Another day of going nowhere. The day started with a lot of promise, but by 10 am all that promise faded. The S&P 500 attempted to get over 2,915 and couldn’t manage it. It leaves the index in a frustrating place.
The setup was pretty positive today, with good data out of Germany and strong trading in China should have helped push stocks higher, but it just wasn’t enough. When you look at the pattern you can get a sense it seems like the previous one starting on April 12.
Russell 2000 (IWM)
The Russell has gone nowhere as well. This is not what we wanted or thought we would see today.
Netflix (NFLX)
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported strong subscriber growth of about 9.6 million raisings its entire subscriber base to 148.9 million. Revenue and earnings both topped estimates. The stock is down slightly after hours because the company issued weaker than expected earnings guidance. The company is looking for subscriber growth of about 5 million in the second quarter. The stock really isn’t doing anything follow the results trading around $354.
I think the results are robust and suggest that growth is still very much intact. The second quarter is typically a slow quarter. Remember last year the second quarter was tough and the stock fell sharply after it missed. I guess that Netflix is conservative with its guidance.
Let’s make one thing clear, after listening to TV, the guidance of 5 million new subscribers in the second quarter is not a sign of slowing growth. The company just added its biggest number of net additions in its history, and people are talking about slowing growth. Even subscriber growth in the US topped expectations. The company guided to net 5 million subscribers in the second quarter, and they had a big miss.
What this guidance for the second quarter tells me is that 5 million net subscribers are a low bar and something that Netflix now defaults to when it wants to issue conservative guidance. They did the same thing in the third quarter last year.
This talk about competition does not carry weight. Disney won’t even launch until November. Disney and Netflix are two different universes. Netflix has been hosting Disney’s content on its streaming platform over the last several years and has the data on these subscribers. As a result, Netflix is prepared for this competition.
Qualcomm (QCOM)
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) finally made the big jump today rising over 22% to $70.25. Now in the Afterhours trading to $75.10. Wow. The stock rose following a settlement with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on its lawsuit. We have been tracking the bullish options activity for weeks now. Nice to see it finally work out. This was from April 10.
Apple (AAPL)
I’m not sure this news matters to Apple. The stock is likely still on its way to around $209.
Skyworks (SWKS)
Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) continues to rise, and is approaching resistance around $93.70 and may be heading higher towards $100.30.
Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) had a day rising above resistance above $1,850 and may be gearing up for a move higher towards $1900.
Citigroup (C)
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) continues to rise and maybe on its way to around $71.
