Stock Market Futures In The Red Amid Growing Sanctions On Russia.
U.S. stock futures are easing early this morning. This follows another wild day of trading in the stock market as the Russia-Ukraine war continues. Investors were left wondering about the impact of global sanctions on Russia from the West. In particular, many would be considering the likelihood of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict on the Fed’s plans to raise interest rates this year. Should there be a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes, it would help to relieve some of the pressure on growth stocks over the past few months.
Weighing in all on all this is Spouting Rock Asset Management’s chief strategist, Rhys Williams. He posits, “Until there’s either some sort of negotiated deal or the violence calms down in Ukraine, markets will remain at heightened risk and Powell will be looking to be a little more careful.” Adding to all of this, investors also have plenty of earnings-related news to consider in the stock market today. As of 6:54 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.86%, 0.97%, and 1.05% respectively.
Renewable Energy Gets A Boost As Russian Oil Supplies Get Hit By Sanctions
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, the energy industry is once again in focus this week. To begin with, oil prices started the week on a high after news of Russia receiving sanctions from the West. The likes of which are currently blocking Russian banks from SWIFT, a global payments system. By extension, this would lead to rising fears over disruptions of the country’s massive oil export operations. With a potentially dwindling supply, oil prices per barrel are on the rise.
At the end of February, Brent crude gained by about 3.1% and is up to $100.99 a barrel. This is following a high of $105.07 earlier in the day. Likewise, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $95.72 after gains of 4.5%. This is following a high of $99.10 in early trade. With the current concerns coming amidst a global supply shortage, the focus is likely on oil firms. For instance, the likes of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) gained by as much as 12% yesterday.
Furthermore, as the long-term prospects for conventional energy sources dwindle, investors are also looking at renewables. In fact, even energy industry titan Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is planning to acquire Renewable Energy Group (NASDAQ: REGI) for $3.15 billion. As a result, renewable energy companies such as Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), Ballard Power (NASDAQ: BLDP), and FuelCell (NASDAQ: FCEL) are in focus this week. In the larger scheme of things, the current Ukraine-Russia situation could accelerate the world’s shift towards renewable energy. Because of all this, investors looking toward long-term gains could be eyeing the industry now.
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Workday In Focus After Topping Earnings Estimates Across The Board
Following another volatile day of trading, Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY) appears to be turning heads in the stock market. For the most part, this is likely thanks to the company’s latest quarterly earnings update. In it, the human resources (HR) cloud solution provider posted stellar figures. Namely, Workday saw earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter. This is well above consensus projections of $0.71 and $1.36 billion. On top of all this, the company is also seeing strength in its core subscription service. This segment raked in a quarterly revenue of $1.23 billion, a respectable 22% year-over-year increase.
Summing up the quarter is Workday co-CEO Aneel Bhusri. According to Bhusri, Workday “closed out the year with another strong quarter that saw continued acceleration of our business, including a growing global workforce and a relentless focus on employees, customers, and innovation.” He notes that the company is seeing increasing demand for its comprehensive suite of finance and HR solutions. By Workday’s calculations, it is currently serving over 60 million users across its client base.
Not to mention, Workday also expects its momentum to persist in the current fiscal year. Evidently, it is raising its guidance for the full fiscal year to a range of $5.53 billion to $5.55 billion. Should this be the case, it would translate to a year-over-year gain of 22%. With HR being a critical component of most workspaces today, Workday could be worth noting in the stock market today.
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Zoom Posts Earnings Beat; Dips Following Conservative Outlook
Another major tech name to consider now would be Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM). In essence, Zoom seems to be in an interesting position now, to say the least. For starters, the company saw green across the board in its fourth fiscal quarter report yesterday. After the closing bell, the virtual communications giant posted earnings of $1.29 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion. For reference, this is versus Wall Street forecasts of $1.06 and $1.05 billion respectively. Regarding year-over-year comparisons, Zoom’s revenue is up by 21%, a deceleration from the previous quarter’s 35%. Additionally, the company notes that it now has 191,000 enterprise customers, a 35% increase over the same period.
However, despite the company’s sizable earnings beat and operational win, ZM stock seems to be on the decline now. Overall, the case with ZM stock could be due to Zoom’s outlook moving forward. For the current quarter, Zoom is expecting revenue of between $1.07 billion to $1.075 billion. To compare, this is below analyst estimates of $1.1 billion. Secondly, the company is guiding for an annual revenue of between $4.53 billion to $4.55 billion. This represents a slightly larger miss from initial projections of $4.71 billion. Nevertheless, this leads back to the main concern for investors when considering Zoom. That is, how it will maintain growth following the return to physical offices. According to CEO Eric Yuan, Zoom is investing in “new cloud-based technologies” to be rolled in later this year. It remains to be seen if ZM stock can benefit from this.
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Notable Earnings Worth Noting In The Stock Market Today
Turning our attention to the hottest stock market earnings on tap today, we have a rather impressive roster. Across the pre-and post-market hours, there is a myriad of major firms hosting their latest earnings. On one hand, pre-market names include Target (NYSE: TGT), Sea Limited (NYSE: SE), Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), Domino’s (NYSE: DPZ), and Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS).
On the other hand, firms such as SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI), AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Grow Generation (NASDAQ: GRWG), and Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) will be posting quarterly updates after the closing bell. All in all, there is no shortage of exciting news to take note of in the stock market today.
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