Tuesday, May 5, 2020
It’s yet another holiday being spent in (partial) sequestration: Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “the 5th of May”) traditionally celebrates an important military victory for Mexico in the 19th century. A popular misconception is that this is the same as Mexican Independence Day, but nevertheless in the U.S. often translates to a party (fiesta) celebrating Mexican culture. And with reopening beginning in certain states around the country, we may see levels of commercial activity reminiscent of this past St Patrick’s Day — a long 7 weeks ago.
We also see results from the March Trade Deficit this morning, with a headline of -$44.4 billion almost exactly in-line with analyst projections. This followed an unrevised -$39.9 billion from February, which was the lowest read since September of 2016, and much better than the multi-year low of -$61 billion we experienced in December of 2018.
That said, analysts are looking toward the possibility that domestic Imports and Exports may fall further out of line, toward a deepening of the trade deficit in future months, as methods for stopping the spread of coronavirus are seeing U.S. manufacturing in mothballs of late. Perhaps U.S. oil — up big this morning and much higher than we saw back when May contracts expired — can buffer our trade numbers going forward somewhat.
Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) REGN posted big beats in its Q1 report this morning. Earnings of $6.60 per share was well ahead of the $5.73 per share expected, and +48.3% year over year. Revenues of $1.83 billion easily surpassed the $1.69 billion, swinging to year-over-year growth.
The company also announced an expanded agreement with U.S. Health & Human Services (HHS) regarding a remdesivir-based antibody “cocktail” treatment called REGN-COV2. Regeneron also has attained a partnership with Chinese pharmaceutical company Zai Labs ZLAB with its REGN1979 treatment, a bi-specific antibody. The pricing of remdesivir-based products will be key for this stock in the medium-term, but the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-rated company has emerged as one of the important players in the coronavirus saga.
Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated Wayfair (NYSE:W) W, and recent Zacks Bull of the Day selection, has rocketed up 30% in today’s pre-market after posting a better-than-expected quarterly loss of $2.30 per share, an improvement from the -$2.55 per share expected. Sales in the quarter came in at $2.33 billion — a smidge below the Zacks consensus. Wayfair stock is now up more than 75% year to date. For more on W’s earnings, click here.
After today’s closing bell, we get fresh earnings results from Disney DIS, Electronic Arts EA, Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) ATVI, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) BYND and more. The heart of Q1 earnings season beats on. Have a happy and safe Cinco de Mayo!
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
(NOTE: We are revising this article to correct a mistake. The original version, published ealrier today, should no longer be relied on.)
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