Stocks Closed Higher Yesterday With Small-Caps And AI-Related Names Leading The WayStocks closed higher yesterday with all of the major indexes in the green. AI-related names had a fine day as well with NVIDIA up 3.09% and Micron up 2.36% to name a couple. Dell Industries soared by 15.81% yesterday, following Tuesday afternoon's top and bottom line surprises and a quarterly EPS growth rate of 203% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 57.7%. They also raised full-year rev guidance by $25B to $192B from $167B, which would represent a 70% growth rate if they hit those numbers. Dell credits the AI boom and increased server demand for their record quarter and bullish outlook. Another AI-related stock reported yesterday after the close -- Snowflake. They posted a positive EPS surprise of 37.7%, and a positive sales surprise of 4.91%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 77.1%, and a sales growth of 36.0%. They also raised their full-year product rev guidance to $6.07B vs. $5.84B, representing an expected 36% growth rate vs. the previously expected 31%. The CEO said "Snowflake continues to power the enterprise AI revolution," and that "AI continues to compound our advantages." They were off -4.37% in the regular session before earnings, but jumped by more than 22% in after-hours trade following earnings. Broadcom also reported after the close and matched EPS estimates, while posting a positive sales surprise of 0.41%, which equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 96.4%, and a sales growth of 85.5%. They noted that Q3 AI semiconductor revenue growth was up 143% y/y, but put Q4 rev at $34.8B vs. the $35.03 previously expected. But for context, if hit, that would represent a 93% growth rate. They were off -0.66% in the regular session, and were up 2% in after-hours. There's another 99 companies on deck to report today, including AI-related Zscaler and Samsara. In other news, yesterday's MBA Mortgage Applications were up 0.8% w/w with purchases up 2.2% and refi's off -1.1%. The Beige Book described the U.S. economy for August as modestly expanding, with slight employment gains. The ADP Employment Report estimated there were 38,000 new private payroll jobs created in August, which was under their consensus for 48,000. But the jobs report that everybody is really waiting for is Friday's always important Employment Situation report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Last month's report showed headline jobs down -23,000 for July (although private payrolls rose by 30K, but was offset by -53,000 in the public sector). The consensus for Friday is expected to show August jobs up 55,000 (up 53K in the private sector and 2K in the public sector.) The unemployment rate is forecast at 4.2% vs. last month's 4.1%. Before that, however, we'll get the Challenger Job-Cut Report, Weekly Jobless Claims, the Productivity and Costs Report, the PMI Composite Report, and the International Trade in Goods and Services Report. The market will also be watching developments out of the Middle East. The U.S. announced their "tanker for tanker" policy, after striking two Iranian tankers following Iran's attack on two other vessels. The new retaliation policy says the U.S. will strike an Iranian tanker for each attack Iran makes on other tankers. The U.S. has not targeted Iranian tankers in the past. So, this is new. There's still two days left in the week before we have a 3-day long Labor Day weekend. As it stands, the markets are currently down for the week. But a couple of good days could turn that around. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research |
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