Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 31st October 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were mixed albeit with most major indices subdued following the negative handover from the US and heading into month-end, while participants also digested a slew of data releases including somewhat mixed Chinese PMIs. ASX 200 declined amid losses in utilities and consumer stocks with retailer Coles pressured after its quarterly update. Nikkei 225 briefly dipped beneath the 39,000 level after mixed data and cautiousness heading into the BoJ announcement which lacked any major fireworks as the central bank kept rates unchanged as expected and refrained from any fresh policy clues. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned with earnings in focus and strength in Chinese banks after the Big 4 registered profit growth, although the upside was limited in the mainland after the mixed PMI data which showed manufacturing activity topped estimates and printed at a surprise expansion although non-manufacturing missed forecasts.

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Q3 (KRW) net 10tln (exp. 7.8tln), oper. profit 9.2tln (prelim. 9.1tln), rev. 79tln (prelim. 79tln). Says Q4 earnings growth will be limited. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -1.09% at 19,267, FTSE 100: -0.73% at 8,160, CAC 40: -1.10% at 7,428, Euro Stoxx 50: -1.31% at 4,885, AEX: -1.49% at 881, IBEX 35: -0.68% at 11,715, FTSE MIB: -1.21% at 34,503, SMI: -1.14% at 11,964, PSI: -0.73% at 6,392.

SECTORS: Energy -0.56%, Utilities -0.94%, Industrials -0.96%, Telecoms -1.10%, Financials -1.11%, Healthcare -1.25%, Consumer Disc -1.34%, Consumer Stpl -1.39%, Materials -1.48%, IT -2.48%

FTSE 100

Ex-dividends - Whitbread (WTB LN) will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Siemens (SIE GY), Altair Engineering (ALTR) - Siemens announced it is to acquire Altair Engineering for USD 10.6bln to expand its digital portfolio. The acquisition aims to strengthen Siemens' industrial software sector, enhancing its simulation capabilities and boosting revenue by an estimated 8%. Siemens expects significant cost and revenue synergies.

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Lays out cost-saving proposal that would avert plant closing. Believes that reducing pay by 10% would give Volkswagen means to make future investments so as to remain competitive and hence safeguard jobs; Nor is it able to meet the union's demand for a 7% pay rise. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Axa (CS FP) - 9mth gross written premiums and other revenues EUR 84bln (exp. 84.14bln); prelim. combined estimated losses from Hurricanes Helene and Milton of less than EUR 200mln before tax and net of reinsurance. Expects to achieve 2024 underlying EPS growth in line with the 6-8% CAGR plan target range over the 2023-26 period. (Newswires)

Airbus (AIR FP) - Q3 (EUR): EBIT 1.234bln (exp. 1.232bln), Net income 983mln (exp. 927mln), Revenue +5%; Maintains 2024 delivery target. Guidance: Adj FCF about 3.5bln (exp. 3.46bln). Still sees adj. EBIT 5.5bln (exp. 5.36bln). Still sees FY deliveries ~770 planes (exp. 761.25). CEO sees CFM engine supplies improving in H2 '25. CEO says there are more accelerated discussions taking place about the future of the European space industry. Not producing undelivered planes without engines, but engines will remain scarce for months to come. Engine supplies from cfm and RTX limiting a320 output. Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) is a pacing element for a350 production. Proposes to renew CEO mandate and announces commercial aircraft leadership. Announcing mgmt. transition steps in its commercial aircraft business, Lars Wagner currently CEO of MTU Aero Engines has been selected to join Airbus exec committee. (Newswires)

BNP Paribas (BNP FP) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 11.9bln (exp. 12.02bln, prev. 11.6bln Y/Y). Net Income 2.86bln (exp. 2.76bln). Affirms guidance. (Newswires)

SocGen (GLE FP) - Q3 (EUR): Net Income 1.37bln (exp. 1.27bln), Revenue 6.84bln (exp. 6.57bln, prev. 6.19bln Y/Y), Cost of Risk 460mln or 27bps. CFO Caire Dumas to step down, effective end-Jan. (Newswires)

STMicroelectronics (STM FP) - Q3 (USD): EPS 0.37 (exp. 0.33), Revenue 3.25bln (exp. 3.22bln). Guides Q4 Revenue 3.32bln (exp. 3.38bln). Trims FY24 revenue 13.3bln (exp. 13.3bln, prev. guided 13.2-13.7bln). Launches new company-wide program to restore manufacturing footprint; "based on our current customer order backlog and demand visibility, we anticipate a revenue decline between Q4'24 and Q1'25 well above seasonality."(Newswires)

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - Announces first oil from the third development phase of Mero field on Lubra block Brazil offshore. (Newswires)

Technip Energies (TE FP) - Strengths process engineering workforce capabilities by acquiring business assets in Italy; terms not disclosed. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Elis (ELIS FP) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 1.18bln (prev. 1.12bln Y/Y). Affirms guidance. (Newswires)

Rubis (RUI FP) - Cuts FY24 EBITDA 675-725mln (prev. guided 725-775mln); cites volatile macro environment. (Newswires)

Spie (SPIE FP) - 9M Revenue 7.13bln, +13.9% Y/Y. Affirms guidance. (Newswires)

Sopra Steria (SOP FP) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 1.36bln (prev. 1.35bln Y/Y). (Newswires)

Ubisoft (UBI FP) - H1 24 (EUR): Adj. EPS -1.64 (exp. -0.39), revenue 671.9mln (exp. 649mln), maintains net bookings view of about EUR 1.95bln (exp. 1.95bln)

Worldline (WLN FP) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 1.16bln (prev. 1.18bln Y/Y). Affirms guidance. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Arcadis (ARCAD NA) - Q3 (EUR): EBITDA 137mln (exp. 134mln, prev. 128mln Y/Y). Revenue 962mln (exp. 977mln, prev. 932mln Y/Y). (Newswires)

argenx (ARGX BB) - Q3 (USD): EPS 1.39 (exp. 0.85, prev. -1.25 Y/Y), Revenue 572mln (exp. 540mln, prev. 328mln Y/Y). (Newswires)

Anheuser-Busch Inbev (ABI BB) - Q3 (USD): Revenue 15.6bln (exp. 15.6bln), Adj. EPS 0.98 (exp. 0.91). Confident in ability to deliver raised FY24 EBITDA growth outlook of 6-8%. USD 2bln allocated to share buyback programme. (Newswires)

Autos - EU set to send envoys to China to discuss EV tariff alternative, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

BBVA (BBVA SM) - Q3 (EUR): Net Income 2.63bln (exp. 2.39bln), NII 5.87bln (exp. 6.17bln), CET1 Ratio 12.8% (prev. 12.8% Y/Y). Says will clearly outperform 2021-24 goals. (Newswires)

Banco Sabadell (SAB SM) - Q3 (USD): Net Income 503mln (exp. 454mln), NII 1.25bln (exp. 1.25bln). (Newswires)

Caixabank (CABK SM) - 9M (EUR): Net Income 4.25bln (prev. 3.66bln), NII 8.37bln (prev. 7.26bln Y/Y). Announces EUR 500mln share buyback. (Newswires)

China-exposed stocks - Chinese Composite PMI (Oct) 50.8 (Prev. 50.4); Non-Manufacturing PMI (Oct) 50.2 vs Exp. 50.4 (Prev. 50.0); Manufacturing PMI (Oct) 50.1 vs Exp. 49.9 (Prev. 49.8)

DSM-Firmenich (DSFIR NA) - Q3 (EUR): Adj. EBITDA 409mln (prev. 541mln Y/Y), Revenue 3.24bln (exp. 3.22bln, prev. 3.05bln Y/Y). Raises FY24 adj. EBITDA 2.1bln (prev. guided "above 2bln"). (Newswires)

ING (INGA NA) - Q3 (EUR): Net Income 1.88bln (exp. 1.69bln), Adj. Pretax 2.67bln (prev. 2.87bln Y/Y), Revenue 5.91bln (prev. 5.84bln Y/Y), NII 3.69 (exp. 3.83bln). Announces EUR 2bln share buyback and EUR 500mln cash dividend payment. Guides FY24 Revenue "above 22.5bln" (prev. guided "around 22bln"). (Newswires)

Insurance Names - Bain-backed Esure is said to draw interest from Aviva (AV LN) and Allianz (ALV GY) as well as Sampo (SAMPO FH) and Ageas (AGS BB); Esure could be valued at GBP 1.5bln, according to Bloomberg citing sources. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Geberit (GEBN SW) - Q3 (CHF): EBITDA 236.1mln (exp. 214.5mln). Raises FY Revenue +1-2% EBITDA margin 29.5% (exp. 29.5%). (Newswires)

Roche (ROG SW) - New England Journal of Medicine publishes landmark phase III results for Roche’s Itovebi, showing more than doubling of progression-free survival in certain type of HR-positive advanced breast cancer. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Avolta (AVOL SW) - Q3 (CHF): 3.91bln (prev. 3.67bln Y/Y). To cancel 4% share capital. (Newswires)

SoftwareOne (SWON SW) - Appoints Raphael Erb as CFO. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.33% at 5,814, NDX -0.79% at 20,388, DJIA -0.22% at 42,142, RUT -0.23% at 2,233

SECTORS: Technology -1.34%, Consumer Staples -0.26%, Utilities -0.24%, Health -0.19%, Industrials -0.19%, Consumer Discretionary +0.01%, Energy +0.04%, Materials +0.37%, Real Estate +0.39%, Financials +0.42%, Communication Services +0.99%.

