Stocks closed in the green to start the week, albeit well off the highs of the session, with the S&P ending Monday up .31%. Asia markets closed mixed overnight while Europe indexes are in the red this morning. U.S. futures are pointing to a lower open, the Dollar and Gold are higher while Yields and Oil are lower.
And here is my rant from yesterday if you missed it: https://www.optionmillionaires.com/jb-morning-rant-june-6th-2022/
And this is what UPB is reading this morning: https://www.optionmillionaires.com/morning-reads-37/
Stocks gapped higher to start the week and then struggled to hold onto the gains. It almost felt like a down day for stocks yesterday. Futures were falling overnight and came under more pressure this morning when TGT lowered their guidance, blaming it mostly on higher than expected inventory levels. They just announced earnings in the middle of May, so to see them come out with more warnings only a few weeks later is pretty surprising... or maybe they are just trying to get ahead of things so the market will not punish their stock like they did last earnings. There is not much in the way of catalysts this week outside of the CPI on Friday. Would want to see the SPY regain that $410 handle or I fear we are headed back under $400 in short order:
BPT had its best session in months on Monday, closing up over 12%. I used the move to close some of my July calls out for nearly 300%. I was eyeing the $30 calls but they seemed pricey. If BPT dips to $22 or so will look to add those, otherwise will be patient. As I have been saying, think a parabolic move is coming and maybe high $20s and more is in order:
SAGE was solidly green for most of the day until pulling back into the close. Still planning to hold my calls but may look to close the last out if it can't hold $35:
ZYME broke hard out of the gate yesterday, testing $7.60 before giving it call back and then some. Still hopeful on a move higher in the coming weeks:
IBM has been a monster, having closed green in 9 of the past 10 sessions. It rallied again yesterday, nearing $145, before pulling back to close in the $142s. My June calls were nearly back to green at times yesterday. Will use the next pop to close the last out and just hold my July $150s:
I was eyeing SPOT, ROKU, U and others for calls yesterday. SPOT gapped up at the open on an upgrade only to give it all back. It is trading lower in the pre-market this morning as well. Will be watching but will wait to see if it can find any support above $110 before adding anything:
U looks to be the most promising. If the market somehow finds buyers today U would be a name I would look to add some calls on for an eventual move back over $50:
Certainly not going to be aggressive on the call side and on the flip side, it is tough to find any decent risk/reward hedges for downside. If the SPY breaks under $405 in the morning I may just use TZA calls as a hedge, likely $42s or so:
Here are the analyst changes of note for today:
| Lake Street says Checkpoint warrants interest after cosibelimab 'shines' at ASCO |
| Lake Street analyst Thomas Flaten notes that Checkpoint Therapeutics shares are off 39% since releasing topline cosibelimab metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, or mCSCC, data in January, but after Checkpoint reported out a more complete cosibelimab dataset at ASCO he argues that the stock "warrants investor interest." The analyst, who would characterize the probability of regulatory success as "high," sees the data forming the basis of a BLA submission in Q4 of this year and maintains a Buy rating on Checkpoint with a $9 price target |
| Coupa Software price target lowered to $115 from $140 at Evercore ISI |
| Evercore ISI analyst Peter Levine lowered the firm's price target on Coupa Software to $115 from $140 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Revenue and operating margins outperformed expectations in Q1 given how foreign exchange and macro impacts "created a little noise," Levine tells investors. He continues to argue the appetite for Coupa's tech is stronger today than it was two years ago given ongoing supply chain disruptions and that the "de-rating" that was required to better reflect the fact that it is now a 25% grower, versus 30%-plus, is now behind it |
| DA Davidson sets Amazon.com price target at split-adjusted $156.25 |
| DA Davidson analyst Tom Forte keeps his Buy rating on Amazon.com and sets a price target on split-adjusted basis at $156.25 per share. The split does not change the fundamentals for the stock, though it could have a positive near-term impact on shares as some investors perceive lower priced shares of companies to be less expensive than higher priced ones, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Forte adds that Amazon's biggest problem remains the slow growing mature e-commerce business, but the good news is that its high-margin cloud computing and advertising businesses are still "doing very well" |
Avis Budget price target lowered to $156 from $168 at Morgan Stanley |
| Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas lowered the firm's price target on Avis Budget (CAR) to $156 from $168 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. Though the rental car industry has shown some structural improvement, the market is in the latter stages of a post-COVID economic boom, said Jonas. Despite "record" Q1 results from Avis Budget and peer Hertz (HTZ), he has revised his price targets downward for both to reflect market rates, recession risks, and secular headwinds |
| Planet Fitness positioned to succeed despite macro challenges, says Cowen |
| Cowen analyst Max Rakhlenko believes Planet Fitness is well positioned to succeed in both better and challenging environments. He called it one of his best small-midcap ideas and said investors have a chance to own an attractively positioned fitness leader. Rakhlenko reiterated his Outperform rating and $110 price target on Planet Fitness shares |
| Chevron price target raised to $179 from $165 at Cowen |
| Cowen analyst Jason Gabelman raised the firm's price target on Chevron to $179 from $165 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst continues to favor Chevron as it remains well positioned to return cash through cycle, a disciplined strategy, and in his view oil prices will strengthen through year end |
And here is what I am watching today: BPT, SPOT, U, DOCU, TREE, IBM, TZA, MED, HSKA, GOOG, and ROKU.
Let's have a great day!
-JB