CAPIS Morning Note – 03/21/22: Buffet Buys Alleghany for $11.6 Billion. Energy Names Trading Higher.

Overnight Summary:  The S&P 500 closed on Friday at 4463.12 from 4411.67 on Friday. The S&P 500 was higher for a fourth day in a row. The overnight high was hit early on at 6:15 p.m. EDT at 4463.15. The low came at 4430 at 1:50 a.m. EDT. The current level is 4448 down -5.50…

Overnight Summary:  The S&P 500 closed on Friday at 4463.12 from 4411.67 on Friday. The S&P 500 was higher for a fourth day in a row. The overnight high was hit early on at 6:15 p.m. EDT at 4463.15. The low came at 4430 at 1:50 a.m. EDT. The current level is 4448 down -5.50 points which is -0.12% at 6:10 a.m. EDT. 

Breaking News: 

Earnings Out After The Close:

  • Beats: None of note.
  • Flat: None of note.
  • Misses: None of note.

Capital Raises:

  • IPOs Priced or News:
    • Virax Biolabs Group Ltd. (VRAX) files F-1 for IPO; size and pricing not yet determined.
  • New SPACs launched/News: None of note.
  • Secondaries Priced: None of note.
  • Notes Priced of note: None of note.
  • Common Stock filings/Notes:
    • IMPP Imperial Petroleum Announces Pricing of Upsized $60 Million Underwritten Public Offering.
    • TISI: Filed Form S-3.. 21,904,761 shares of common stock.
  • Pricing of Over-Allotment: None of note.
  • Direct Offering: None of note.
  • Selling Shareholders of note:
    • DINO: Filed Form S-3ASR.. 60,230,036 shares of common stock offered by the selling stockholder.
  • Private Placement of Public Entity (PIPE): None of note
  • Mixed Shelf Offerings:
    • ASXC: Filed Form S-3.. $150Million Mixed Security Shelf.
    • BATL: Filed Form S-3.. $200Million Mixed Security Shelf.
    • BBWI: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Mixed Shelf Offering.
    • IPG: Filed Form S-3ASR.. Mixed Shelf Offering.
    • PALI: Filed Form S-3.. $100Million Mixed Shelf.
    • VIRI: Filed Form S-3.. $150,000,000 Mixed Shelf.
  • Convertible Offering & Notes Filed:
    • Bunge (BG) says all 4.875% cumulative convertible perpetual preference shares will automatically convert into common shares.
    • Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) to Fully Redeem its 9.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2025.
    • SPGI: Pricing of Tender Offer for Any and All of Its Outstanding 5.000% Senior Notes Due 2022, 4.000% Senior Notes Due 2025 and 4.750% Senior Notes Due 2025.

Capital Raise Summary From The TradeXchange, bringing traders and investors real time news and Squawk Box, and other sources.

News After The Close and Over the Week:

