This week brings an interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve (75 basis point increase?), market reaction to the Russian attack on Ukraine’s major grain port, and earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. Here’s my preview of what we might see–or at least what to look for–this week.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 was on track for a decent day–the index was up 0.79% at 12:43 p.m. New York time–and then Bloomberg broke a story, picked up everywhere, reporting that Apple (AAPL) intended to slow hiring and reduce spending growth next year. The S&P 500 finished the day down 0.84% and Apple shares closed down 2.06%.
Analysts at New York investment house Cowen now expect worldwide mobile phone shipments this year to decline by 6% from a year ago to 1.36 billion. In 2023, the company projects shipments will dip by another 2% to 1.33 billion units. Perhaps most worrying for investors is Cowen’s analysis of where the market problems lie: In weakness in the high-end smartphone market.
Going into this earnings season, the hope was that strong, surprisingly strong perhaps, earnings from the big growth stocks would put a stop to the selling. Earnings would be strong enough to convince investors that the market wasn’t over-valued since at these growth rates stocks would be seen to be quick growing into current extended valuations That hasn’t exactly worked so far. But this week the earnings story from growth stocks hits its stride. If the companies reporting this week can’t make the case for growth stock earnings, there probably isn’t a growth stock story to be made in the light of Federal Reserve interest rate increases, supply chain disruptions, and fears of a recession.
Shares of Netflix (NFLX), fell 25.73% today, April 19, in after-hours trading after the company announced first quarter earnings. (In regular trading the shares had gained 3.23%.) The stock was already down 42% for 2022 before today’s after-hours plunge. The bad news: In the first quarter of 2022 Netflix (NFLX) lost 200,000 subscribers. That was a bit short of the company’s guidance for the addition of 2.5 million subscribers for the quarter. And to put a cherry on top of the bad news in the company’s earnings report, Netflix forecast that it would lose another 2 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022.
This week, my Quick Pick is Apple (AAPL). I wrote a post about a month ago, saying that Apple would be a stock to buy place ahead of its new product event on March 9 (and the traditional fall announcement of more new products.). And I think the reveal yesterday had promising new products likely to boost sales. There’s a new iPad Air, an improved iPhone SE (the cheapest iPhone), and new generations of Mac computers all with Apple’s new in-house M1 chip. The stock has fallen a bit so far this year, but hasn’t been hammered as much as other tech stocks, and I think the potential for huge sales of these new items make it a good holding over the next year.
It’a always dangerous to construct a trend from Friday’s trading. Especially when the earlier part of the week has been so strong in one direction or another. (In this case, down, down, down.) Ahead of the weekend, stocks often reverse the trend from earlier in the week as sellers (in this case) decide that they don’t want to be quite so bearish until the market opens on Monday. So it’s not surprising that stocks gained today on nothing especially qualifying as news. But with all those caveats, I still found today’s action “interesting” and “perhaps” indicative of a future trend. Not only were stocks as a whole strongly higher–the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 2.44% on the day–but technology stocks led the move to the upside.
Take a look at Peloton Interactive (PTON) and Netflix (NFLX) just in case you need a reminder of one of the essential characteristics of this stock market. One that makes it so hard to tell where the market as a whole is going, and what individual stocks are headed up or down (and often down big time.) What growth rate should an investor use in trying to value the stock? Who knows? Which is exactly the point and not a problem limited to Peloton in this economy. I’ve found a handful of stocks with reliable internal growth stories that make them great buy-on-the-dip candidates for over performance in the second half of 2022. I’m making three of those stocks–Apple (AAPL), Disney (DIS), and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)–my last 3 picks for my Special Report
I’m starting up my videos on JubakAM.com again–this time using YouTube as a platform. My ninetieth YouTube video “3 Picks on Tech Stock Guidance” went up today.
I’m starting up my videos on JubakAM.com again–this time using YouTube as a platform. My eighty-fourth YouTube video “3 Picks for When the Tech Selling Stops” went up today.
When I bought shares of Apple (AAPL) in my Jubak Picks and Volatility Portfolios, I was looking for gains from the end of the year rally (which kind of fizzed out) and the traditional Santa Claus rally (which came through as expected) to drive shares higher in the short term. Since that November 23, 2021 pick, shares of Apple, as of the close today January 4, were up 12% to $179.70, just above my $179 target price for this short-term trade.
This earnings season looks so tricky that I’m going to sit it out rather than attempt to leverage moves in the shares of reporting companies by purchasing either Call (a bet that the stock will go up) or Put (a bet that the stock will go down) options.
