Salesforce, Dell, Costco, Ford, And Pershing Square Are On Watch

Summary:

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The economic calendar will be dominated by reads on inflation next week. Preliminary European CPI reports and the Tokyo CPI in Japan are due to be released, while the April PCE will arrive at the end of the week to give Federal Reserve watchers a key point of focus. Core PCE is expected to rise 0.3% month-over-month, but a surprise on the upward or downward side could rattle investors. The Federal Reserve will also issue its Beige Book report, which will give investors a broad look at economic trends.

In corporate earnings, major reports are due from Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Dell Technologies (DELL), and Costco (NASDAQ:COST). The event calendar includes an intriguing Pershing Square Capital Management’s (OTCPK:PSHZF) investor call, the two-day TD Cowen Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, and the high-profile CoinDesk Consensus event covering the crypto world and including participation from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood, and Galaxy Digital’s (OTCPK:BRPHF) Mike Novogratz. The crypto conference follows the news of the SEC approving the Ethereum (ETH-USD) ETF. Seeking Alpha analyst Growth Arcane has a deep dive into the implication of the Ethereum ETF approval.

Earnings spotlight: Tuesday, May 28 – Box (BOX), CAVA Group (CAVA), and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) See the full earnings calendar.

Earnings spotlight: Wednesday, May 29 – Salesforce (CRM), DICK’S Sporting Goods (DKS), Agilent (A), Chewy (CHWY), HP Inc. (HPQ), Pure Storage (PSTG), Capri Holdings (CPRI), Okta (OKTA), C3.ai (AI), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). See the full earnings calendar.

Earnings spotlight: Thursday, May 30 – Best Buy (BBY), Birkenstock (BIRK), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Dollar General (DG), Foot Locker (FL), Costco (COST), Gap (GPS), Marvell (MRVL), Dell (DELL), NetApp (NTAP), and Nordstrom (JWN). See the full earnings calendar.

Earnings spotlight: Friday, May 31 – Genesco (GCO) and Frontline (FRO). See the full earnings calendar.

Volatility watch: Options trading volume is elevated again on Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) and Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFIE). The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index include Solowin (SWIN), Zeta (ZETA), and Global Ship Lease (GSL). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Seritage Growth Properties (SRG), Papa John’s (PZZA), and DLocal (DLO). Short interest is still sky-high on SunPower (SPWR), The Children’s Place (PLCE), and Maxeon Solar Technologies (MAXN).

IPO watch: No new IPOs are anticipated to launch in the week ahead. The quiet period ends on Viking Holdings (NYSE:VIK) to free up analysts to post ratings. Viking and Ibotta (IBTA) will also release their first earnings reports as publicly-traded companies.

Investor events: There is a full slate of investor events in the week ahead, despite the markets being closed on Monday. Pershing Square Capital Management (OTCPK:PSHZF) will host an investor call amid speculation that Bill Ackman’s firm has taken an activist stake in Starbucks (SBUX). The two-day TD Cowen Technology, Media & Telecom Conference will include participation from AMD (AMD), Seagate Technology (STX), and Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO). Ford (F) CEO Jim Farley will be in the spotlight at an event to discuss the company’s customer-centered Ford+ plan to grow, raise margins, and increase capital efficiency. In the crypto world, the speakers at the high-profile CoinDesk Consensus event will include Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood, Galaxy Digital’s (OTCPK:BRPHF) Mike Novogratz, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, Ripple (XRP-USD) CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Lamina1 co-Founder and novelist Neal Stephenson. The list of companies holding investor day events includes Zimmer Biomet (ZBH), Toast (TOST) Investor Day, Xylem’s (XYL), and Cloudflare (NET). Finally, the healthcare sector will have its eyes on the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting that begins in Chicago and runs through June 4. Arcus Biosciences (RCUS) AstaZeneca (AZN), Pfizer (PFE), and Gilead Sciences (GILD) are some of the companies that analysts have circled to watch.

Auto watch: The automobile sector is being watched carefully by investors, with several potential catalysts in the mix. A dueling tariff war is in the spotlight, with the United States due to begin tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles imported into the nation on August 1. While President Joe Biden is keeping some of the tariffs put in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump, he is quadrupling the import duties on Chinese EVs to over 100%. Naturally, the Chinese government has threatened retaliatory tariffs on imports of both European Union and U.S.-made vehicles. The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said it was informed by insiders that China may consider increasing temporary tariff rates on imported cars equipped with large-displacement engines. In reaction to those developments, many European automobile stocks have trended lower, including Mercedes-Benz (OTCPK:MBGAF), BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), and Volkswagen Group (OTCPK:VLKAF). Chinese electric vehicle makers NIO (NIO), Li Auto (LI), XPeng (XPEV), and BYD Company (OTCPK:BYDDF) are due to report May deliveries on June 1, while some automakers will update on U.S. sales numbers for the month. J.D. Power estimated that total new-vehicle sales for May 2024, including retail and non-retail transactions, are projected to rise 2.9% year-over-year on a selling-day adjusted basis to reach 1,446,800 units. “On the positive side, the total sales pace will exceed 16 million units for the first time this year. Also, discounts are similar to last month, despite May being a month in which discounts traditionally increase to take advantage of elevated shopping activity during the Memorial Day weekend,” highlighted J.D. Power. While that may be good news for manufacturer and retailer profitability, the industry continues to produce more vehicles than are being sold, leading to rising inventories and increasing the likelihood of elevated discounts as the year progresses. In the world of Tesla (TSLA), the approaching annual meeting on June 12 has more influential shareholders weighing in on if Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation package should be approved. Also, look for analysts to start updating their forecast for Tesla’s Q2 deliveries tally amid reports of slowing Model Y production in China.

Spinoff watch: Sanofi (SNY) is scheduled to spin off Inhibrx Biosciences (IXNB) after completing the acquisition of Inhibrx (INBX). The spinoff will include all the non-INBRX-101 assets of Inhibrx into the new company. Inhibrx’s shareholders will receive 0.25 shares of Inhibrx Biosciences per Inhibrx share. Inhibrx Biosciences will be capitalized with $200 million of cash at distribution. Sanofi will retain an 8% equity stake in Inhibrx Biosciences.

Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.