5 Monster Stock Predictions For Earnings During The Week of April 23
Michael Kramer and the Clients of Mott Capital own shares of GOOGL
With earnings seasons underway, the intensity picks up in a big way this coming week, with Alphabet kicking things off this Monday afternoon, and then companies like AMD, Qualcomm, Facebook, PayPal, Amazon, Microsoft, and Intel later in the week. I have highlighted and attempted to predict the direction of the stocks following results, for five stocks, Alphabet, AMD, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon. Hope you enjoy, and good luck.
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Alphabet
Estimates
Shares of Alphabet have a one-year forward PE ratio of about 22, putting it among some of the cheapest technology companies. Analysts are looking for the company to report that first-quarter earnings fell by 7 percent to $9.28 per share, while revenue is expected to climb by over 22 percent to $30.26 billion. Revenue estimates have been creeping up since the start of the year, from $29.43 billion, according to Ycharts, a rise of 1.78 percent.
Options
The long straddle options strategy for expiration on May 18, are not pricing in a massive move in Alphabet shares, a rise or fall of only 7 percent, placing the stock in a trading range of about $1000 to $1150 from the 1,075 strike price.
The implied volatility is currently around 47, and that suggests a one standard deviation move of about of 6.5 percent, so again not a huge move.
Technicals
The technical’s are sending mixed signals, but that seems to be the case with every stock chart these days. The stock price recently filled a gap at $1,096 but failed to break above that resistance level. But there is a clear uptrend in the chart currently, and the $1,000 level acted as a firm support level during a time that saw very high volume levels. Additionally, it is clear that volume declined as the stock settled in around $1,000 support, which would suggest that selling pressure was easing, resulting in the stock move higher. Additionally, the relative strength index (RSI) reached an oversold condition in mid-February, and that lead to an RSI that is rising and trending higher, while the downtrend in the RSI had been broken.
Price Target
The average analyst price target would suggest a rise of about 17 percent, to $1275.
The underlying technicals are bullish; the options market seems not to be looking for a big move in shares of Alphabet either, which likely implies no big surprises, while analyst trends in revenue and earnings have been relatively steady.
It would seem to suggest to me that the market is set for shares of Alphabet to rise post-earnings.
AMD
Estimates
AMD is expected to report on April 25, and analysts estimates are expecting revenue to rise by 59 percent to $1.566 billion, while earnings are forecast to be flat at $0.09 per share. That doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. It would suggest two things going into these results, a risk of a significant miss or a significant beat. But based on the latest set of results from Lam Research and Taiwan Semi, it makes me a little bit concerned for a miss; there seem to be a tremendous amount of operational risk here such as declining margins, or revenue falling short.
Options
The options market appears to agree, because the long straddle options strategy is pricing in a rise or fall for the stock of 13.7 percent by expiration on May 18, from the $10 strike price. It places the stock in a trading range of $8.65 to $11.35. The puts at the $10 strike price out weight the call by a ratio of nearly 2:1 with 51,000 open put contracts to approximately 25,000 call contracts, again a bearish indication.
The term structure of the implied volatility implies a tremendous amount of volatility too. The near-term options have an implied volatility level over 90 over the next seven days, and that also means a rise or fall in the stock about 12.5 percent.
Technicals
The technical chart is also bearish at this point, with a clear downtrend in place, while failing at resistance at $10.70. The RSI is also trending lower, while volume levels have yet to reach a capitulation type of moment. Should the stock rise on better than expected results a jump to $11.70 seems possible, while bad results could see the stock fall to early April lows around $9.
Analyst Price Targets
The average price target on the stock has been trimmed since the start of the year falling to $13.77 down from $14.04, a decline of nearly 2 percent. Meanwhile, of the 31 analysts that cover the stock 35 percent rate the stock a “buy” or “outperform,” while 45 percent rate it a “hold,” and 19 percent rating it an “underperform” or “sell.”
All of these signals appear to be negative and suggest the market seems setup for shares to fall post results.
Facebook
Facebook’s results are going to be huge, as investors await commentary on the fall out from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
Estimates
Analysts are looking for Facebook to report that earnings fell by 1.75 percent to $1.34 in the first-quarter, while revenue is seen rising 42 percent to $11.42 billion. Facebook naturally will significant expenses in the future when it comes to putting more staff in place to better monitor what is happening on its platform. In fact, analysts have trimmed their earnings results for the quarter from $1.38 per share since March 19.
Options
The options market has an implied volatility of roughly 55 percent, and that suggests a one standard deviation move of about 7.6 percent, putting the stock in a trading range of $153 to $179.
Technicals
The technical chart still has a solid downtrend in place, but the big volume levels in the stock around $150, also suggest a current floor in the stock. The RSI also hit oversold levels at the end of the March, but, it too still has a solid downtrend in place.
Other Factors
Rising cost continues to be a significant issue for Facebook going forward, while it is also unclear how users are responding, and the overhang of potential regulatory issues loom.
It would not be surprising to see a retest of the $150 lows following results.
Microsoft
Estimates
Analysts estimates see Microsoft earnings climbing by 16.5 percent when it reports fiscal third-quarter results to $0.85, while revenue is seen jumping by only 9.5 percent. Analysts are bullish on Microsoft and have been raising their price target on the stock since the start of the year, pushing the price target to $105.71, up by 13.15 percent since January 5, from roughly $93.40.
Options
The options market is not implying a big move in shares of Microsoft post results, with an implied volatility of roughly 44 percent. It represents a rise or fall of 6 percent. The $95 Calls set for expiration on May 18 outweigh the puts by a ratio of 9 to 1, with almost 39,000 open call options versus 4,000 put contracts. The number of open call contracts is a sizeable dollar bet at that strike price worth nearly $11.8 million.
Technicals
The chart is sending bearish indications, with an RSI trending lower and falling volume levels as the stock price continues to rise, two bearish divergences. Meanwhile, the long-term trend is higher though, and that is a still a bullish signal.
The options market and analysts price target are both overwhelming bullish, and with such a big jump in revenue during the quarter, it may not be too hard for the company to top earnings estimates. The real test will come should shares be able to breakout technically and rise above $97. Be mindful of a gap higher following results, only for that gap to be refilled.
Amazon
Estimates
Amazon’s stock is up nearly 31 percent on the year and has been among the best-performing stocks in the market. Analysts estimates are looking for revenue to have climbed by 41 percent, to $49.92 billion, while earnings are seen falling by nearly 18 percent to $1.22 per share. Amazon has a history of being incredibly inconsistent when reporting earnings, with either big beats or significant misses. It all comes down to how much the company is investing in R&D and such during the quarter.
Options
The implied volatility is at 61 percent, and that means shares could rise or fall by 8.5 percent, putting the stock in a trading range between $1398 and $1656. The options set to expire on May 18 at the at the $1530 strike price have put to call ratio of about 1:1, with 4,900 open call contracts to 4,500 open put contracts.
Technicals
There is a long-term uptrend in the stock, but the RSI has turned bearish, with the RSI trending lower. There was a significant surge in volume when shares reached $1360, and that would seem to be strong support for now. But with the divergence in the stock price and the RSI, it would suggest that shares still have further to fall, after results.
Hope you enjoyed the 5 predictions for earnings for the coming week.
-Mike
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Tags: #stockmarket #sp500 #amazon #facebook #amd #alphabet #microsoft #earnings