  • Weekly Wrap Up: Best and Worst performing large cap stocks:
    • Trading Up: UXIN 68%, STNE 51%, QD 47%, EPAM 45%, CTK 44%, LX 44%, TAL 43%, PAGS 42%, TRQ 41%, NLSN 39%, GDS 38%, CAR 37%, PDD 37%.
    • Trading Down: NKTR -48%, KLXE -32%, AMBC -26%, ANIP -25%, SQQQ -23%, SCWX -22%, PBF -18%, IPI -16%, NR -15%, DRQ -15%, DK -14%, NINE -14%, RES -14%, TUSK -12%, OIS -12%, VET -11%.
  • News Items After the Close:
    • Jim Chanos reveals new short position in crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). (CNBC)
    • General Motors (GM) acquires SoftBank’s stake in GM Cruise.  Also plans to make an additional $1.35 billion investment in Cruise. (MarketWatch)
    • Russian/Ukraine News:
      • Russia’s biggest cargo airline to suspend all Boeing (BA) flights (Reuters)
      • Kyiv mayor announces new curfew from late Monday to Wednesday morning AFP.
      • Halliburton (HAL) suspends future business in Russia. (MarketWatch)
      • Baker Hughes (BKR) suspends new investments for its Russia operations.
      • Schlumberger (SLB) announces update on Russia Operations
      • Weatherford (WFRD) announces update on Russia Operations.
  • News Items Over the Weekend:
    • Stocks That Defined the Week: AAPL, DAL, LYFT, FB, SBUX, AMZN, EFX   (WSJ)
    • ‘Extremely awkward’: Bob Chapek and Bob Iger had a falling out, they rarely talk — and the rift looms over Disney’s future. (CNBC)
    • Shanghai Disney (DIS) temporary close March 21st due to Covid. (Bloomberg)
    • KBR Continues to Support NASA Exploration with $640M Contract.
    • Elbit Systems (ESLT) Awarded a $27 Million Contract to Provide Sweden with NATO Compliant Tank Ammunition.
    • Union Workers At Chevron (CVX) Refinery Prepare For Strike On Monday. (Reuters)
    • Barron’s:
      • Positive View: WEN, BLMN, SBUX, EAT, TWNK, HSY, ADBE, PANW, TWTR, ARE, CVX, KO, CL, JNJ, JPM, NEE, PG, PLD, TGT, UNP, VZ.
      • Negative View: None of note.
      • Mixed View: NKE.
  • Exchange/Listing/Company Reorg and Personnel News:
    • ALNA: Halted.  Terminates URIROX-2 study.
    • Ambarella (AMBA) Announces Passing of Casey Eichler, CFO.
    • BioLife Solutions (BLFS) Receives Nasdaq Notice of Noncompliance for Delayed 10-K Filing.
    • Cronos Group (CRON) announces Mike Gorenstein will be Chairman, President, and CEO, effective March 21, 2022.
    • Lannett (LCI) announces receipt of notice of non-compliance from NYSE related to stock price.
    • Recro Pharma (REPH) is changing its name to Societal CDMO and trade under the symbol SCTL on March 22, 2022.
    • SAP SE (SAP) Supervisory Board mutually agreed with Luka Mucic, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Board Member, that he will depart the company on 31 March 2023.
    • Sphere 3D (ANY) Receives Deficiency Notice from Nasdaq.
    • UP Fintech Holding Limited (TIGR) Announces Director Resignations.
    • Telos Corporation (TLS) Announces the Notice Received from the NASDAQ Stock Market.
    • Vistra Energy (VST) announces President and CFO Jim Burke will be Chief Executive Officer beginning August 1.
  • Buyback Announcements:
    • Membership Collective Group (MCG) authorizes stock repurchase program to repurchase up to $50 million of the Company’s Class A common stock.
    • Nuvei Establishes (NVEI) an Automatic Share Purchase Plan.
    • Texas Roadhouse Inc. (TXRH) approved a stock repurchase program under which the Board authorized the Company to repurchase up to $300 million of its common stock. (MarketWatch)
  • Stock Splits: None of note.
  • Dividends Announcements: None of note.

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value.

S&P 500 -0.62 , Dow Jones -77 NASDAQ -18 , and Russell 2000 -4 .Asia higher ex Hong Kong and Europe higher ex France. VIX Futures are at 26 from 27.90 Friday morning. Gold is lower, Silver is higher and Copper lower. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is higher. $ is flat vs Euro, flat vs Pound and flat vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury with yields at 2.182% from 2.135% from 2.131% Friday. Bitcoin is at $41,328 from $40,293 Friday at -0.05%%. As of 8:00 a.m. EDT

Monday’s Action – 03/18/22 Close:  

  • Daily Positive Sectors: Consumer Cyclical, Technology, Communication Services, Healthcare, Basic Materials of note.
  • Daily Negative Sectors: Utilities and Energy of note.
  • One Month Winners: Energy, Utilities and Basic Materials of note.
  • Three Month Winners: Energy, Utilities and Basic Materials of note.
  • Six Month Winners: Energy, Basic Materials, Utilities of note.
  • Twelve Month Winners: Energy, Utilities, and Real Estate of note.
  • Year to Date Winners: Energy and Basic Materials of note.

Indexes finished the week strong putting in the best performance for weekly returns since November 2020.  SP finished the week with a 6.2% gain for the week and 5.5% for the Dow Jones.  NASDAQ had a weekly gain of 8.2%.  Updated 03/18/22 close.

Upcoming Earnings Of Note: (sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)

  • Monday After the Close: NKE, TME of note.
  • Tuesday Before the Open: INFO, CCL, GDS, HUYA of note.

Earnings of Note This Morning:

  • Beats: None of note.
  • Flat: None of note.
  • Misses: None of note.
  • Still to Report: None of note.

Guidance:

  • Positive Guidance: None of note.
  • Negative Guidance: None of note.

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart: Updated through 03/18/22 close.

  

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

  • Gap Up: PLAN +27%, WTI +8%, USO +4%.
  • Gap Down: IMGN -28%, NLSN -16%, BA -8%, ATHA -5%, BLFS -5%.

Insider Action: EXLS, KW sees Insider buying with dumb short selling. BNED sees Insider buying with smart short sellers. 03/18/22 close.

Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.

