Research Calls
- Upgrades:
- Baidu (BIDU) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; tgt raised to $200
- Futu Holdings (FUTU) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; tgt raised to $62
- Futu Holdings (FUTU) upgraded to Underperform from Sell at CLSA; tgt raised to $46
- Downgrades:
- Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James
- Compagnie Financiere Richemont (CFRUY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities
- Electrolux (ELUXY) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan
- GEA Group (GEAGY) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan
- GitLab (GTLB) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; tgt $63
- Hermes (HESAY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities
- HP Inc. (HPQ) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital; tgt lowered to $29
- LVMH (LVMUY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities
- Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) downgraded to Sell from Buy at Bryan Garnier; tgt $54
- Seagate Tech (STX) downgraded to Hold from Buy at The Benchmark Company
- Semtech (SMTC) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen; tgt lowered to $43
- Swatch (SWGAY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities
- VNET Group (VNET) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse; tgt lowered to $5.90
- Western Digital (WDC) downgraded to Sell from Hold at The Benchmark Company; tgt $34
- Others:
- AerSale (ASLE) initiated with a Buy at Stifel; tgt $23
- AnaptysBio (ANAB) initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James; tgt $35
- Appian (APPN) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $55
- Asana (ASAN) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $23
- Aviat Networks (AVNW) initiated with a Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities; tgt $50
- BlackLine (BL) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $73
- Box (BOX) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $34
- Ceridian HCM (CDAY) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $73
- CTI BioPharma (CTIC) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies; tgt $13
- Coupa Software (COUP) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $77
- D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) initiated with a Buy at WestPark Capital; tgt $13
- Datadog (DDOG) initiated with a Buy at BofA Securities; tgt $135
- Dropbox (DBX) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $24
- Expensify (EXFY) assumed with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt lowered to $25
- HomeTrust Bank (HTBI) initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James; tgt $30
- Instructure (INST) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $30
- Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) initiated with a Sell at Citigroup; tgt $50
- Intuit (INTU) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $538
- Midland States Bancorp (MSBI) initiated with a Mkt Perform at Raymond James
- Mirum Pharmaceuticals (MIRM) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $38
- Monday.com (MNDY) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $156
- Open Text (OTEX) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $34
- Paycom Software (PAYC) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $457
- Paycor (PYCR) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $30
- Paylocity (PCTY) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $294
- Pegasystems (PEGA) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $39
- Pliant Therapeutics (PLRX) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $36
- PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $70
- Smartsheet (SMAR) assumed with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt lowered to $40
- Vertex (VERX) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $15
- Workday (WDAY) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $186
- Workiva (WK) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $86
Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- MDB -17%, OKTA -16.3%, SMTC -15.6%, AI -13.1%, VEEV -12.5%, CIEN -9.5%, HRL -5.5%, PDCO -4.9%, FLWS -4.4%, WB -3.3%, CPB -2.5%, SCWX -1.9%, MOMO -1.4%, BRC -1.2%, SAIC -1.1%
Other news:
- ANAB -15.2% (reports HARP Phase 2 Top-Line Data of Imsidolimab)
- BBW -12.5% (authorizes new $50 mln share repurchase program)
- ZFOX -7.1% (stock offering)
- AVDL -5.6% (files for $500 mln mixed securities shelf offering)
- NVDA -4.3% (US govt informs NVDA that it has imposed a new license for sales of A100 and H100 chips to China and Russia)
- RIO -3.2% (acquiring TRQ for CAD43.00 per share)
- MXL -2.5% (China SMAR advises MXL and SIMO to refile under the normal procedure)
- LI -2% (August deliveries)
- XPEV -1.9% (August deliveries)
- NIO -1.7% (August deliveries)
- MSTR -1.7% (confirms AG complaint)
- MKFG -1.2% (files for 4.1 mln share offering by selling shareholder)
- WAFD -1.2% (names new CFO)
- PAR -1.1% (files for 162917 share offering by selling shareholders)
Analyst comments:
- BBBY -3.6% (downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James)
- NTLA -2.5% (initiated with a Sell at Citigroup)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- NTNX +15.4%, PSTG +6.8%, CRDO +5.9%, SIG +3.6%, S +3.4%, FIVE +3.2%, GMS +1.7%, SMG +0.9% (also CFO steps down, lowers FY22 FCF guidance, reaffirms all other guidance)
Other news:
- TRQ +12.3% (to be acquired by Rio Tinto (RIO) for CAD43.00 per share in cash)
- ARCT +5.7% (obtains BARDA award worth up to $63.2 mln)
- STRY +4.9% (issues statement on federal communications commission ready to authorize public notice regarding Starry's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund application)
- PRVB +3.2% (receives $125 mln term loan facility with Hercules Capital)
- AMRX +1.8% (submits NDA to FDA for IPX203)
- AURA +1.3% (to Present Belzupacap Sarotalocan (AU-011) Data)
- GDRX +1% (to cut 140 jobs or 16% of its workforce)
Analyst comments:
- BIDU +0.4% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan)
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- NTNX +15.7%, TRQ +13.5%, LQDA +6.2%, CRDO +5.9%, PSTG +5.3%, ARCT +5.2%, STRY +4.9%, FIVE +3.5%, GEF +3.3%, PRVB +3%, BBW +2.8%, S +2.5%, HWM +2.3%, GMS +1.7%, SMG +1.6%, DXCM +0.9%, IOT +0.8%, GVA +0.7%
- Gapping down:
- ZFOX -20.8%, MDB -17.5%, ANAB -15.2%, AI -14.3%, OKTA -14%, VEEV -10.8%, SMTC -10.5%, AVDL -5.6%, NVDA -5.5%, RIO -3.7%, MKFG -2.9%, MSTR -2.7%, MXL -2.5%, WB -2.3%, NIO -2.2%, XPEV -2.2%, LI -2%, COO -1.6%, XOM -1.4%, WAFD -1.2%, SIMO -0.9%, BA -0.8%, AMZN -0.8%, GDRX -0.8%, MSFT -0.8%, NFLX -0.7%
DAX:
- Bayer (BAYN TH) -0.9%
- Fresenius SE (FRE TH) -1.1%
- Deutsche Post (DPW TH) -1.2%
- Porsche SE (PAH3 TH) -1.2%
- Infineon (IFX TH) -1.6%
- European Chip Stocks May Be Active on Nvidia Warning About China
MDAX:
- Kion (KGX TH) +1.7%
- Kion Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 58 euros
- Rheinmetall (RHM TH) -1.4%
- Aixtron (AIXA TH) -1.6%
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) -1.7%
- Lufthansa Pilot Union Calls for One-Day Strike on Friday
- GEA Group (G1A TH) -2.6%
- GEA Group Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 31 euros
- Uniper (UN01 TH) -2.6%
SDAX:
- Deutsche PBB (PBB TH) -0.8%
- Heidelberger Druck (HDD TH) -1%
- PVA TePla (TPE TH) -1.1%
- SMA Solar (S92 TH) -1.2%
- Shop Apotheke (SAE TH) -1.9%
Binance looks to bolster lead position in crypto market with free trading
World’s biggest digital asset exchange gives up fee income to bring users on to its platform
Crypto exchange Binance is ramping up efforts to grab market share by expanding its free trading to include popular token ether, ahead of one of the most anticipated events in the crypto market’s short history.
Binance, already the world’s biggest digital asset trading venue by volume, is waiving fees for a month for customers trading ether — the second-biggest digital token — using Binance’s house currency known as BUSD.
The initiative comes ahead of a widely anticipated upgrade to the ethereum blockchain, where ether transactions are recorded. Known in the industry as the Merge, it promises a shift from a legacy, energy intensive digital ledger system described as “proof of work” in favour of a “proof of stake” model that will vastly shrink its carbon footprint.
The move to offer free ether trading ahead of the big event underscores how Binance is using the fallout of this year’s crypto crash to make a fresh attempt at pulling clients on to its platform. About 90 per cent of Binance’s overall revenues are derived from trading fees, which fluctuate with the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the privately held group’s chief executive Changpeng Zhao said earlier this year.
Over the summer, Binance began offering no-fee cash trading in several bitcoin pairs, including the euro and pound. In the subsequent eight weeks, BUSD’s market capitalisation has grown by 8 per cent, to $19bn, according to data compiled by CryptoCompare.
So-called stablecoins such as BUSD are often used as a store of value between bets on digital coins because they are designed to track the price of the dollar and other traditional currencies. BUSD is one of the world’s biggest stablecoins, and competes with tether and Circle’s USDC.
Sipho Arntzen, next generation research analyst at Julius Baer, said Binance’s move “may indeed represent somewhat of a ‘market grab’ strategy”.
Binance’s latest initiative will last until September 26. It described the Merge as “an important milestone for the ethereum and large Web3 ecosystem that all users should have the opportunity to be a part of”. Ethereum is widely used by crypto developers as it aims to make blockchains more useful than a simple database of transactions.
Binance’s no-fee trading comes after bitcoin, the industry’s flagship cryptocurrency, plummeted from a price of almost $70,000 to lows under $20,000, while the failure of the stablecoin TerraUSD triggered sell-offs that engulfed many big industry names, including lenders Celsius and BlockFi and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
“This approach [to free trading] has also been seen in traditional finance in the past, where a well-capitalised newcomer seeks dominance with the enticement of commission free trading for a limited period,” said Rufus Round, chief executive of GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading, a broker.
Binance said that it would “miss out on some fees”, but the company “continues to have strong reserves”.
Binance has already increased its leading role in the crypto market this year. The exchange has a 55 per cent trading market share in cash trading, according to CryptoCompare, a rise of nearly 10 percentage points since January. Its nearest rivals, Coinbase and FTX, have shares of less than 10 per cent.
In response to the collapse in digital asset prices, rival crypto exchanges have embarked on reconfiguring their long-term business strategies. Coinbase said nearly a fifth of its second-quarter revenues had come from services and subscriptions, even though it racked up a net loss of $1.1bn.
“Temporarily giving up on fees on their main trading pairs can be seen as a concession towards attracting more flow in the current low trading volume environment, which [Binance] will benefit from indirectly through increased traffic in other trading pairs and other product lines and offerings,” said Peter Habermacher, chief executive and co-founder of crypto-focused investment firm Aaro Capital.
However, FTX has put the rest of the crypto industry on notice that it is trying to attract customers, with a series of high-profile sport sponsorships and securing an option to buy the struggling BlockFi.
“I would imagine [Binance] is watching the expansion of FTX into all sorts of areas and thinking they need to step up their game”, said Ilan Solot, partner at venture capital firm Tagus Capital.
Even so, Julius Baer’s Arntzen said free trading potentially indicated that Binance expected the size of the market to remain small in the near term.
“This breaking of rank by Binance may represent the beginning of a trend of fee-free trading amongst the large centralised exchanges,” he said. “We may have in future a situation where fee-free trading is the norm rather than the exception, similar to what we have seen in the world of traditional finance.”
- Kion (KGX TH) +1.7%
- Kion Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 58 euros
- Legrand (LRC TH) +0.6%
- Pernod Ricard (PER TH) +0.2%
- Pernod Ricard Sales Hit Record as Spirits Sales Surge
- LVMH (MOH TH) -2%
- Hermes (HMI TH) -2.2%
- Watch Luxury Stocks After China Locks Down Megacity Chengdu
- Aixtron (AIXA TH) -2.2%
- Glencore (8GC TH) -2.2%
- GTT (9TG TH) -2.3%
- Uniper (UN01 TH) -2.4%
- STMicroelectronics (SGM TH) -2.5%
- European Chip Stocks May Be Active on Nvidia Warning About China
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) -2.6%
- Lufthansa Pilot Union Calls for One-Day Strike on Friday
- GEA Group (G1A TH) -3.4%
- GEA Group Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 31 euros
- BE Semiconductor (BSI TH) -3.8%
- European Chip Stocks May Be Active on Nvidia Warning About China
Related tickers:
After Hours Summary: NTNX +22.3%, PSTG +6.5%, FIVE +5% higher on earnings; AI -15.9%, MDB -13.3%, OKTA -11.6%, VEEV -11.1%, SMTC -6.9% lower on earnings; NVDA -3.9% as US govt imposes new licenseAfter Hours Gainers:
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: NTNX +22.3%, PSTG +6.5%, FIVE +5%, GEF +2.6%, CRDO +2.3%, S +2.2%, IOT +1.2%
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: ZFOX +5.6% (stock offering), ARCT +5.4% (obtains BARDA award worth up to $63.2 mln), AMRX +5.3% (submits NDA to FDA for IPX203), BBW +2.6% (authorizes new $50 mln share repurchase program), HWM +2.3% (Elliott Investment Mgmt lowers stake to 8.8% from 9.89%), DIS +1% (DIS may offer membership program similar to Prime for park discounts or perks, according to WSJ), MKFG +1% (files for 4.1 mln share offering by selling shareholder), DXCM +0.7% (promotes former CTO Jake Leach to COO), NFLX +0.3% (NFLX looking to charge premium prices to advertise on its upcoming ad-supported platform, according to WSJ), COST +0.2% (reports August comps), MOH +0.1% (confirms that Iowa Dept of Health intends to award MOH a Medicaid managed care contract), AMZN +0.1% (DIS may offer membership program similar to Prime for park discounts or perks, according to WSJ)
After Hours Losers:
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: AI -15.9%, MDB -13.3%, OKTA -11.6%, VEEV -11.1%, SMTC -6.9%, COO -1.9%, SMG -1.4% (also CFO steps down, lowers FY22 FCF guidance, reaffirms all other guidance)
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: ANAB -16.9% (reports HARP Phase 2 Top-Line Data of Imsidolimab), AVDL -3.9% (files for $500 mln mixed securities shelf offering), NVDA -3.9% (US govt informs NVDA that it has imposed a new license for sales of A100 and H100 chips to China and Russia), ATKR -0.2% (acquires Cascade Poly Pipe & Conduit and Northwest Polymers), GVA -0.1% (becomes the sole California distributor of EZ STREET Asphalt), HEI -0.1% (files for 576,338 share offering by selling shareholder), BA -0.1% (awarded $2.2 bln modification contract by U.S. Air Force; also awarded $927 mln U.S. Air Force undefinitized contract action for four KC-46A aircraft for Israel), XOM -0.1% (XOM and SHEL close to divesting the Aera joint venture, according to Nasdaq.com)