Booking Holdings (BKNG) - Q3 adj. EPS 83.89 (exp. 77.35), Q3 revenue USD 7.99bln (exp. 7.63bln); agency revenue USD 2.75bln (exp. 2.85bln), advertising & other revenue USD 269mln (exp. 270.2mln). Q3 rental car days sold +16.2%, Q3 gross bookings USD 43.4bln (exp. 41.37bln), Q3 gross agency bookings USD 15.1bln (exp. 15.72bln), Q3 gross merchant bookings USD 28.4bln (exp. 25.65bln). Exec said room night growth of +8% exceeded prior expectations, driven by stronger performance in Europe, and expects to see healthy level of room night growth in Q4. Sees Q4 revenue up +7-9% (exp. 7.0%), sees Q4 room night growth of +6-8%, and sees Q4 gross bookings growth of +7-8%. Is optimistic about long term outlook for Asia. Lifts FY24 adj. EPS outlook, now sees up high teens (prev. saw up 15%), and also lifted its FY24 revenue view to just below 10% (prev. saw at least 7%); raises FY24 gross bookings view to +8% (prev. saw over 6%).

eBay Inc (EBAY) - Despite beats in Q3, shares fell 7% afterhours as the holiday quarter guidance underwhelms. Q3 adj. EPS 1.19 (exp. 1.18), Q3 revenue USD 2.58bln (exp. 2.55bln). Q3 active buyers +0.8% y/Y at 133mln (exp. 132.7mln), Q3 gross merchandise volume +1.7% Y/Y at USD 18.31bln (exp. 18.1bln). Q3 FCF -17% Y/Y at USD 646mln (exp. 553.8mln). Sees Q4 revenue between USD 2.53-2.59bln (exp. 2.6bln), and sees Q4 adj. EPS between 1.17-1.22 (exp. 1.22). For the FY, sees revenue between USD 10.23-10.29bln (exp. 10.32bln).

Microsoft (MSFT) - Microsoft topped top- and bottom-line expectations, but its guidance underwhelmed, and its shares slipped by 3.7% in afterhours trade. Q1 EPS 3.30 (exp. 3.10), Q1 revenue USD 65.6bln (exp. 64.51bln); Q1 Cloud revenue USD 38.9bln (exp. 38.1bln), Q1 Intelligent Cloud revenue USD 24.1bln (exp. 26.7bln), where Azure and other cloud services revenue (ex-FX) rose +34%; AI contributed 12 pts to Azure revenue growth in the quarter. Q1 Productivity and Business Processes revenue USD 28.32bln (exp. 23.79bln) and Q1 More Personal Computing revenue USD 13.18bln (exp. 13.92bln). Exec said it FY25 was off to solid start, with AI sales tracking to beat a USD 10bln run rate in Q2; exec added that it continues to take share across all major categories. Sees Q2 total revenue between USD 68.1-69.1bln (exp. 69.9bln); sees Q2 Intelligent Cloud revenue between USD 25.55-25.85bln, Q2 More Personal Computing revenue between USD 13.85-14.25bln, sees Q2 Productivity and Business Processes revenue between USD 28.7-29bln; Q2 Office 365 growth seen at around +14%, and Q2 Azure revenue growth seen up +31-32% (exp. 31.1%).

Meta Platforms (META) - Meta topped Q3 sales and profit expectations, but shares fell 3.1% afterhours, with traders citing heavy spending plans. Meta reported Q3 EPS of 6.03 (exp. 5.24), Q3 revenue USD 40.59bln (exp. 40.27bln). Q3 advertising revenue USD 39.89bln (exp. 39.71bln), Family of Apps revenue USD 40.32bln (exp. 39.92bln), Reality Labs revenue USD 270mln (exp. 312.8mln). Q3 ad impressions +7% (prev. +31% y/y, exp. +10.8%), Q3 average price per ad +11% (prev. -6% y/y, exp. +6.8%), Q3 average Family service users per day 3.29bln (exp. 3.25bln). Exec said Meta AI now has more than 500mln monthly active users, Llama 4 models are training on a cluster that exceeds 100k H100 GPUs daily, and it expects to complete global rollout of Facebook full-screen video tab in early 2025. Sees Q4 total revenue in the range of USD 45bln-48bln (exp. 46.3bln), sees FY CapEx between USD 38-40bln (prev. saw 37-40bln); continues to expect significant CapEx growth in 2025.

31 Oct 2024 - 06:54- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk