With the uncertainty surrounding the stimulus package easing and more positive reports coming from COVID vaccine developers, stock markets recovered and firmed up this week. The S&P 500 index bounced back mid-week and hit a new record high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average pared most of the early losses and stabilized towards the end of the week. However, the indexes closed the last session slightly lower. One of the key contributors was electric car maker Tesla, which got a rating upgrade prior to its entry into S&P 500 index.
Adding to the positive sentiment, weekly jobless claims dropped to about 712,000, beating the estimates of economists who have cautioned that the number might go up in the coming weeks as the COVID situation continues to be critical.
Enlivening the M&A space, Salesforce this week clinched a deal to acquire instant messaging app Slack Technologies Inc. for about $28 billion — the biggest buyout by the cloud service provider.
On Thursday, store operators Kroger Company and Dollar General released their latest quarterly numbers, indicating a slowdown in the comparable-store sales boom triggered by the shopping spree during the pandemic. Earlier, Hewlett Packard Enterprises released mixed results for the fourth quarter and provided full-year outlook.
Salesforce on Tuesday reported earnings that more than doubled year-over-year, aided by strong revenue growth. Zoom Video Communications, which has been thriving on the high demand for online meetings, registered record customer growth in the October-quarter.
After a modest start – with not many companies reporting in the initial days of next week, except Toll Brothers, AutoZone, and GameStop — the earnings scene is set to get busy on Thursday when Broadcom, Oracle, and Costco are expected to publish results. On Wednesday, design software firm Adobe is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results.
Key Earnings to Watch
Monday: JinkoSolar, Lightinthebox, Coupa Software, Smartsheet, Sumo Logic, and Stitch Fix
Tuesday: Barnes & Noble, Casey’s General Stores, G-III Apparel Group, Autozone, Star Group, and Chewy
Wednesday: Roots Corporation, Campbell Soup Company, Designer Brands, Photronics, and Restoration Hardware Holdings
Thursday: CIENA Corp, Adobe Inc., Lululemon Athletica, Broadcom Inc., Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, and Oracle Corp
Friday: Construction Partners, Johnson Outdoors, and Quanex Building Products
Key Corporate Conferences to Watch
Key Investor Days/AGMs to Watch
Key US Economic Events
Looking Back
The following are notable companies which have reported their earnings last week. In case if you have missed to catch up on their performance, click the respective links to skim through the transcripts to glean more insights.
Zoom Video Communications
Box Inc.
Salesforce.com
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company
NetApp Inc.
Cloudera, Inc.
Dollar General Corporation
DocuSign, Inc.
Kroger Co.
Zscaler Inc.
If you want to listen to how management responds to analyst questions and the tone they use, you can head over to our YouTube channel to listen to conference calls on the go.
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