Jobs Data in Focus | Morning News

MARCH 04. 3016
US futures up modestly at this hour as investors await crucial data on jobs with wage growth being a key reading in the report. Overnight, oil struggled to find directions with crude price up slightly at this hour as investors await the Baker-Hughes Rig Count this afternoon at 1PM EST

NEWS:

• PN: announces new $15M buyback program authorization
• CKEC: AMC: AMC Entertainment to acquire Carmike Cinemas in $1.1B deal
• GS: Goldman announces plans to cut 5% of fixed income workforce, reports Bloomberg
• BAC: Bank of America announces plants to cut 150 job in trading and investment banking, reports Bloomberg
• UA: affirms FY16 revenue guidance
• YHOO: exploring sale of $1B-$3B in "non-core assets" reports reuters

THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

• 8:30AM: Non-farm Payrolls
• 8:30AM: Unemployment Rate
• 8:30AM: International Trade
• 10:45AM: Fed's Kaplan to speak on "Monetary Policy"
• 1PM: Baker-Hughes Rig Count

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS REPORTED YESTERDAY AFTER THE CLOSE:

• AVGO: FQ1 EPS of $2.41 beats by $0.11: revenue of $1.77B beats by $20M: revenue +7.9% y/y: guides revenue in-line
• AMBA: FG4 EPS of $0.64 beats by $0.16: revenue of $67.96M beats by $2.13M: revenue +5.0% y/y: soft guidance
• SWHC: FQ3 EPS of $0.59 beats by $0.20: revenue of $210.8M beats by $35.87M: revenue +61.5% y/y: raises guidance above consensus
• CLNE: Q4 EPS of $0.08 beats by $0.18: revenue of $119.3M beats by $16.53M: revenue -9.7% y/y
• HRB: FQ3 EPS of -$0.34 misses by $0.10: revenue of $475M misses by $26.78M: revenue -6.7% y/y
• HPE: FQ1 EPS of $0.41 beats by $0.01: revenue of $12.72B bats by $40M: revenue -3.0% y/y: solid FY16 guidance
• COO: FQ1 EPS of $1.83 beats by $0.25: revenue of $449.64M beats by $7.74M: revenue +1.0% y/y: raises guidance
• NMBL: Q4 EPS of -0.12 in-line: revenue of $90.09M beats by $1.88M: revenue +32.0% y/y: soft guidance
• BLDR: Q4 EPS of $0.00 beats by $0.04: revenue of $1.46B misses by $10M: revenue -1.4% y/y

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS REPORTED TODAY BEFORE THE OPENING:

• BIG: Q4 EPS of $2.00 beats by $0.02: revenue of $1.55B misses by $20M: revenue -0.6% y/y:increases quarterly dividend 10.5% to $0.21/share
• SPLS: Q4 EPS of $0.26 misses by $0.02: revenue of $5.27B misses by $140M: revenue -6.9% y/y

ANALYSTS' RATINGS CHANGES:

UPGRADES:

• JCP: upgrade: hold to buy: Evercore: pt raised from $8 to $15
• MMC: upgrade: neutral to conviction buy: Goldman Sachs: pt raised from $59 to $66
• CNQ: upgrade: neutral to overweight: JP Morgan
• TITN: upgrade: neutral to outperform: Baird
• TPUB: upgrade: underperform to neutral: Macquarie

DOWNGRADES:

• XL: downgrade: conviction buy to neutral: Goldman Sachs; pt cut from $43 to $39
• MON: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman Sachs: pt cut from $86 to $84
• HRB: downgrade: outperform to neutral: Wedbush: pt cut from $46 to $32
• DEA: downgrade:outperform to sector perform: RBC Capital: $18
• DSW: downgrade: outperform to neutral: Credit Suisse: $26
• BURL: downgrade: buy to neutral: Citi: $58
• TUMI: downgrade; buy to hold: Jefferies: pt raised from $22 to $26
• NMBL: downgrade: overweight to neutral: Piper Jaffray: pt cut from $20 to $9
• NMBL: downgrade: overweight to neutral: JP Morgan: pt cut from $15 to $8
• PZZA: downgrade: overweight to sector weight: KeyBanc

INITIATIONS:

• SPLK: initiated: outperform: BMO Capital $55
• QLIK: initiated: market perform: BMO Capital: $26
• DATA: initiated: market perform: BMO Capital: $50
• CG: initiated: equal weight; Barclays: $17
• CRM: initiated: outperform: Macquarie: $92
• MSFT: initiated: neutral: Macquarie: $53
• WDAY: initiated: underperform: Macquarie: $49
• ORCL: initiated: outperform: Macquarie: $45
• NOW: initiated: outperform: Macquarie: $72

PRICE TARGET CHANGES:

• MAT: pt raised from $25 to $36: Barclays
• AVGO: pt raised from $170 to $180: RBC Capital
• AVGO: pt raised from $180 to $185: FBR Capital
• AVGO: pt raised from $155 to $175: Goldman
• BURL: pt raised from $62 to $65: Telsey Advisory
• JOY: pt raised from $15 to $16: RBC Capital
• LNKD: pt raised from $127 to $150: Mizuho
• QLIK: pt raised from $23 to $31: Mizuho
• SWHC: pt raised from $29 to $32: Wunderlich
• SWHC: pt raised from $23 to $26: Societe Generale
• WING: pt raised from $25 to $27: Goldman Sachs
• WING: pt raised from $25 to $27: Barclays
• CIO: pt cut from $15.50 to $13.50: Compass Point
• ERJ: pt cut from $33 to $30: RBC Capital
• COST: pt cut from $175 to $170: Telsey Advisory
• PPHM: pt cut from $3.50 to $1: FBR Capital
• AMBA: pt cut from $56 to $55: Morgan Stanley
• NMBL: pt cut from $15 to $12: Susquehanna
• NMBL: pt cut from $16 to $11: Goldman Sachs