Stock Market Futures Edging Up Following Conflicting Economic Data And Updates
U.S. stock futures are rising in early morning trading today. As volatility and uncertainty remain key themes in the stock market now, this is understandable. After all, investors continue to receive a mix of economic data this week. On one hand, the Institute of Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index for April came in at 56.1. This would be above consensus economist forecasts of 54.5. According to ISM chair Timothy Fiore, “The US manufacturing sector remains in a demand-driven, supply chain-constrained environment.”
On the other hand, JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the bank is preparing for an economic “hurricane.” In his words, “We don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy. You better brace yourself.” Sharing in Dimon’s sentiment is LPL Financial’s (NASDAQ: LPLA) Chief Market Strategist, Ryan Detrick. He starts by writing that “June has something for everyone, as it is no doubt a very weak month historically, but the past decade it has been strong.” Detrick continues, “Still, after the big bounce in late May, we wouldn’t be surprised at all if this recent strength continued into a potential summer rally.”
While you take all this in, there remains no shortage of notable earnings news today as well. As of 5:03 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.24%, 0.36%, and 0.50% respectively.
Chewy Jumps After Exceeding Top And Bottom Line Estimates On Wall Street
Pet products retailer Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) seems to be among the major head turners in the stock market today. For the most part, this follows the company’s latest quarterly earnings report. According to the press release, Chewy’s total revenue for the quarter is $2.43 billion. Moreover, the company’s quarterly earnings per share is $0.04. To compare, the consensus on Wall Street is revenue of $2.42 billion and a loss per share of $0.14. As you can imagine, the surprise profit from Chewy would lead to CHWY stock being in the spotlight now.
Overall, with plenty of consumers picking up pets throughout the pandemic, Chewy continues to see strong demand for its services. After all, the company primarily operates as an e-commerce pet product provider. From pet food to toys and even vet prescriptions, Chewy does it all. Even as brick-and-mortar stores reopen, the convenience that Chewy offers would remain relevant. As it stands, the company notes that it has 20.6 million active customers, translating to a year-over-year increase of 4.2%.
In its letter to shareholders, Chewy writes, “While consumer demand remains resilient and pricing and cost are more aligned than they were in the second half of 2021, ongoing volatility in the macro environment continues to make accurate forecasting difficult.” Despite its current momentum, Chewy seems to be taking a cautious approach, accounting for inflationary pressures. With all this in mind, investors could be turning their radars to CHWY stock today.
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United Airlines Eyes $100 Million Pilot Training Center Expansion As Travel Demand Lifts Off
In other news, United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) remains hard at work on the operational front now. As of yesterday, the company is planning a $100 million expansion of its pilot training center. This comes at a time when airline operators are pushing to increase new hires amidst sky-high travel demand. According to United, the company is currently looking to add over 2,000 new pilots to its team this year. In detail, the $100 million will be going towards bolstering the company’s training center in Denver.
For now, United is planning to construct a new four-story building on campus. This will allow it to facilitate up to six new flight simulators with plans to double this figure long-term. Notably, the new simulators will serve to train pilots on the Boeing (NYSE: BA) 737 Max and Airbus jetliners. This would line up with the company’s massive order of 270 of these aircraft last year, its largest yet. Safe to say, United is kicking into high gear across the board. Accordingly, investors could be keen on UAL stock because of this.
As of now, United is currently anticipating the project to be completed by the end of 2023. This information comes from Marc Champion, the managing director of the Denver flight training center. For one thing, this would be a strategic play from United as the air travel industry continues to see immense demand. The question now is whether this can set UAL stock apart from its peers.
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MongoDB In Focus Following Sizable Earnings Beat In Latest Quarterly Update
MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB) is another company making headlines in the stock market now thanks to its earnings. Diving right in, the company posted overall solid figures in its first fiscal quarter financial release. Based on the earnings report, MongoDB’s total earnings per share for the quarter is $0.20. Furthermore, the database platform operator’s total first-quarter revenue is $285 million. For reference, consensus figures on Wall Street is a loss per share of $0.09 on revenue of $267 million.
Speaking on the company’s overall performance for the quarter is CEO Dev Ittycheria. He states, “MongoDB began fiscal 2023 with terrific first-quarter results, highlighted by revenue growth of 57% year-over-year, driven primarily by 82% Atlas growth. MongoDB enables developers to build mission-critical applications that drive better user experiences, enable new capabilities, and improves operational efficiency, and our Q1 results give us increased confidence in our ability to capture the large market opportunity over the long term.”
At the same time, MongoDB continues to build and expand on its partnership network. Throughout the quarter, the company announced expansions and deeper integrations with the likes of Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) AWS cloud divisions. Because of all this, it would not surprise me to see investors flocking to MDB stock at the opening bell today.
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CrowdStrike Earnings Preview: What To Know
Regarding companies reporting earnings today, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) could be a top name to look out for. After the closing bell, this cybersecurity titan is set to host its first fiscal quarter earnings call. For now, the current consensus figures on Wall Street are earnings of $0.23 per share on revenue of $464.35 million. Should this be the case, it would add up to year-over-year gains of 130% and 53% respectively. With these figures in mind, it seems that Wall Street analysts are expecting CrowdStrike to maintain its operational momentum.
Evidently, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives did note that CrowdStrike could benefit from rising cybersecurity industry demands. Ives particularly cites the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as being a “golden age for the cybersecurity sector.” On top of that, Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) analyst Joseph Gallo also has a price target of $275 on CRWD stock now. This would represent a potential upside of over 70% from its closing price of $161.45 yesterday. Gallo cites CrowdStrike being the “largest beneficiary of an increased attack environment,” and the company’s growing cybersecurity and infrastructure businesses as key growth drivers. After considering all of this, tech investors would be keeping an eye on CRWD stock later today.
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