOCU stock also received an “outperform” rating from RBC.
Overall, DocuSign is seeing huge success with its eSignature solution. In addition to expanding its product functionalities to its more mature markets, the company also has a lot of growth potential in the other international markets. With this foundation in place, would you bet on DOCU stock ahead of its earnings this evening?
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MongoDB Expected To Continue Its Disruption In The Database Industry
MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB) is another tech stock to report earnings after the stock market closes today. Many would identify the company as the next-generation database software specialist. But in fact, it is an established leader in that explosive field. For those unfamiliar, the company’s flagship product and cloud-based version sold under the Atlas brand has been doing extremely well. As you may or may not be aware, Atlas posted an approximately annual revenue run rate of $400 million. It also grew revenue by 73% in the first quarter.
The company launched Atlas five years ago on the belief that customers would benefit from a fully managed MongoDB database. Recall in the first quarter, the company posted gross profit which topped $127.1 million. Although gross margin came in at 70%, the company posted a loss from operations of $61.4 million. MongoDB ended the quarter with $935.6 million in cash and cash equivalents. As for the company’s second fiscal quarter, it expects revenue in the range of $180 to $183 million.
Whether the company can achieve profitability soon remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure is that the company continues to grow. Considering the company is a market leader for NoSQL database systems, I guess it’s safe to say that the long-term opportunity is massive. With various businesses spanning the software and cloud industries, MongoDB could see secular growth ahead. As data continues to grow exponentially and becomes more complex, would you say now is the time to take a closer look at MongoDB?
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Earnings Winding Down
Even with this earnings season coming to a close, there is no shortage of companies reporting results today. By and large, the current earnings season would reflect the current broad-based strength across industries today. Should you be keen on companies reporting earnings pre-market, there are several to note. They include the likes of American Eagle (NYSE: AEO), Signet (NYSE: SIG), and Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) among others.
Following that, should you be more interested in post-market earnings calls, tech appears to be today’s theme. This would be the case as DocuSign, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPQ), Pagerduty (NYSE: PD), and MongoDB are on tap. Not to mention, manufacturer and supplier of semiconductor and software products Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) would also be a name to consider in the post-market session. Overall, whether it is keeping tabs on the jobless claims this morning, or simply following earnings reports, there is plenty to keep you busy as we kick start the stock market today.
