Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 1st May 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks traded higher but with gains capped in severely thinned conditions owing to mass holiday closures across the region and in Europe for Labour Day. ASX 200 eked mild gains as the outperformance in tech, real estate and consumer staples was offset by losses across the commodity-related sectors, while trade data was mixed as Australian monthly exports returned to growth but imports contracted. Nikkei 225 advanced at the open after having reclaimed the 36,000 level and with further upside seen after the BoJ policy announcement where the central bank kept rates unchanged at 0.50% and provided some dovish rhetoric despite maintaining its rate hike signal.

Li Auto (2015 HK) - April deliveries rose 31.6% Y/Y to 33.9k vehicles. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.16 % at 22,461, FTSE 100: +0.37 % at 8,495, CAC 40: +0.50 % at 7,594, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.09 % at 5,157, AEX: +0.36 % at 878, IBEX 35: -0.97 % at 13,238, FTSE MIB: -0.71 % at 37,605, SMI: +0.30 % at 12,106, PSI: +0.36 % at 6,992.

SECTORS: Telecoms 1.75%, Consumer Stpl 1.47%, Industrials 1.31%, Healthcare 1.23%, Utilities 0.84%, IT -0.03%, Financials -0.39%, Consumer Disc -0.47%, Materials -0.51%, Energy -0.75%

FTSE 100

Anglo American (AAL LN) - Co. shareholders approve the demerger of South African unit Amplats; demerger expected to become effective on May 31. (Newswires)

BP (BP/ LN) - Co's 440k bpd refinery in Whiting, Indiana shut reformer unit last weekend, according to Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

Ex-dividend - Glencore (GLEN LN) and Centrica (CNA LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

GSK (GSK LN) - Nucala (mepolizumab) delivers clinically meaningful and statistically significant reduction in COPD exacerbations, with positive MATINEE trial results published in New England Journal of Medicine. (GSK)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Smurfit WestRock (SWR LN) - Announces capacity reduction and facility closures in Minnesota and Texas Mill. Approximately 650 employees were impacted. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Burberry (BRBY LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citi

EUROPEAN MARKET CLOSURES

Due to Labour Day across Europe, cash and derivatives markets are closed across Euronext services and those run by other European exchanges such as Deutsche Boerse, SIX and Nasdaq (Scandinavia closed ex-Copenhagen). Hong Kong is also closed for the session.

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - Q1 2025 (EUR): EPS 1.01 (prev. 0.75 Y/Y), Revenue 13.5bln (exp. 12.37bln); maintains guidance Adj. EBIT 624mln (exp. 719mln). CEO says it is up to airlines importing aircraft to pay tariffs; Airbus will not pay tariffs on planes for US customers; calls for return to 1979 WTO agreement on duty-free trading in aircraft and parts. Co. says US assembly lines are exposed to 10% tariffs on large sub-assemblies from Europe Analysing reported Chinese decision to remove tariffs on imported US aircraft parts. Buffer stocks are in a good situation after recent decisions to reshape production ramp-up plan. Current situation can be broadly contained but situation is changing by the day. Not taking specific measures to deal with EUR/USD movements, existing hedge book provides stability. Engine shortage will get worse before it gets better, expects return to normal in the summer. Overstaffing related to deliveries fell from 10,000 posts in 2023 to 7-8,000 in 2024 and will fall again but not disappear in 2025. Nor directly or indirectly impacted by recent fire at fastener factory at SPS Technologies in Pennsylvania. Believes it will make its A350 production target for 2028 despite problems with fuselage parts production at Spirit Aerosystems (SPR) plant that Airbus is acquiring. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Vivendi (VIV FP) - Filed an appeal with the French Supreme Court against the ruling regarding the spin-off of Vivendi. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Remy Cointreau (RCO FP) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays

PAN EUROPE

Trade - US is said to have reached out to China recently for tariff talks, according to Bloomberg citing an influential social media account. US President Trump reiterated there is a very good chance that they will make a deal with China and any deal has to be on their terms, while he added that they are negotiating with India, South Korea and Japan. (Bloomberg / Newswires)

BBVA (BBVA SM) - Spain's antitrust watchdog CNMC says it approved BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell (SAB SM) with remedies. CNMC considers BBVA commitments adequate and sufficient to solve competition problems in affected markets. (Newswires)

Tenaris (TEN IM) - Q1 (USD): Net Sales 2.92bln (exp. 3bln). For Q2, sales to show small increase and remain close to level of Q1; EBITDA margin should be in line with Q1. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Schindler (SCHP SW) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

SCANDINAVIA

GN Store Nord (GN DC) - Q1 (DKK): Revenue 3.98bln (exp. 4.27bln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.15% at 5,569, NDX +0.13% at 19,571, DJI +0.35% at 40,669, RUT -0.63% at 1,964

SECTORS: Energy -2.61%, Consumer Discretionary -1.11%, Utilities -0.48%, Communication Services -0.26%, Financials +0.21%, Technology +0.42%, Real Estate +0.50%, Materials +0.51%, Consumer Staples +0.71%, Industrials +0.74%, Health +0.89%.

eBay Inc (EBAY) - eBay Q1 profit beat estimates, and revenue also increased. The company announced that Peggy Alford was appointed CFO, replacing Steve Priest, as the company adjusts its leadership. It reported Q1 adj. EPS of 1.38 (exp. 1.34), Q1 revenue of USD 2.6bln (exp. 2.55bln). Q1 gross merchandise volume USD 18.75bln (exp. 18.52bln); International GMV USD 9.69bln (exp. 9.58bln); US GMV USD 9.07bln (exp. 8.92bln). In Q1, it had 134mln active buyers (exp. 134.17mln). Sees Q2 revenue between USD 2.59-2.66bln (exp. 2.60bln), and sees Q2 adj. EPS between 1.24-1.31 (exp. 1.29). (Newswires)

Qualcomm (QCOM) - Shares dropped by 6% afterhours after it topped Q2 top- and bottom-line estimates, but Q3 guidance was light, and it sees a sales hit from US tariffs ahead. It reported Q2 adj. EPS 2.85 (exp. 2.80), Q2 revenue USD 10.84bln (exp. 10.60bln); Q2 QCT revenue USD 9.47bln (exp. 9.23bln), Q2 QTL revenue USD 1.32bln (exp. 1.35bln); Q2 Internet of Things revenue USD 1.58bln (exp. 1.45bln), Handsets revenue USD 6.93bln (exp. 6.84bln), Automotive revenue USD 959mln (exp. 909.8mln). Sees Q3 adj. EPS 2.60-2.80 (exp. 2.66), Q3 revenue between USD 9.9-10.7bln (exp. 10.33bln), sees Q3 QCT revenue between USD 8.7-9.3bln (exp. 8.98bln), and sees Q3 QTL revenue between 1.15-1.35bln (exp. 1.3bln). (Newswires)

Meta Platforms (META) - Shares rose 5.4% afterhours following a Q1 beat, while Q2 guidance was in line with expectations. Q1 revenue rose +16% to USD 42.31bln (exp. USD 41.4bln), with EPS of USD 6.43 (exp. USD 5.28); Q1 advertising sales were USD 41.39bln (exp. 40.55bln). Exec said daily users reached 3.43bln, while Threads has now has more than 350mln monthly active users. FY25 CapEx guidance was increased to USD 64–72bn for 2025 (prev. saw 60-65bln), and exec said that increased CapEx will bring data centre capacity online quicker. On AI, exec said its Meta AI app is focused on scaling and engagement this year, with business integration planned for next year; nearly 1bln monthly active users now use Meta AI across its apps. Exec also said that the EC's ruling may hit its EU business, where it will need to make modifications to ads model which could have significant impact to European business and revenue as early as Q3, while Asia ad spend fell amid regulatory uncertainty. Sees Q2 revenue between USD 42.5bln-45.5bln (exp. 44.41bln), lowered its FY25 total expenses view to USD 113bln-118bln (prev. saw 114-119bln). (Newswires)

Microsoft (MSFT) - Shares rose 6.9% afterhours following a beat on Q3 sales and profits, driven by 20% cloud growth amid strong AI demand. The tech giant reported Q3 adj. EPS of 3.46 (exp. 3.21), Q3 revenue USD 70.1bln (exp. 68.41bln); Q3 CapEx USD 16.75bln (exp. 16.28bln). Azure and other cloud services revenue (Ex-FX) surged +33% (exp. +31%), with Azure growth attributable to AI 16pts (exp. 15.6ppts); the majority of Azure outperformance in Q3 was in its non-AI business. Q3 Cloud sales USD 42.4bln (exp. 42.22bln), Q3 Intelligent Cloud sales USD 26.8bln (exp. 25.99bln). Exec said H2 total CapEx view remains unchanged vs January guidance. Sees Q4 revenue between 73.3bln-73.4bln (exp. 72.0bln), Q4 CapEx expected to increase on a sequential basis, Q4 cloud gross margin expected to be 67% (down Y/Y), Q4 Intelligent Cloud revenue seen between USD 28.75bln-29.05bln (exp. 28.52bln), while Q4 Azure and other cloud services revenue growth is expected to be 34-35% in constant currency. Exec said that FY26 CapEx is expected to grow at a lower rate than FY25. (Newswires)

Tesla (TSLA) - Tesla’s board reportedly discussed CEO succession last month, contacting executive search firms amid falling sales and profits and concerns over Elon Musk’s time spent away from Tesla. Board members urged Musk to refocus on the company, and he did not object, according to the WSJ citing sources. (WSJ)

01 May 2025 - 06:49- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk