FT : Christie’s raises $289m in its most successful auction since 2010

Christie’s raises $289m in its most successful auction since 2010
Brancusi bronze sells for record $57.4m as New York auction week kicks off

Halfway through what would be a nine-minute bidding war for a patinated bronze female head by Constantin Brancusi, paddle 281 shot above a standing-room-only crowd at Christie’s in midtown Manhattan.

The slow, steady auction for the ovoid sculpture of a sleeping woman’s face turned aggressive when, minutes in, Tobias Meyer, the former chief auctioneer for Sotheby’s, entered a $34m bid with a phone clutched to his ear. By the time the gavel came down, competition from five clients had sent the price of “La Muse endormie” to $51m — a record for the artist. With fees for Christie’s services, lot 32 fetched a cool $57.4m.

It marked a successful start to New York’s biannual contemporary and modern art auctions, after several years marred by thin supply and lacklustre bidding.

In total, the art broker tallied $258m of sales before premiums were added, well above the low end of its $207m-$307m presale estimate. With fees, Christie’s raised $289m with 78 per cent of the 55 lots sold — its most successful auction since 2010 and more than double the corresponding Impressionist and Modern Art sale last spring.

Guillaume Cerutti, the auctioneer’s chief executive, said it was a “fantastic start for the major collections that will be sold this week”.

“This will give confidence to the market,” he told the Financial Times after the auction. “Last year the consignors . . . were more cautious. They were waiting because of the economic conditions, the political conditions. This year we found the sellers were more confident . . . That’s what we witnessed tonight and it is what we hope will happen on Wednesday with our Contemporary sale.”

The solid showing by privately held Christie’s, which is controlled by French billionaire François Pinault, will calm nerves of collectors worried about the art market’s health after several trying years. To weather the market fragility, brokers have cut the guarantees offered to encourage consignors to put works up for sale, and have reduced staff.

Sotheby’s last week reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss, and noted that the art market “is starting to show signs of strengthening”. Mr Cerutti of Christie’s added that it was “still a selective market”, with the group failing to sell 12 works on Monday.
Four works by Pablo Picasso sold throughout the night for a total of $82.5m with fees, including the oil on canvas “Femme assise, robe bleue” for $45m. The presale estimate, which excludes fees, was $35m-$50m. A Marc Chagall oil on canvas titled “Les trois cierges” realised a price of $14.6m, above the top end of its presale estimate, while a work from Fernand Léger sold for $11.4m with fees.

Mr Cerutti, who took the helm at the start of this year, joined Christie’s colleagues standing by a bank of phones during the night, taking bids from clients outside the room and engaging in lively bidding for an oil on board by Wassily Kandinsky. The piece — “Oben und links” — carried a presale estimate of $5m-$7m and sold for $7.2m at hammer price. With fees, it cost its buyer $8.3m.

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
  • XGTI +17.2%, WB +11.2%, GILT +7.4%, SINA +7.3%, VRAY +7.1%, MGIC +6.5%, CLBS +5.6%, BDSI +5%, SPHS +4.6%, VOD +4%, NNA +3.6%, CCUR +3.3%, VIPS +2.5%, NCSM +2.1%, WYY +2%, FATE +1.7%, HD +1.6%, GAIN +1%, CAPR +0.8%
Select oil/gas related names showing strength:
  • TOT +1.6%, BP +1.1%, RDS.A +0.9%, CHK +0.7%
Other news:
  • AKBA +16.1% (Akebia Therapeutics to sell vadadustat to Fresenius Medical Care)
  • ETSY +10.4% (TPG Group Holdings discloses 4.3% active stake, believes Etsy will be best served by a commitment from partners who are also focused on creating long-term value in both public and private companies)
  • CNDT +3.8% (Icahn, Greenlight, Sessa, Soros, Scopia among names that disclosed new positions in their quarterly filings)
  • ANTH +2.4% (commences screening in the RESULT Phase 3 clinical study of Sollpura for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency due to cystic fibrosis; Top line data expected end of 2017 or early 2018 )
  • JCP +2.3% (Saba Capital Management discloses new position)
  • MOMO +1.5% (Jericho Capital reports new position)
  • EPR +1.2% (CEO featured on Monday's Mad Money)
  • BIVV +1.1% (ValueAct, Sarissa, Baker Bros disclose new positions)
  • LOW +1.1% (in smypathy with HD earnings)
Analyst comments:
  • ALDR +4.2% (initiated with Buy at Needham)
  • DK +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
  • SAGE +1.8% (initiated with Buy at Needham)
  • EDU +1.8% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
  • AIG +1.1% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
  • DPS +1% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
  • ISRG +0.5% (initiated with a Buy at Goldman)

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
  • PTX -31.9%, TEAR -15%, ETRM -12.3%, DKS -12%, IPDN -11.9%, VOXX -9.9%, HOTR -9.5%, SSYS -6.6%, PRKR -6.6%, EDIT -5%, AMRS -4.7%, OCN -3.8%, HTGM -3.8%, SBBP -3.4%, CYRN -2.2%, CRME -1.7%, NETS -1.4%,KMDA -1.2%
Other news:
  • KRNT -6.8% (announces the launch of an underwritten secondary public offering of 4.25 mln ordinary shares by its largest shareholder, Fortissimo Capital )
  • OMAM -4.6% ( announces the launch of a public offering of 17.3 mln of its ordinary shares by Old Mutual plc (ODMTY); OMAM agrees to repurchase 5 mln ordinary shares)
  • PFGC -2.2% (prices 14,092,206 common stock offering by selling stockholders The Blackstone Group at $27.50/share)
  • APD -1.8% (attributed to block trade pricing; also Pershing Square Capital / Bill Ackman disclosed decreased position and Senator Investment Group -- Alexander Klabin and Douglas Silverman -- closed out positions)
  • FISI -1.3% (commences underwritten public offering of $40 mln of its common stock)
  • EVH -0.8% (upsizes and prices secondary offering by selling shareholders of 7 mln shares of common stock at $24.65 per share)
Analyst comments:
  • NK -7.8% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup )
  • MELI -1.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan)
  • PFE -1.7% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup)
  • TAL -1.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)
  • MDC -1.2% (downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo)
  • CHD -0.6% (downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
  • VLO -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)

>>> TJX beats by $0.03, misses on revs with comps at high end of guidance; guide

TJX beats by $0.03, misses on revs with comps at high end of guidance; guides Q2 EPS below; raises low end of FY18 EPS, reaffirms comps (76.90)
  • Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.82 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.79; revenues rose 3.2% year/year to $7.78 bln vs the $7.88 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Diluted EPS $0.04 above high-end of Company's plan primarily due to a benefit from an accounting change in share-based compensation as well as a benefit from foreign currency, which were both higher than expected.
  • Comps +1% vs. +0-1% guidance.
  • Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.81-0.83 vs. $0.92 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; comps +1-2%.
  • Co issues guidance for FY18, raises EPS to $3.82-3.89 from $3.80-3.89 vs. $3.90 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms comp +1-2%.
  • "Comp store sales growth was once again driven by customer traffic. We achieved these results despite the unfavorable weather in parts of the U.S. and Canada compared to last year. We were pleased to see sales trends pick up as the quarter progressed. With our disciplined inventory management, our merchandise margin was up, which speaks to the resiliency and flexibility of our off-price retail model. Further, we are confident that we are gaining market share at each of our four major divisions. The second quarter is off to a solid start and we have excellent liquidity in our inventories."