Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 4th December 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly subdued with underperformance in South Korea following the martial law declaration and backtrack. ASX 200 was led lower by underperformance in real estate, defensives and financials, while Australian GDP data disappointed. Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses with price action indecisive amid the lack of Japan-specific catalysts. KOSPI underperformed following South Korean President Yoon's martial law declaration and subsequent backtracking which has led to calls from within the party to step down and an effort by opposition parties to impeach him for treason. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp lacked conviction after somewhat mixed PMI data in which Chinese Caixin Services PMI missed forecasts but Caixin Composite PMI accelerated, while trade frictions also lingered after China's MOFCOM banned the export of "dual-use items" relating to gallium, germanium, antimony and super-hard materials to the US.

Toyota (7203 JT) - Co. bought back 18.6mln own shares worth JPY 49.6bln between November 1st-29th. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.51% at 20,035, FTSE 100: +0.56% at 8,359, CAC 40: +0.26% at 7,255, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.64% at 4,878, AEX: +0.26% at 890, IBEX 35: +1.18% at 11,874, FTSE MIB: +1.03% at 33,829, SMI: -0.04% at 11,824, PSI: +0.68% at 6,406.

SECTORS: Energy 1.23%, IT 1.21%, Industrials 0.76%, Materials 0.67%, Consumer Disc 0.65%, Financials 0.34%, Healthcare 0.25%, Utilities -0.11%, Telecoms -0.20%, Consumer Stpl -0.44%

FTSE 100

Barclays (BARC LN) – Co. reached a USD 19.5mln settlement in Manhattan after it was accused of securities fraud. (Newswires)

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Palliser Capital, an activist investor, has intensified its campaign to get the Co. to abandon its London listing, via FT citing a letter; calling for the Co. to examine unifying its structure in Australia. (FT). Separately, Co. sees copper production in FY25 of 780k-850k tons and Pilbara iron ore shipments at 323mln-338mln tons. (Newswires) Elsewhere, Rio Tinto and Sumitomo Metal Mining (5713 JT) partner on Winu copper-gold project with Rio Tinto to continue to develop Winu as managing partner and SMM will pay Rio Tinto USD 399mln for a 30% equity share in the project. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

St James’s Place (STJ LN) downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC

DAX

SAP (SAP GY) - Salesforce Inc (CRM) shares rose over 10% afterhours following results after revenue and Q4 guidance beat analysts' forecasts. (Newswires) Separately, SAP said approximately 30% of new orders include AI elements and the co. is focusing on tangible AI use cases that enhance productivity for knowledge workers. (Newswires)

German Economy - ECB policymaker and Bundesbank president Nagel says the German economy faces a weak outlook and 2025 is likely to be another year of weak growth, while he also called for a softer debt brake to ramp up investment, according to FT. (FT)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Fresenius Medical Care (FME GY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at HSBC

CAC

French stocks – Today at 15:00 GMT French lawmakers will vote on a no-confidence motion against PM Barnier.

Kering (KER FP) - Approves EUR 2/shr interim dividend for 2024 and is to be paid on January 16th, 2025. (Newswires)

Pernod Ricard (RI FP) – Reuters reports that an internal probe found that Pernod Ricard India execs violated New Delhi laws; co. has since denied any wrongdoing and is contesting the allegations. The report adds that the civil liability could be as USD 67mln. (Reuters)

Legrand (LR FP) – Acquired Power Bus Way. (Newswires)

Saint Gobain (SGO FP) – Cancelled 5mln shares; shares outstanding is now 497mln. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Air France (AF FP) – Air France-KLM and Saudi to reinforce cooperation in passenger transport. Elsewhere, the Co. has partnered with Google Cloud (GOOGL) to deploy generative AI on the group’s data. (Newswires)

Casino (CO FP) – Sold EUR 77mln of real estate assets to Les Mousquetaires. Sale price of EUR 77mln is due to be received in H2’25. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Andritz (ANDR AV) – Completed share buyback programme; total repurchased was EUR 116.16mln at an average weighted price of EUR 56.06. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Novartis (NOVN SW) downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC

SCANDINAVIA

Clas Ohlson (CLASB SS) – Q2 (SEK): Sales 2.80bln (exp. 3.61bln), EBIT 307mln (exp. 450mln). (Newswires)

Tryg (TRYG DC) – Announces the launch of a DKK 2bln share buyback programme and sets out new financial targets. Targets Insurance Service Result of DKK 8-8.4bln in 2027. Expects to meet all 2024 financial targets. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.05% at 6,050, NDX +0.31% at 21,229, DJIA -0.17% at 44,706, RUT -0.73% at 2,416

SECTORS: Utilities -0.88%, Financials -0.75%, Industrials -0.65%, Real Estate -0.61%, Consumer Staples -0.46%, Materials -0.33%, Health -0.19%, Energy -0.05%, Consumer Discretionary +0.13%, Technology +0.56%, Communication Services +1.12%.

AWS (AMZN) executive says Trainium3 chip coming next year and made with 3nm technology; Apple (AAPL) says it plans to use the AWS Trainium chips. (Newswires)

Marvell Technology (MRVL) - Marvell topped Q3 earnings expectations, with strong AI demand driving a 19% sequential increase in revenue. Q3 adj. EPS 0.43 (exp. 0.41), Q3 revenue USD 1.8bln (exp. 1.46bln). Q3 adj. gross margin 60.5% (exp. 61%). Q3 data centre sales +25% Q/Q to USD 1.101bln (exp. 1.05bln). Q3 consumer revenue 96.5mln (exp. 89.5mln), Q3 carrier infrastructure revenue USD 84.7mln (exp. 80.6mln), Q3 enterprise networking revenue USD 150.9mln (exp. 159.7mln), Q3 automotive/industrial revenue USD 82.9mln (exp. 80.2mln). Exec said that its performance in Q3, and its strong forecast for Q4, are primarily driven by its custom AI silicon programmes, which are now in volume production, further augmented by robust ongoing demand from cloud customers for its interconnect products. Sees Q4 adj. EPS between 0.54-0.64 (exp. 0.52). Execs see momentum continuing into FY26. (Newswires) Intel (INTC) reportedly approaches Marvell’s (MRVL) Murphy in search for its next CEO, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Microsoft (MSFT) - AI software sales, and OpenAI deal targeted by FTC probe, via The Information. FTC has asked Microsoft rivals about its OpenAI deal and sales of AI software. Republican regulators have voiced interest in protecting competition in AI market. FTC investigation could last several months before the agency decides whether to sue. (Newswires)

Salesforce Inc (CRM) - Shares rose over 10% afterhours following results. Q3 adj. EPS 2.41 (exp. 2.44) (note, strategic investments reduced EPS by around 0.18/shr), Q3 revenue USD 9.44bln (exp. 9.35bln). Q3 Subscription & Support revenue USD 8.88bln (exp. 8.82bln). Q3 cRPO +10% Y/Y at USD 26.4bln. Q3 operating margin 33.1% (exp. 32.2%). Exec said growth was driven by strong enterprise cloud demand and its AI-powered Agentforce platform. Agentforce, its AI system for enterprises, is at the heart of its groundbreaking transformation. Exec said it is staring Q4 with strong momentum. Sees Q4 adj. EPS between USD 2.57-2.62 (exp. 2.65), and sees Q4 revenue between USD 9.90bln-10.10bln (exp. 10.05bln). For the FY25, lowers adj EPS outlook to between USD 9.98-10.03 (exp. 10.11; prev. saw 10.03-10.11); raised the bottom-end of its FY25 view to between USD 37.8bln-38.0bln (exp. 37.86bln; prev. saw 37.7-38.0bln); backs its FY25 Subscription & Support revenue growth view of +10%. (Newswires)

04 Dec 2024 - 06:44- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk