Stocks To Watch: Conferences And Fedspeak To Dominate Holiday-Shortened Week

Summary:

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The key economic events for the holiday-shortened week will be releases on factory orders, initial jobless claims, and consumer credit. Those releases will add to the spotlight on the Federal Reserve, which may turn even brighter with several FOMC speakers making the rounds with speeches and the Fed’s Beige Book for September scheduled to be released, and then broken down by analysts. At publication time, the CME FedWatch tool indicated a 6% probability of an interest rate increase of 25 points at the next Fed meeting scheduled for September 19-20, while trading on the fed funds contract implies a probability of just under 35% that an interest rate hike of either 25 to 50 basis points will take place before or at the November meeting. Meanwhile, the energy market could be jolted after details are released on Russia’s new OPEC+ supply cut agreement.

The corporate calendar is very active in the week ahead, with the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Technology Conference, Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) developer conference, Citi Global Technology Conference, Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference, and Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) Innovation Day some of the key events. Notable names on the earnings calendar include Kroger (KR) (analysis) and DocuSign (DOCU) (preview).

Earnings spotlight: Tuesday, September 5 – Zscaler (ZS), HealthEquity (HQY), and Asana (ASAN).

Earnings spotlight: Wednesday, September 6 – UiPath (PATH), GameStop (GME), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), and C3.ai (AI).

Earnings spotlight: Thursday, September 7 – DocuSign (DOCU), Guidewire Software (GWRE), Smartsheet (SMAR), and Planet Labs (PL).

Earnings spotlight: Friday, September 8 – Kroger (KR) and Rent the Runway (RENT).

Volatility watch: Short interest levels have moved higher once again on Novavax (NVAX) and Fisker (FSR). Tingo Group (TIO) and Outlook Therapeutics (OTLK) have seen spikes in trading volume. Options trading volume on VinFast (VFS) has started to add to the volatility being seen with the electric vehicle stock. Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) could also see some swings with a key shareholder vote scheduled. Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) look set to rally after being added to the S&P 500 Index after the market closed on Friday.

IPO and spinoff watch: SOLOWIN (NASDAQ:SWIN) is expected to price its IPO and start trading. The online brokerage and investment advisory firm aims to raise $10M with an expected 2.5M shares priced at $4 per share. Quiet periods will expire on Fitell (FTEL), NeurAxis (NYSE:NRXS), and LQR House (LQR) to free up analysts to post ratings. IPO lockup periods expire on blocks of shares of Atlas Energy Solutions (NYSE:AESI), and Xiao-I. (AIXI). Arm Holdings Limited (ARM), the British chip design unit owned by Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY), plans to launch its roadshow for investors during the week and potentially set its initial pricing range.

Dividend watch: Companies projected to increase their quarterly dividend payouts include VICI Properties (VICI) to $0.42 from $0.39, Kilroy Realty (KRC) to $0.56 from $0.54, and Brady Corporation (BRC) to $0.235 from $0.230. See Seeking Alpha’s list of Quick Dividend Stock Picks.

Data watch: Investors will be watching for a flurry of data reports next week. Notable releases due out during the week include China auto sales for August, monthly airline traffic reports, the highly-anticipated Manheim Used Vehicle Index, and the latest Nielsen numbers covering food and beverage retail trends.

Ten for under $10: Looking to play small ball with stocks? Seeking Alpha’s Steven Cress recently highlighted that small-cap stocks are trading at historically low valuations, with the S&P 600 index at a sharp 26% discount compared to the large-cap S&P 500’s premium. Cress reminded that focusing on stocks with attractive collective financial traits like valuation, growth, EPS revisions, profitability, and momentum can offer upside for a portfolio. Utilizing Seeking Alpha’s Quant ratings, his list of the top 10 stocks priced under $10 featured Crawford & Company (CRD.B), Yext (YEXT), Arlo Technologies (ARLO), Travelzoo (TZOO), TETRA Technologies (TTI), Heritage Global (HGBL), Evolution Petroleum Corporation (EPM), Mama’s Creations (MAMA), SunCoke Energy (SXC), and Barings BDC (BBDC).

Key events: Adidas (OTCQX:ADDYY) will hold its annual corporate conference in Frankfurt on September 5. HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) will host its Analyst Day in conjunction with the INBOUND 23 conference on September 6. On the same day, Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN) will hold an Investor Day event and Intuit (INTU) will host an Innovation Day event. Some a detailed list of all the key events scheduled for next week in Seeking Alpha’s Catalyst Watch.

Conference schedule: The Goldman Sachs Communacopia Technology Conference may be the key conference of the week, amid conflicting reads on how consumer spending trends are holding up. Some of the notable retail companies due to give presentations at the three-day conference include Shopify (SHOP), eBay (EBAY), Fiverr International (FVRR), Etsy (ETSY), IMAX (IMAX), Peloton Interactive (PTON), and Mattel (MAT). Notable tech companies such as Shopify (SHOP), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Mobileye Global (MBLY), and Intel (INTC) will also be participating. Other major conference scheduled for the week include Citi’s 2023 Global Technology Conference, the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference, the Evercore ISI Semiconductor & Semiconductor Equipment Conference, Citi’s 18th Annual BioPharma Conference, and the Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference.

Quant ratings: Stocks with recent quant rating changes include GitLab (GTLB) to Buy from Hold, Adagene (ADAG) to Buy from Hold, and Hanesbrands (HBI) to Sell from Hold. See the stocks with the very highest rated, Seeking Alpha Quant Ratings.

Stock splits: The 1-for-40 reverse stock split for WeWork (WE) will be effective on September 5.

Box office special: The Labor Day weekend will feature the debut of Sony Pictures’ (SONY) The Equalizer 3, which is expected to bring in between $33M and $40M during its opening four-day weekend. Warner Bros. (WBD) is expected to finish second with yet another weekend tally over $10M. The biggest buzz in the movie theater sector could be on how high the box office could go for AMC Entertainment (AMC), Regal (OTCPK:CNNWQ), and Cinemark (CNK) for their showings of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film after advance ticket sales smashed existing records.

Editor’s Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.