Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 29th August 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mostly with modest losses following the weak lead from Wall Street and in the aftermath of NVIDIA's ill-received earnings. The tech sector was among the laggards in the region with Samsung Electronics (005930 KS), Tokyo Electron (8035 JT), and TSMC (2330 TT) all opening lower by 2-3%. ASX 200 was subdued amid the broader market mood and with Australia's earnings season picking up in pace. Materials, Energy and Tech resided as some of the lagging sectors. Nikkei 225 briefly dipped under USD 38k in early trade, with Japanese activity also affected by the approaching Typhoon Shanshan, although the index eventually eked mild gains amid gains in Industrial names. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp both conformed to the APAC mood and later extended their losses, whilst earnings season in Hong Kong saw Meituan jump almost 10% while Li Autos slid 10.6%.

Nippon Steel (5401 JT) - Offers added USD 1.3bln spending on US steel plant, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Develops industry's first 1C DDR5 memory chips; New 1C DDR5 chips' mass production is expected to be ready this year for volume shipment in 2025

Toyota (7203 JT) - Co. says it will keep all domestic factories suspended through Friday due to the typhoon. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.57% at 18,789, FTSE 100: flat at 8,344, CAC 40: +0.16% at 7,578, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.27% at 4,912, AEX: +0.31% at 911, IBEX 35: flat at 11,332, FTSE MIB: +0.30% at 33,880, SMI: +0.37% at 12,348, PSI: -0.41% at 6,718.

SECTORS: Industrials 0.70%, Utilities 0.67%, Telecoms 0.53%, Consumer Stpl 0.52%, Healthcare 0.52%, Financials 0.35%, IT 0.26%, Materials 0.25%, Consumer Disc -0.57%, Energy -0.61%

FTSE 100

Ex-Dividends - Diageo (DGE LN), Glencore (GLEN LN), Auto Trader (AUTO LN), InterContinental Hotels (IHG LN), LondonMetric Property (LMP LN), will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. 

Mining names - Argentinian mining secretary says mining exports are to double to USD 10bln in 2027 from USD 4bln in 2024 on lithium and copper. Of note for Glencore (GLEN LN)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Deutsche Bank (DBK GY) - Co. to lead a bond-and-loan offering worth USD 4.3bln for a casino-equipment M&A, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

SAP (SAP GY) - Salesforce Inc (CRM) shares rose 4.1% after-market following earnings beats on top and bottom lines.

Qiagen (QGEN GY), AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - Qiagen expanded its collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialise companion diagnostics for AstraZeneca's chronic disease therapies. Qiagen will create a genotyping assay using its QIAstat-Dx platform, enabling rapid, in-clinic genomic testing to support quick decision-making for AstraZeneca’s targeted medicines. (Qiagen)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Heidelberg Materials (HEI GY) upgraded to Buy from Add at Baader Helvea

CAC

Pernod Ricard (RI FP) - FY (EUR): Net Sales 11.6bln, -1% Y/Y (Co. consensus -1.2% Y/Y), Profit from recurring operations 3.12bln, +1.5% Y/Y (Co. consensus +0.1% Y/Y). A dividend is proposed of EUR 4.70/shr. For FY25: Expects a continued very weak macro environment in China and good performance in the rest of the world. Expects a soft Q1 with further inventory adjustments in the US. (Newswires)

Teleperformance (TEP FP) - To appoint Mr Elalmy as Chairman of BoD. Management confirmed FY24 guidance and anticipates an acceleration of its momentum in 2025. (Newswires)

Vinci (DG FP) - Patrick Sulliot appointed chairman of the Vinci Construction. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Eiffage (FGR FP) - H1 2024 (EUR): Revenue 11.093bln (exp. 11.022bln), Order book 28.4bln, +43% Y/Y, Operating profit from ordinary activities 997mln, Free cash flow 148mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

ASML (ASML NA) - NVIDIA (NVDA) says it received requests for information from regulators in the US and South Korea, according to an SEC filing. Requests for information were related to sales of GPUs, supply allocation, investments, foundation models and partnerships, and other agreements with companies developing foundation models. (Newswires)

Auto Names - New car registrations: +0.2% in July 2024 (vs +4.3% in June); battery electric 12.1% market share (vs 14.4% in June). (ACEA)

Brunello Cuccinelli (BCU IM) - H1 2024 (EUR): Revenue 620.7mln, +14.1% Y/Y, EBIT 104.6mln (prev. 87.7mln Y/Y), Net Profit 66.1mln, +10.6% Y/Y. Executive Chairman says annual sales growth is expected at around 10% in 3yrs to 2026. (Newswires)

Jeronimo Martins (JMT PL) - Q2 (EUR): EBITDA 532mln (exp. 557.2mln), Net Income 154mln (exp. 186mln). (Newswires)

Italian Stocks - Italy plans to confirm commitment to bring the deficit-to-GDP ratio below the EU's 3% ceiling in 2026 in the upcoming medium-term structural budget plan, according to Reuters sources. (Reuters)

Tech Stocks - NVIDIA (NVDA) settled -6.9% after-market, some suggested disappointment as earnings and guidance fell short of the highest forecasts to justify valuations.

UniCredit (UCG IM) - Postponed date of board approval of Q3 results to Nov 5. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Adecco (ADEN SW) - To propose Martine Ferland as a new board member at AGM in 2025. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.60% at 5,592, NDX -1.18% at 19,350, DJIA -0.39% at 41,091, RUT -0.57% at 2,190.

SECTORS: Technology -1.30%, Consumer Discretionary -1.05%, Communication Services -0.84%, Energy -0.67%, Consumer Staples -0.41%, Materials -0.38%, Real Estate -0.35%, Industrials -0.04%, Utilities 0.00%, Health +0.12%, Financials +0.31%.

Apple (AAPL) - Reportedly orders over 10% more of its first AI-equipped iPhones vs last year, according to Nikkei sources; told suppliers to prepare for 88-90mln iPhones (vs initial order for ~80mln iPhones). "Overall, Apple suppliers are cautious and anticipate rather flattish iPhone shipments for the full year, given a higher comparison base in 2023, multiple sources said" (Nikkei)

Big Lots (BIG) - Shares fell over 20% after market as Bloomberg reports suggested it considers filing for bankruptcy after sales slump. (Newswires)

Eli Lilly (LLY) - Co's lauded discount of its obesity drug Zepbound comes with caveats, according to STAT News; some will benefit, but a deeper look at the announcement suggests access hurdles remain

OpenAI - Co. is in talks for funding round valuing it over USD 100bln with Microsoft (MSFT) also expected to put it money, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia shares fell 6.9% afterhours despite top- and bottom-line beats. Q2 adj. EPS 0.68 (exp. 0.64), Q2 revenue USD 30.04bln (exp. 28.68bln); approved an additional USD 50bln in share buyback (which brings the total authorisation to around USD 57bln), maintained quarterly dividend at 0.01/shr. Q2 adj. gross margin 75.7% (exp. 75.5%) (Q2 gross margins negatively impacted by inventory provisions for low-yielding Blackwell material, may continue to be impacted in the future). R&D expenses USD 3.09bln (exp. 3.08bln), adj. operating expenses 2.79bln (exp. 2.81bln). Q2 data centre revenue USD 26.3bln (exp. 25.08bln), professional visualisation revenue USD 454mln (exp. 451.1mln), automotive sales USD 346mln (exp. 347.9mln), gaming sales USD 2.9bln (exp. 2.79bln). On its Blackwell products, it said samples are shipping to partners and customers; Blackwell is scheduled to begin in Q4 and continue into FY26, and it expects to ship several billion dollars of Blackwell revenue in Q4. Exec said demand for Blackwell platforms was well above supply, and this is seen continuing into next year. Hopper demands remains strong, and shipments expected to increase in H2 FY25 as customers continue to accelerate Hopper architecture purchases while gearing up to adopt Blackwell. Sees FY gross margins expected in the mid-70% range, FY operating expenses expected to grow in the mid- to upper-40% range. Sees Q3 revenue around USD 32.5bln +/- 2% (exp. 31.9bln). (Newswires)

ONEOK (OKE) - Co. to acquire Medallion and controlling interest in EnLink (ENLC) from Global Infrastructure Partners in transactions valued at USD 5.9bln. (Newswires)

Salesforce (CRM) - Salesforce rose 4.1% in afterhours trading following a Q2 earnings beat. CRM reported Q2 adj. EPS of 2.56 (exp. 2.36), Q2 revenue of USD 9.33bln (exp. 9.23bln). President and CFO Amy weaver to step down; will remain until a successor has been appointed. Q2 adj. operating margin 33.7% (exp. 32%); Q2 FCF USD 755mln (exp. 865.9mln). Q2 Subscription and support revenue USD 8.76bln (exp. 8.7bln), service revenue USD 2.26bln (exp. 2.21bln). Sees Q3 revenue between USD 9.31-9.36bln (exp. 9.4bln), and Q3 adj EPS between 2.42-2.44 (exp. 2.43); sees FY revenue between USD 37.7-38bln (exp. 37.841bln), and FY adj. EPS seen between 10.03-10.11 (exp. 9.89).

Tesla (TSLA) - Prior to Canada unveiling 100% duty on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Tesla (TSLA) reportedly asked for lower tariff on its autos but Canada opted instead for 100% tariff for Tesla and others, according to Reuters sources. (Reuters)

29 Aug 2024 - 06:51- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk