>>> Snap: Color on Quarter --> down 22% just undder $18 premarket

Snap: Color on Quarter --> down 22% just undder $18 premarket
  • Canccord Genuity: "The urge for investors will be to compare this volatility [after the earnings report] to Facebook's early life as a public company. We do believe there should be a stock recovery as more consistent expectations settle in, but our somewhat cautious thesis remains unchanged: SNAP's user base is very healthy and very engaged, but DAU growth should continue to decelerate, monetization for the platform needs to ramp as fast as they have ever seen (and therefore could be uneven), and formidable headwinds persist in the form of Facebook/Instagram competition."
  • Pivotal: Snap reported light 1Q17 earnings, representing a decline in revenues vs. 4Q16, which while consistent with the company's prior guidance, nonetheless represents a surprising element of seasonality in the business, and risks of less growth ahead than we previously expected. We are modifying our model with a new $9 per share price target on a YE2017 basis. THey continue to rate the stock Sell.
  • RBC notes TWTR shares collapsed 24% on its first EPS print. So too did SNAP... While Revenue, EBITDA, and DAUs came in in-line with our estimates, Revenue & EBITDA came in 5% & 3% light vs. Street and clearly much lighter vs. "Market expectations." THey would strongly argue against Q1 results being thesis-changing. Way too early. Their estimates are unchanged, and our PT remains $31. Maintain Outperform.
  • Stifel lowers tgt to $22 from $24 after nap's first results as a public co fell short of consensus expectations, with the company's lack of quarterly guidance leading to a widely varying range of estimates on both the top- and bottom-lines. Snap also posted fewer DAU additions than investors were looking for, prompting concerns about competition with Facebook and the co's ability to grow users outside of the U.S. Snap's 1Q financials overshadowed healthy trends in engagement, however, with daily Snaps created (3.0B) and time spent (30+ mins) showing impressive gains since their last disclosures. Looking at the bigger picture, Snap operates a nascent advertising business in hyper-growth mode and a cutting edge mobile application that pushes the limits of both devices and cellular networks, leading to a wide variety of potential revenue / user growth outcomes in the near-term. They continue to think Snap has the potential to develop into a durable digital media franchise with considerable upside from its current market cap, but investor skepticism and near-term supply / demand dynamics related to the co's impending lock-up expiration could hold Snap's stock price in check for the time being. They lower our Price Target on Snap shares to $22 and maintain their Hold rating.
  • Needham notes their estimates weren't close. SNAP's results were disappointing and suggested several business model problems: 1) Rev was $150mm and costs of rev were $163mm, suggesting negative gross margin; 2) ARPU was $0.90 vs hosting costs alone at $0.60/user; 3) Revenue rose by $111mm y/y, yet Adjusted EBITDA fell by $95mm to a loss of $188mm, suggesting no operating leverage; 4) FCF loss was $173mm, worse than SNAP's 1Q16 FCF loss of $105mm. A bright spot was 8mm users added in 1Q17 (to 166mm), up 5% q/q, and better than the 5mm users added in 4Q16. SNAP gave no guidance. They expect SNAP's shares to open down about 25%, implying a valuation multiple of 30x FY17E revenue. This is still too high, in their view; Underperform.
  • Aegis would characterize Snap's first quarter out of the gate as a miss on revenues and essentially in-line user growth. As such, they view the sell-off as warranted. Their concerns on the business and the stock has not changed. They remain concerned with competition from Instagram for both users and advertising dollars - a key risk factor for the business and the stock. They remain cautious of Snap's ability to grow its user base and advertising revenue at a rate significant enough to justify the stock's valuation.
  • Cantor Fitzgerald upgrade to Neutral.
  • Oppenheimer upgraded to Outperform.

TechCrunch : Snap is the new stubborn, slow-growing Twitter

Snap is the new stubborn, slow-growing Twitter

Twitter fell apart in 2013 when its growth slowed significantly in the face of competition and copying from Facebook, and users found it too hard to find the best content due to its unsorted reverse chronological feed. Its share price fell 18 percent a quarter later as the growth troubles continued.
Snapchat fell apart today when its growth slowed significantly in the face of competition from Facebook, and users found it too hard to find the best content due to its unsorted reverse chronological feed. Its share price fell 24% as its growth troubles continued.
4 years later, Twitter is finally growing again because it accepted that it had to abandon one of its core product characteristics, the unfiltered feed. Twitter finally moved to an algorithmically ordered feed that surfaced the best content at the top from the people you care about most. In Q1 2017, it posted its first big growth in years, adding 9 million users.
Today Snap announced it added just 8 million new users this quarter at a growth rate of 5%, hardly better than 158 million users and the 3.2% growth rate of Q4 2016 after Instagram cloned Stories and stunted Snapchat’s growth. Wall Street promptly eviscerated it.

Now it’s time for Snapchat and CEO Evan Spiegel to learn from history. Snap’s anti-Facebook philosophy has helped it develop disappearing messages and the Stories format by discarding the permanence of Facebook’s email-esque messaging and profile timeline. But now the unsorted Stories list is causing people’s best friends to get lost amongst the acquaintances and celebrities they follow. As I wrote last month, Snapchat is stifled by its un-algorithmic feed.
Yet Spiegel gave no sign of flexibility in his strategy during today’s earnings call. Instead he remained defiant, claiming that “If you want to be a creative company, you’ve got to get comfortable with and basically enjoy the fact that people are going to copy your products.” He joked “just because Yahoo, for example, has a search box, it doesn’t mean they’re Google.”
But this downplaying of the Facebook threat could be dangerous to Snap, and to investors who have no say in the company’s direction.
While adding extra creative tools like yesterday’s Magic Eraser and the recent 3D augmented reality World Lenses are nice, they don’t make Snapchat fundamentally more easy or useful for more people. Snapchat may need to be willing to challenge some of its most deeply held product philosophies to become attractive to all teens around the globe or a wider range of demographics. Otherwise, it will have to settle for being a “small” social network.

>>> Macy's shares -11% on disappointing quarter; brick-and-mortar peers under pr

Macy's shares -11% on disappointing quarter; brick-and-mortar peers under pressure (29.34)
Macy's shares are lower by 11% at multi-year lows following a disappointing earnings report. Department store retailer Dillard's (DDS) is also under pressure by 4.5% following its disappointing earnings report this morning, while discount retailer Kohl's (KSS) is just fractionally lower following better-than-expected earnings and comments about improvement in March/April.

Brick and mortar retailers are generally seeing weakness in the wake of Macy's disappointing quarter. Note that Nordstrom (JWN), which is also trading lower in sympathy with Macy's, reports earnings after the close tonight.

Retailers under pressure:
  • JCP (JCP) -4.7% -- reports earnings May 12 before market
  • Dillard's (DDS) -4.5% - also reported earnings this morning
  • Nordstrom (JWN) -3.6% -- reports earnings tonight
  • Target (TGT) -1.1% - reports earnings May 17 before market
  • Wal-Mart (WMT) -1% - reports earnings May 18 before market

Fwd:>>> AB Inbev - Interesting Chart configuration

ABI long is doing quiet Good, if stock not moving above the 110.47 quickly will be time to take profit...if we break targe is still ...target is still around the 113 levles

From: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO) At: 05/02/17 14:21:14
Subject: Fwd:>>> AB Inbev - Interesting Chart configuration
* Stock is trading today above its 200d MA - first time since Nov 2016
* Stock has underperfomed SX5E by 3.9% YTD / by 16.80% on 52w., Underperformed SX3E by another 3%
* Beverage continue to Underperform the broader market but communications from integration & Synergies from SAB Deal could help the performance
* 2017 Highs have been tested and broken today (103.12 - we traded up to 103.20)
* Stock opened with a gap today ( 101.82/102.80) if they close above the 200d MA (102.30) could see an acceleration to check higher levels
* 106.87 (3.8% higher) is the first level we should check on the upside - with an extension the 108 levels
* Support is the 50d MA (100.84) and the bottom of the range where we trade 100.34.
* Stock is trading Ex Div today and Reporting on Thu. 4th of May.

I will buy the stock to play a bounce from here.

See a quick chart below :

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
  • SNAP -21.8%, MNKD -19.4%, BCEI -16.8%, KGJI -16.7%, QTM -16.6%, SANW -14.6%, AVNW -14.6%,NH -12.8%, SCON -12.2%, NVCN -12.1%, VSTO -12.1%, RGSE -11.9%, M -11.9%, FRSH -11.8%, RESN -11.5%, NYRT -8.5%, PIRS -7.3%, SYMC -6.5%, AEG -6.4%, ANTH -6.2%, OMER -5.8%, ELF -5.4%, HOLX -4.9%, QUIK -4.2%, RXII -3.7%, CPA -3.6%, SND -3.6%, BT -3.3%, KSS -3%, AGTC -2.5%, TEF -2.5%,TEF -2.5%, RLGT -2.4%, CFMS -2.3%, RTK -2.2%,ENB -1.9%, DDS -1.9%, AMBC -1.8%, BITA -1.7%,VSTM -1.6%, TIER -1.6%, CDTX -1.4%, ENV -1%,IMMU -1%, NDRM -1%
M&A news:
  • STRP -20% (confirms agreement to be acquired by Verizon (VZ) for $184.00/share in stock)
Select EU financial related names showing weakness:
  • SAN -2.5%, BCS -2.4%, BBVA -2.1%, RBS -1.6%, ING-1.5%, DB -1.3%, CS -0.7%
Other news:
  • ITUS -41.2% (proposed registered public offering of its common stock)
  • CNAT -13.8% (to offer and sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering)
  • ABR -7% (plans to make a public offering of 9,500,000 shares of its common stock)
  • SP -6% (announces certain existing stockholders intend to offer for sale 3.6 mln shares of its common stock in a secondary offering)
  • JWN -3% (in sympathy with M)
  • BCRX -1.8% ( files for 11,710,951 share common stock offering by holders)
  • BFAM -1.7% (prices 4.15 mln common stock offering by selling stockholders)
  • CVTI -1.1% (US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued a pre-trial decision against one of its subsidiaries relating to a cargo claim incurred in 2008; co is reviewing its options regarding further appeals)
  • MTBC -1% (announces $2.3 mln registered direct offering at $2.30 per share)
Analyst comments:
  • MZOR -6.3% (downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo)
  • SNY -3.7% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg)
  • YY -2.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan)
  • ACIA -2.5% (downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley)
  • MEOH -1.1% (initiated with a Underperform at Bernstein)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
  • SGMO +39.1%, (also announced strategic collaboration with Pfizer), RELY +22.4%, CUR +15.3%, XONE +14.5%, CAAS +11.5%, PEGA +9.4%,LIVE +9.2%, LPSN +7.5%, CCXI +7.5%, STML +6.4%,XON +4.3%, QBAK +4.3%, PFIE +3.7%, ASM +3.2%,BSTG +3.2%, NTES +3.1%, BTX +3%, MGA +2.9%,WFM +2.8%, VUZI +2.7%, BAM +2.7%, SCLN +2.6%,GALE +2.6%, INO +2.5%, CALL +2.5%, AYX +2.5%,CORI +2.5%, HIMX +2.2%, EEP +2%, FBIO +1.9%, OA +1.9%, ATH +1.8%, ICUI +1.7%, TTGT +1.7%, SNDR +1.6%, RUN +1.2%, CDEV +1.2%, PCYG +1.2%, CBIO +1.2%
M&A news:
  • MSLI +68.4% (to be acquired by Norgine B.V. for $1.65 per share in cash)
Select metals/mining stocks trading higher:
  • GFI +1.8%, GOLD +1.7%, AU +1.6%, SSRI +1.4%, AG+1.3%, FCX +1.3%, GDX +0.8%, RIO +0.8%, BBL +0.7%
Other news:
  • SYN +35.4% (FDA has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for SYN-004)
  • PED +34% (continued strength)
  • SYMX +25.8% (enters into a Technology License Agreement with Australian Future Energy for a large-scale project to be located in Australia)
  • IPCI +6.8% (receives final FDA approval for its ANDA for quetiapine fumarate extended-release tablets)
  • MRK +2.7% (confirms FDA approval of KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) as first-line combination therapy with pemetrexed and carboplatin for patients with metastatic NSCLC irrespective of PD-L1 expression)
  • NMM +2.3% (provides update for acquisition of 14-Vessel container fleet from Rickmers Maritime)
  • ORLY +1% (to increase the authorization amount under its share repurchase program by an additional $1 billion, raising the aggregate authorization under the program to $8.75 billion)
  • MYL +1% (in sympathy with TEVA)
Analyst comments:
  • YELP +2.9% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup)
  • NBL +1.5% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)
  • FOXA +1.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Rosenblatt)
  • OMF +1.1% (upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill)
  • CAT +0.9% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)
  • XOM +0.8% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)

Fwd:>>> Carrefour - Update - stock is not trading as expected - don't break resi

Carrefour continue to hold levels for now, consolidating outside of Down trend, I see the stock going higher as it seems to me that the street is still -ve on this one...Macron election / 35hours law etc should help ... I still see 22.36/22.60 as my short term resistance.

From: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO) At: 05/09/17 10:11:17
To: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO)
Subject: Fwd:>>> Carrefour - Update - stock is not trading as expected - don't break resi
stock didn't closed below the 20.90 - and managed to break the downside trend, look more bullish here could trade higher - have a look :


From: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO) At: 05/04/17 16:38:22
Subject: Fwd:>>> Carrefour - Update - stock is not trading as expected - don't break resi
Stock is underpressure this pm, tested again its 50d MA and didn't manage to break it again today...see a support on 20.90...look bearish if we close below the 20.90

From: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO) At: 05/03/17 09:32:53
To: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO)
Subject: Fwd:>>> Carrefour - Stock has massively underperformed - Time to Buy to play reb
Carrefour - still trading in Downtrend range move not validate yet - but Outperfoning slightly today

From: LAURENT CHEKROUN (MAKOR SECURITIES LO) At: 05/02/17 12:18:19
Subject: Fwd:>>> Carrefour - Stock has massively underperformed - Time to Buy to play rebound
>>> Carrefour - Stock has massively underperformed - trading better since investor day

* CA Underperf EurosToxx 50 by 14% YTD & 23.5% on 1y, at the same time SXRP Underperf. only 5% & 13%,
* French env. for Food Retail has been tought recently but end of uncertainties with the election we can hope some better momentum and some quick measures to boost consumption.
* Carrefour look confident situation will improve during the year.
* Macron scenario is smal positive but should help the sentiment...even if biggest part of the move has been played after the 1st round of the election.
* Stock trading more than 8% below its average 3y PE, 12.95 vs 14.2
* Chart configuration - Stock look to have bottomed and rebound on long support and find resistanceon its 50d MA (+/- 21.80) if we break this level (need to close above the 21.85) we can quickly test the 200d MA (22.60) with a gap to fill (22.36/22.50), next resistance 23.07, 23.29, 23.75
* Consensus in the Street is still mixed some banks (UBS) still thinks Carrefour will be impact by margin pressure, few banks are more positive thinking that new models implemented by the group will drive some more growth, less depedance to hyper will help improve the sentiment (increase of eCommerce & new concept)

Chart :

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up:
  • SGMO +40.2%, PED +35.1%, RELY +26.5%, CUR+15.3%, SUNW +11.6%, CAAS +11.5%, PEGA +11.4%,XONE +7.9%, CCXI +7.5%, LPSN +6.9%, SCLN +4.6%,NTES +3.9%, PFIE +3.7%, WFM +3.4%, ASM +3.2%,BSTG +3.2%, MRK +3.1%, BTX +3%, VUZI +2.7%, INO+2.5%, CALL +2.5%, AYX +2.5%, CORI +2.5%, NMM+2.3%, RLGT +2.3%, ATH +2.3%, XON +2.2%, GFI+2.1%, TEVA +2.1%, HAL +2%, EEP +2%, MYL +1.9%,IOTS +1.9%, FBIO +1.9%, MTBC +1.7%, ICUI +1.7%,TTGT +1.7%, GOLD +1.6%, SNDR +1.6%, AU +1.5%,RIG +1.4%, AG +1.4%, CHK +1.4%, WLL +1.3%, PCYG+1.2%, TRXC +1.1%, CAT +1.1%, BHP +1.1%, ORLY+1%, GDX +1%, RIO +1%, WATT +1%, VRX +0.9%,FCX +0.9%
Gapping down:
  • ITUS -35.3%, NH -24.4%, SNAP -21%, STRP -20.5%,BCEI -16.8%, KGJI -16.7%, QTM -16.6%, MNKD-15.6%, RGSE -15.6%, CNAT -15.1%, AVNW -14.6%,VSTO -13.6%, FRSH -11.8%, RESN -11.5%, NYRT-9.7%, BITA -9.5%, SANW -8.3%, NVCN -7.9%, HOLX-7.1%, ABR -6.8%, ANTH -6.2%, VSTM -5.7%, SP-5.5%, SYMC -5.3%, ELF -5.1%, AEG -5.1%, QUIK-4.2%, OMER -4%, RXII -3.7%, CPA -3.6%, SND -3.6%,BT -3.5%, RUN -2.8%, AGTC -2.5%, STML -2.5%, TEF-2.5%, TEF -2.5%, SCON -2.4%, STM -2.3%, CFMS-2.3%, GALE -2.3%, RTK -2.2%, AFSI -1.8%, BCRX-1.8%, BCS -1.8%, AMBC -1.8%, TIER -1.6%, HIMX-1.5%, CDTX -1.4%, RBS -1.3%, BFAM -1.1%, CVTI-1.1%, MEOH -1.1%, SAN -1%, IMMU -1%, PIRS -1%,NDRM -1%

>>> Macy's misses by $0.12, misses on revs and comps; reaffirms FY18 guidance (

Macy's misses by $0.12, misses on revs and comps; reaffirms FY18 guidance (29.34)
  • Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues fell 7.5% year/year to $5.34 bln vs the $5.49 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Comparable sales on an owned basis were down 5.2 percent in the first quarter and down 4.6 percent on an owned plus licensed basis vs. ests near -3%
  • Co reaffirms guidance for FY18, sees EPS of $2.90-3.15 vs. $3.06 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY18 revs of down 3.2-4.3% to ~$24.67-24.95 bln vs. $24.81 bln Capital IQ Consensus; comps down 2.2-3.3% or 2-3% including licenses.
  • "Our first quarter sales and earnings results were consistent with our expectations, and we remain on track to meet our 2017 guidance. We are encouraged by the performance of the pilot programs we tested last year in categories like women's shoes, fine jewelry, and furniture and mattresses. We look forward to expanding these successful initiatives nationally this year and anticipate they will have a measurable impact on our performance starting in the second quarter, building through the fall. Additionally, our digital platforms showed continued strong growth in the first quarter," said Jeff Gennette, president and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. "In 2017, we are focused on taking actions to stabilize our brick and mortar business, including the testing and iteration of additional pilot programs in order to bring them to scale in future years. At the same time, we will invest to aggressively grow our digital and mobile business, while continuing the integration of our online and offline experience to allow our customers to shop the way they live.

(REcode.net) Uber engineers are looking to leave as a court case puts the self-d

Uber engineers are looking to leave as a court case puts the self-driving future in limbo
If Alphabet gets its preliminary injunction, the ride-hail company could have to stop some of its self-driving operations.

Uber, already dealing with a litany of crises — including a lawsuit brought by rival Alphabet — could also be facing an exodus of key talent.

Some of the startup’s engineers are actively looking to get out of the company, according to multiple sources. The situation is being prompted in part by Alphabet’s case against Uber.

The suit centers on Anthony Levandowski, who had led Uber’s self-driving technology division, but recently announced he was moving away from his role as the case plays out. Second-in-command Eric Meyhofer has temporarily taken over, but the legal situation has left most Uber engineers in limbo, sources say.

Instead of waiting for a court decision that could squash Uber’s ambitions to deploy autonomous vehicles, a number of its engineers are looking for other opportunities. Others have decided to look elsewhere if the judge grants Alphabet the injunction.

Self-driving talent is in high demand, with some major automakers and tech companies pouring millions if not billions into “acqhiring” entire teams before they've even had an opportunity to launch their company. (See: Ford and Argo, Uber and Otto.)

Part of what’s driving these potential moves is the frustration many staffers feel from the pending lawsuit, sources say. Staffers may have to step away from the work they spent so much time developing, just as the company began putting their cars on the road.

Needless to say, morale is at an all-time low. Another camp of staffers, who’ve all but assumed Levandowski will be pushed out and didn't agree with his leadership to begin with, are waiting it out and are looking forward to seeing the department refocus its efforts on showing off its new tech.

The judge expects to issue his decision sometime this week. An injunction could mean a lot of things. Uber might have to stop work on its autonomous cars entirely or just stop using technology that Alphabet claims was stolen. It could also mean that the court would make Levandowski’s recusal official and any violation of the court order to stop working would result in legal ramifications.

Sources say it's unlikely Levandowski’s recusal would amount to any practical differences in the way the department is run. As part of his decision to move away from leading the company’s self-driving efforts, Levandowski put Meyehofer in charge. However, Meyhofer, sources say, is close to both Levandowski and Kalanick. In fact, an Uber engineer testified on May 4 that Meyhofer continued to work with Levandowski on a daily basis.

But a new hire, by way of the University of Toronto, might help the company retain some of its talent. Raquel Urtasun, a leading mind in machine learning and AI research, will be heading up Uber's self-driving expansion into Canada. Urtasun will be joined by eight of her students and will continue to teach at the University part-time.

Uber declined to comment for this story.