  • Stocks Making The Biggest Moves: BA, PLAN, NLS,N, Y, GM, MANU, NIO, BB  (CNBC)
  • Five Things You Need To Know To Start Your Day (Bloomberg)
  • Russia concentrated over the weekend on Maripol using rockets from the air, land and sea. Ground troops are stalled are Kyiv still. (NYT)
  • Turkey feels that Russia and Ukraine are close to agreement on fundamental issues. (FT)
  • Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang notes China will work to de-escalate Putin’s War. (Bloomberg)
  • A Boeing (BA) 737 Jet crashed in China. (CNBC)
  • EU Ministers want EU to impose sanctions on Russian Oil. (Reuters)
  • President Biden will travel to Poland after meetings in Brussels with NATO.
  • Chipmakers could see a two year equipment shortage. (FT)

Moving Average Update:

  • Score moves up to 76% from 66%.  Long term 200 DMA are in sight.  Updated 03/18/22 close.

Geopolitical: 

  • President’s Public Schedule:
    • The President receives the President’s Daily Brief, 9:30 a.m. EDT
    • The President hosts a secure call with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, 11:00 a.m. EDT
    • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger, 2:30 p.m. EDT
    • The President joins Business Roundtable’s CEO Quarterly Meeting to discuss the United States’ response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war with Ukraine and the President’s plans to lower costs for working families, create good-paying union jobs, and tackle the climate crisis, 6:00 p.m. EDT

Economic

  • Chicago Fed Activity Index 8:30 a.m. EDT

Federal Reserve Speakers:

  • Federal Reserve Atlanta President Raphael Bostinc 8:00 a.m. EDT
  • Federal Research Chair Jerome Powell 12:00 p.m. EDT

M&A Activity:

  • Anaplan (PLAN) to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $66.00 per share.
  • Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) to Acquire Alleghany Corporation (Y) for $848.02 Per Share in $11.6 Billion Transaction.
  • BitNile Holdings’  (NILE)Subsidiary, TurnOnGreen, to Be Acquired by BitNile Holdings’ Subsidiary, Imperalis Holding Corp. (OTC Pink: IMHC), Creating a Publicly Traded EV Charging and Power Solutions Company.
  • Brookfield Business Partners (BBU) to acquire La Trobe Financial.
  • Farmland Partners (FPI) Buys Illinois Farm for $3 Million.
  • Ondas Holdings (ONDS) to acquire Ardenna.
  • O2Micro (OIIM) Announces Receipt of a Preliminary Non-Binding Proposal to Acquire the Company.
  • Quikrete (FRTA) Completes Acquisition of Forterra, Inc.

Meeting & Conferences of Note:

  • Sellside Conferences:
    • Bank of America Electronic Payments Symposium 2022 (03/21/22-03/22/22)
    • Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/30/22)
    • DB Securities Shipping Summit
    • Goldman Sachs Chemical Intensity Days Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/22/22)
    • Jefferies Synthetic Biology Week 2022 (03/21/22-03/25/22)
    • Jefferies Insurtech Conference
    • JP Morgan: European Internet Seminars 2022 (03/21/22-03/30/22)
    • Piper Sandler 22nd Annual Energy Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/23/22)
    • Scotia Howard Weil Energy Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/23/22)
    • SocGen Energy Transition Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/25/22)
    • Wolfe Research Software “March Madness” Conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/23/22)
      • Previously Announced  Conferences:
        • Bank of America Space, Transportation, Aviation, and Autos Research Summit 2022 (03/20/22-03/21/22)
        • Guggenheim Healthcare Talks 2022 (03/16/22-04/01/22)
        • Bank of America Asia Pacific APAC Telecom, Media & Technology TMT Conference 2022 (03/14/22-03/26/22)
  • Company Meetings: None of note.
  • Fireside Chat: None of note.
  • Investor/Analyst Day/Calls: BOSSY, QNST, ICD, MRNS.
  • Update: None of note.
  • R&D Day: None of note.
  • Company Event: ADDYY Innovation Day (03/21/22-03/30/22), NVIDIA GTC 2022 ( 03/21/22-03/24/22)
  • Industry Meetings:
    • Hotels, Restaurants and Catering (HRC) 2022 (03/21/22-03/23/22)
    • Annual Rainmaker conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/23/22)
    • GOMACTech conference 2022 (03/21/22-03/24/22)
      • Previously Posted and Ongoing Conferences:
        • Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2022 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer 2022 (03/18/22-03/21/22)
        • Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) Technology Summit 2022 (03/20/22-03/23/22)
        • Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) 2022 – Houston (03/20/22-03/24/22

Top Tier Sell-side Upgrades & Downgrades:

The recommendations listed below in this “Upgrade/Downgrade” section are compiled from what we believe are Tier I, II and III firms. Recommendations posted are taken from a variety of sources each day and we only post upgrades or significant initiations as well as downgrades to underweight or sell. The purpose of this posting it to make the reader aware of market moving recommendations. None of these recommendations should be interpreted as actual recommendations from CAPIS or its employees.

Today’s Upgrades and Downgrades:

      

Friday’s Upgrades and Downgrades: