US EARLY MORNING: Contained trade with a limited docket ahead; ECB's Lagarde & US IJC feature

TECH/COMMUNICATIONS:

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  Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), Oracle Corporation (ORCL), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) - Google, Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft were awarded a hybrid government contract with a ceiling of USD 9bln; no funds are being obligated at the time of award, will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The contract will provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide, globally available cloud services.


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  ASML (ASML) - The Netherlands is planning curbs on tech exports to China under an agreement with the US, according to Bloomberg.


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  Salesforce.com, inc. (CRM) - Tensions had been growing between Salesforce Inc.’s co-Chief Executives Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor for months before it last week said Taylor would exit the role, WSJ reports citing sources. Benioff reportedly became frustrated about how Taylor was spending his time, and among his concerns were whether Taylor was spending too much time in a new role as Twitter chairman, too much time with other CEOs and customers and not enough time on Salesforce product and engineering.


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  TikTok - Indiana AG Wednesday sued the Chinese-owned app TikTok for deceiving users about China’s access to their data and for exposing children to mature content, in the first state lawsuits against the popular video service, NYT reports.


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  IBM (IBM) - Is to acquire US IT modernisation and digital transformation services provider Octo, which exclusively serves the US federal government. No terms were disclosed.


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  C3.ai, Inc. (AI) - Q2 EPS -0.11 (exp. -0.16), Q2 revenue USD 62.4mln (exp. 60.9mln). Sees Q3 revenue between USD 63.0-65.0mln (exp. 66.8mln). Reiterates FY23 revenue outlook of USD 255-270mln (exp. 260.8mln), though widened its expected FY23 loss from operations outlook -98mln to -85mln (was previously seen between -98mln and -90mln). Expects to be operationally profitable and be cash flow positive at the end of FY24 on an adj basis.


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  HashiCorp, Inc. (HCP) - Q3 EPS -0.13 (exp. -0.31), Q3 revenue USD 125.3mln (exp. 111.1mln). Q4 EPS is seen around -0.22 (exp. -0.30), and Q4 revenue is seen around USD 124mln (exp. 119.9mln). Raises its FY23 EPS outlook to -0.70 +/- 1c (exp. -0.96), and raises its FY23 revenue outlook to 463-465mln (exp, 445.5mln).


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  Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT) - Q3 EPS 0.69 (exp. 0.59), Q3 revenue USD 226mln (exp. 227.2mln). Board authorised a new share repurchase programme of up to USD 200mln. Sees FY23 EPS at 2.50 (exp. 2.48), and FY23 revenue at USD 900mln +/- 2% (exp. 921mln). For the FY24, sees EPS at 2.70 (exp. 2.76), while FY24 revenue is seen at USD 945mln +/- 2% (exp. 1.01bln); FY24 SaaS revenue growth seen at around +30% Y/Y FXN.

CONSUMER:

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  Tesla (TSLA) - CPCA said China November Retail Passenger Vehicle Sales -9.5% Y/Y (prev. +6.9% Y/Y in Oct); Tesla exported 37.8k China-made vehicles in November (vs 54.5k in October).


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  Honda (HMC) - The automaker is to cut production by 20% at its Saitama plant; Suzuka site is expected to run as normal for remainder of December.


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  British American Tobacco (BTI) - Sees FY sales growing 2-4%, adj. diluted EPS to mid-single digits, including a transactional FX headwind of around 2%, tobacco industry volume expected around -2%. Said US industry volumes remain under pressure due to macro factors and post-COVID normalisation. Confident in delivering GBP 5bln revenue and profitability targets by 2025.


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  Campbell Soup Company (CPB) - CEO told CNBC that supply chains had now become a strength for the company, having previously been a challenge.


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  Oxford Industries, Inc. (OXM) - Q3 adj. EPS 1.46 (exp. 1.22), Q3 revenue USD 313mln (exp. 303.4mln). Q4 adj. EPS seen between 2.01-2.16 (exp. 2.10), and Q4 revenue seen between USD 366-381mln (exp. 373.4mln). Lifts FY22 adj. EPS outlook to 10.60-10.75 (exp. 10.456, prev. guidance 10.25-10.60), and lifts its FY22 revenue outlook to USD 1.4-1.41bln (exp. 1.39bln, prev. guidance 1.29-1.33bln).


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  Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. (NAPA) - Q1 adj. EPS 0.18 (exp. 0.14), Q1 revenue USD 108.2mln (exp. 98.9mln). Reiterates FY23 adj. EPS outlook at the midpoint of 0.63 (exp. 0.62), reiterates FY23 revenue view between USD 393-401mln (exp. 397.3mln). Announces planned CFO retirement in Spring 2023.


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  GameStop Corp. (GME) - Q3 EPS -0.31 (exp. -0.28), Q3 revenue USD 1.186bln (exp. 1.35bln). Net sales USD 1.186bln (vs 1.297bln Y/Y). Said sales attributable to new and expanded brand relationships were strong in the quarter, while sales in the collectibles category remained strong YTD.


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  Greif, Inc. (GEF) - Q4 adj. EPS 1.83 (exp. 1.93), and Q4 revenue USD 1.5bln (exp. 1.58bln). Sees FY23 adj. EBITDA between USD 820-906mln (exp. 842mln), and FY23 FCF between USD 410-460mln.

INDUSTRIALS:

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  Airbus (EADSY), Boeing (BA) - US FAA approves special conditions for Airbus' A321XLR; Boeing had raised concerns that the fuel tank used could present potential hazards. FAA will require the lower half of the A321XLR fuselage to be resistant to fire penetration to protect passengers. Elsewhere, Airbus CEO said that both 2023 and 2024 would be positive for wide-body jet demand.


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  BMW (BMWYY), Mercedes-Benz (MBG) - BMW is likely to top import car sales within South Korean this year, Korea Herald reports, selling 71.7k units in the January-November period (vs Mercedes' sales of 71.5k).


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  Landstar System, Inc. (LSTR) - Announced new share buyback 1.9mln shares, taking the overall size of the authorisation to 3mln shares. Also announced a special one-time cash dividend of USD 2.00/shr.

ENERGY/UTILITIES:

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  Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) - Guides FY23 EPS at 1.12 (exp. 1.11), and FY23 adj. EBITDA at USD 7.7bln (exp. 7.5bln). Exec said it expects 2023 to be another "very good year with strong market fundamentals, continued robust growth in demand for existing and expanded natural gas transportation, storage, and gathering and processing, and continued demand for refined products midstream services and investments in Energy Transition Ventures business." Offsetting the upside will be higher interest rate environment, it added.


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  TotalEnergies (TTE) - Total is in talks with Fortescue Future Industries on the supply of power to TotalEnergies' Papua LNG project, Reuters reports.


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  Chevron (CVX) - Announced 2023 organic capital expenditure budgets of USD 14bln for consolidated subsidiaries, and USD 3bln for equity affiliates, which total near the high-end of the company's guidance range. CVX said its 2023 capex budget was up more than 25% Y/Y, ex-acquisitions.


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  Tullow Oil (TUWOY) - Has named Richard Miller as permanent CFO.


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  Enel (ENLAY) - Solar developers Sonnedix and Cubico are reportedly competing to buy Enel's Chilean solar power unit, Reuters reports; could fetch USD 1bln.

HEALTH CARE:

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  Cano Health, Inc. (CANO) - Third Point reportedly sold its remaining 3.5% stake in Cano Health last week amid mounting concerns around the healthcare provider’s liquidity, Bloomberg reported.


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  Revolution Medicines (RVMD), Sanofi (SNY) - Revolution said Sanofi has terminated of the parties' global SHP2 development and commercialisation collaboration. Revolution will regain all global rights granted to Sanofi under the agreement.


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  Novartis (NVS) - Investigational iptacopan provides clinically meaningful increases in hemoglobin levels in complement-inhibitor-naïve patients with PNH.


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  Roche (RHHBY) - Alzheimer’s Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) assays receive FDA clearance, supporting more accurate and timely diagnosis.

08 Dec 2022 - 09:30- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk