This week, the spotlight was on the $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package that became law after President Joe Biden officially signed the bill. The market responded positively to the much-awaited legislation and benchmark indexes S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to record highs on Thursday.
Earlier, the sentiment got a boost when the latest government data showed that jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since the early weeks of the pandemic as hiring improved.
The week began with some major M&A deals, including DuPont’s $2.3-billion buyout of Laird Performance Materials from Advent International and the $11-billion merger between Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding.
Meanwhile, payment solutions provider PayPal confirmed the purchase of crypto security company Curv and DropBox agreed to buy document analytics company DocSend. Continuing its acquisition spree, Accenture added European consulting firm fable+ to its fold. Elsewhere, Honeywell clinched a deal to acquire a majority stake in Fiplex Communications.
It was probably the quietest week this earnings season so far, with not many big companies announcing their quarterly results. Mid-week, Oracle’s stronger-than-expected Q3 outcome was shadowed by CEO Larry Ellison’s cautious guidance for the second half, resulting in a stock sell-off that drained several millions of the company’s market value.
On Tuesday, Dick’s Sporting Goods reported strong fourth-quarter numbers, riding the demand recovery during the holiday season. Another major announcement was DocuSign’s blockbuster fourth-quarter report. Next week, the market will be closely following the earnings report of CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity startup that achieved a surprise turnaround last year supported by virus-driven demand growth.
On the same day – March 16 – software provider Smartsheet is scheduled to publish its latest quarterly numbers. The main events of March 17 will include earnings announcements from Five Below and Cintas Corp. Thursday, March 18, will be a busy day as usual, with financial reports of Wall Street biggies Accenture, Dollar General, FedEx and Nike lined up for release.
Key Earnings to Watch
Monday: Accel Entertainment, Startek, Solid Biosciences and Zedge
Tuesday: Coupa Software, Jabil Inc., Fanhua, ChipMOS Technologies, Eastman Kodak, CrowdStrike Holdings, Smartsheet, Biodesix and iSun
Wednesday: Five Below, Cintas Corp, Semtech Corp, Lennar Corp, Pinduoduo, American Outdoor Brands and ON24
Thursday: Fedex Corp, Signet Jewelers, Nike, Accenture, Canadian Solar, HEXO, Dollar General, Herman Miller, and Weibo Corporation
Friday: Cipher Pharmaceuticals and Kingstone Companies
Key Corporate Conferences to Watch
Key Investor Days/AGMs to Watch
Key US Economic Events
The following are notable companies which have reported their earnings last week. In case if you have missed catching up on their performance, click the respective links to skim through the transcripts to glean more insights.
Niu Technologies Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
Stitch Fix Q2 2021 Earnings Transcript
Barnes & Noble Q3 2021 Earnings Transcript
The Children’s Place Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
Avid Technology Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
MongoDB Q4 2021 Earnings Transcript
Tupperware Brands Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
Cloudera Q4 2021 Earnings Transcript
Oracle Corporation Q3 2021 Earnings Transcript
Tilly’s Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
Ulta Beauty Q4 2020 Earnings Transcript
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.