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%.
Here’s what caught my eye yesterday, April 18. For a big change from recent losses, the chip group of stocks was all in the green. And not just by a pinch either. Yesterday Nvidia (NVDA) was up 2.47%: NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) was up 1.91%; Synaptics (SYNA) was up 4.49%; and Qualcomm (QCOM) was up 1.76%. Is something going on in the sector?
My one-hundredth-and-twenty-second YouTube video “Trend of the Week: A Summer Rally for Two Underdog Tech Stocks” went up today. This week’s video looks at the implications of the coming “summer rally” for 2 tech stocks that have been pounded this year: Qualcomm (QCOM) and SentinelOne (S).
Today, March 17, the stocks, and especially the technology stocks, that have been pummeled in 2022 continued their three-day bounce. For another day, at least, buy on the dip proved to be a very profitable adventure. Lithium recycling startup LiCycle (LICY), for example, gained 10.18% after climbed 6.74% on Wednesday, March 16. Electronic payments platform Block (SQ), formerly known as Prince (no, I mean formerly known as Square) rose 10.26% after picking up 12.57% on Wednesday, March 16. Cybersecurity newcomer SentinelOne (S) climbed 7.48% after a gain of 13.47% on March 16. Stocks like these (and many more) were just too cheap traders decided. But there were signs of, possibly (and we’ve been down this road before so let’s just say “possibly”), of a new caution. A sell on the bounce caution.
The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 1.15% on Wednesday, January 19. That marked the first close for the index in correction territory since March. (The common definition of a correction is a drop of 10% or more.) The technology-heavy index is down 8.3% so far in 2022 closing t 14,340.25 on Wednesday. That’s 10.69% below the November 19 record high.
The saying is that stocks don’t have memories. They don’t know where they once traded and they don’t have any desire to rise or fall to where they once traded. On the other hand, investors do–have memories that is. They do think that stocks will trade back to former levels–when opportunity offers–and it takes a lot of break that conviction. Which is why trading patterns, the ones captured in technical analysis, persist for such long period. And if you needed evidence, just look at how stocks traded after the Federal Reserve’s interest rate pivot yesterday.
I’m look for a test of the Friday’s rotation into technology stocks and away from anything that depends on economies remaining relatively free of Pandemic restrictions. On Friday, the winners were technology shares–Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Nvidia, for example–that have in the past been able to show revenue and earnings growth despite any economic slowdown resulting from Covid shutdowns. And the losers were the stocks of companies–such as Six Flags, United Airlines, Macy’s, for example, that depend on the continued recovery in economic activity. The immediate impetus for this sentiment came from news that Austria would impose Pandemic economic lockdowns–again–in an effort to slow soaring rates of infection. The believe is that Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom aren’t far behind. And the fear is that the United States will follow some time this winter. Add that to worries of elevated and rising inflation–where technology companies are seen as one of the few sectors able to outgrow inflation–and you’ve got significant sentiment to push technology shares higher. Logically.
On November 15 in my post on what’s priced in and what’s not, I noted that an upsurge in Covid infections this winter wasn’t priced in. And that evidence of a new wave from Europe where infection rates have headed higher in what might be a preview for the winter in the United States could send stock prices lower. Well, yes indeedy. That exactly what happened today after the Austrian government announced a full lockdown starting on Monday, in response to surging cases of COVID-19. The lockdown will include both those vaccinated and unvaccinated, it will last for 10 days minimum, but could be extended for 10 days further. The fear is that Germany, which is battling its own higher rates of infection, is next.
It’s BIG TECH earnings week with earnings from Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Facebook (FB) and Amazon (AMZN). Facebook kicks off earnings from this big tech group on Monday, October 25, after the close. Alphabet and Microsoft follow on Tuesday, October 26, after the close of trading with Amazon and Apple on Thursday October er 27 after the close. The stakes are high for these companies and their stocks and for the entire stock market.These five stocks account for almost 23% of the capitalization of the entire Standard & Poor’s 500. And the technology sector makes up 33% of the indexTo an extraordinary degree as goes the technology sector, so goes the market as a whole right now. And as these five stocks go, so does technology.
Today Bloomberg reported, based on conversations with unnamed sources, that Apple (AAPL) is likely to slash its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by as many as 10 million units because of prolonger shortages of the chips used in its newest smartphone model.
On Thursday, July 15, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), the world’s leading chip foundry, reported earnings of 93 cents a share for the second quarter, up 18% year over year. That was inline with analyst estimates. Sales rose 28%. The company raised its revenue guidance for the third quarter to a range of $14.6 billion to $14.9 billion. The midpoint of that range, $14.75 billion, was above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. Sales in the third quarter of 2020 are $12.4 billion.Taiwan Semiconductor said that it now expects sales to grow more than 20% this year, an increase from the 20% target announced earlier in the year. For 2020-2025, the company raised its revenue forecast to a compound annual growth rate of 15% from a previous target of 10% to 15%. But the stock dropped 5.5% on July 15 and fell another 1.52% on Friday, July 16. Why?
If you’re building a portfolio and want e-commerce exposure, you buy Amazon (AMZN). For smartphones, you buy a stake in Apple (AAPL). For electric cars, it’s Tesla (TSLA). There’s a small group of stocks that are “must own” stocks for any growth portfolio because they encapsulate a key growth trend. I’d now add Nvidia to the list.
