January 23, 2023 | Daily JAM, Videos |
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-seventh YouTube video: Trend of the Week Speculation and Investing This week’s Trend of the Week: Speculation and Investing. Prior to the bank earnings and guidance numbers being released a week ago, the market was on the upswing on speculation that the Federal Reserve would indicate it would be winding down the interest rate hikes. Then, as the disappointing bank guidance numbers were released, there was a brief period of selling, not huge selling that morning, but enough to make a dent in the indexes. However, by that same afternoon, the market had returned to its prior upward trend on speculation on the Fed’s shift in rate increases was a better bet than the bank’s suggestion that there may be a recession. In other words, investors and traders decided to buy the speculative trend rather than worry about earnings numbers and guidance. This is a trend I’ll be following as stocks like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) start to set the tone for 2023. Will investors be concerned with decreased year-over-year earnings, or will they lean into the speculation that the Fed will slow interest rates and therefore move the market upward?
January 22, 2023 | Daily JAM |
I expect technology earnings to hold center stage as investors and traders wait for the Federal Reserve to speak on interest rates next week on Wednesday, February 1. I think what companies say about expectations for revenue and earnings for the first quarter of 2023 will be more likely to move stocks significantly than what they report for the fourth quarter.
January 20, 2023 | Daily JAM, GOOG, MSFT, Top 50 Stocks |
Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOG) will cut 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, the company said today, Friday, January 20. This comes after Microsoft (MSFT), announced earlier this week that it would cut 10,000 jobs or 5% of its workforce. The two companies are gearing up to go head to head in a battle to see if artificial intelligence chatbots can disrupt Google’s stranglehold on Internet search.
January 18, 2023 | AAPL, Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, MSFT, Top 50 Stocks |
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-fifth YouTube video: Get Ready for the Tech Earnings Flood. This week is a bit of a breather. Last week ended with bank earnings and next week begins the flood of tech stock earnings. This week we’ve got Alcoa, which used to be a market indicator but that is no longer the case (thankfully, since Wall Street estimates have them at a loss of $.75 for this quarter.) Netflix is up next on Thursday, January 19. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will show +$.44 this quarter versus +$1.33 last year at this time. I think this will likely be the trend with tech stocks. Lower earnings and slower revenue growth year-over-year. 2022 has been tough for technology companies and earnings will likely be lower for the fourth quarter than in 2021. Look closely at future estimates and guidance. Where are they going from here? (the bad news for the fourth quarter is widely expected.) Microsoft will report earnings on January 24, shortly after announcing it will be laying off 10,000 employees. After that, we’ll get Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), on January 26, and then the floodgates open with more and more technology companies announcing earnings and setting the tone for the stock market at the start of 2023.
January 17, 2023 | Daily JAM |
Right now Wall Street analysts project that on Thursday, January 19, Netflix (NFLX) will report earnings of just 44 cents a share for the fourth quarter of 2022. That would be a huge drop from the $1.33 the company reported in the fourth quarter of 2021. If Netflix reports as expected, will the stock market shudder lower? After all, the Netflix results would be very similar to the negative reports from the big banks so far this earnings season. And it might foreshadow disappointing earnings from the technology companies that began reporting on January 24 with Microsoft (MSFT). Probably not. Although I think it should.
October 26, 2022 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Morning Briefing, Top 50 Stocks |
Microsoft (MSFT) managed to beat Wall Street earnings estimates for its fiscal first quarter, reporting earnings of $2.35 a share versus the $2.29 expected by analysts after the market close on October 25. But the stock is down strongly today, October 26, on the company’s forecast of slowing growth for the next quarter and a decline in growth from its Intelligent Cloud business unit.
October 23, 2022 | AAPL, AMZN, CAT, Daily JAM, EQNR, GOOG, Morning Briefing, MSFT, PXD |
Earnings. Earnings. And more earnings. From the big bellwether technology stocks: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet. Wall Street has already slashed earnings forecast for these stocks so there’s a good chance these companies will report earnings that surpass expectations even if only by a few pennies. By and large, though, these reports will show either an absolute drop from the September quarter of 2021 or, at best, a slowing of revenue and earnings growth. Key to the market’s reaction will be what these companies say about expectations for the next quarter or two. Will they emphasize what are already clear slowdowns in PC and smartphone sales? Will they speak to the elephant in the room–the U.S/China trade war? Will they say that a strong dollar plus inflation is cutting into sales outside the United States and U.S. sales to domestic customers who are showing signs of “price fatigue”?
October 18, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
On Monday, October 17, Microsoft (MSFT) confirmed that it had laid off nearly 1,000 employees across multiple divisions, including Xbox division staff this week.
August 1, 2022 | Daily JAM, Videos |
My one-hundred-and-sixty-second YouTube video “Earnings Not as Bad as They Could Be” went up today. Microsoft (MSFT) serves as my example. We’re seeing some companies that, despite very meager earnings growth, give investors the impression that things “are not as bad as they could be.” These stocks will see bumps after upcoming earnings reports. Is this a long-term trend? Is it enough to keep the Bear Market rally going? Not necessarily. But it supports stocks for now.
April 27, 2022 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, MSFT |
On Tuesday, April 26, Microsoft (MSFT) reported net income of $16.73 billion or $2.22 share for the company’s fiscal third quarter. That was up from net income of $15.46 billion or $2.03 a share in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Wall Street analysts had projected earnings of $2.19. The company reported revenue of $49.36 billion in the third quarter, compared with $41.7 billion a year earlier. Wall Street was looking for revenue of $49.05 billion. For the fiscal year that starts on July 1 Microsoft forecast double-digit revenue growth. The company’s shares closed up 4.81% on Wednesday, April 27. Microsoft is a member of my Jubak Picks Portfolio where it is up 179.25% from my initial buy on June 4, 2018. As of April 27 I’m raising my target price on Microsoft to $352 a share from the prior $155.
April 25, 2022 | AAPL, ABBV, AMZN, BMY, CMG, Daily JAM, FB, GOOG, Morning Briefing, MSFT, PYPL |
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.
March 22, 2022 | Daily JAM, Special Reports |
In order to meet my 5 p.m. “in your inbox” deadline today, I’m going to give you the name of my 12 picks and the logic for dividing them into three groups that correspond, roughly, to when you should thinking about adding these stocks to your portfolio.
But I’m going to save the specific reasons for each one of these 12 stocks to tomorrow. I’ll add them to the standing Recession Special Report and create a separate “reasons” post then. I’d divide my 12 Recession Stock Picks into 3 groups.
