Author: Cattolica Investment Club

Feb 7th, 2024 - On Wednesday, the S&P500 increased by 0.82% to close at 4995,06. Dow Jones and Nasdaq also increased by 0.4% and 0.95% to finish at 38.677,36 and 15.756,64 respectively. After markets closed, Walt Disney (DIS) announced their first-quarter earnings that topped estimates. Estimated earnings per share was $0.99 while the actual amount was $1.22. Another piece of good news was that the company expects to cut costs by at least $7.5 billion by the end of 2024. Moreover, they declared $4.60 forecasted earnings per share for 2024 which is 20% higher than 2023. Investors also appreciated their plan to take a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games and to start their ESPN streaming service in fall 2025. The share price of Disney increased by 7% just after…

Feb 6th, 2024 - Today, Snap Inc. (SNAP) saw its shares’ price plummeting down by around 30% at 5:00 PM EST because of the huge discrepancy between Snap’s quarterly revenue estimates produced by Wall Street  analysts and the results disclosed by the company itself on Tuesday. Going into detail, while the  forecasted revenue was $1.38 billion, the actual financial result disclosed by Snap was equal to $1.36 billion, on the basis of LSEG data. In this adverse context, Snap still struggles to compete against its  main rivals in the digital advertising industry like Meta and Alphabet. This is mainly due to the fact that  they are better at targeting ads (thanks to the vast amount of data they can rely on) and the recent large job cuts, reducing their costs…

Feb 5th, 2024 - In a recent turn of events, global fast-food giants McDonald's and Starbucks have faced a notable setback in their sales directly attributed to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict; both companies reported a dip in their stock values, reflecting the economic repercussions of said geopolitical tensions. McDonald's, witnessing a nearly 4% drop in its stock on Monday, pointed to a sales slowdown in the Middle East during the fourth quarter of the previous year. This decline was particularly pronounced in Israel, where the fast-food giant's Israeli licensee offered discounts to soldiers, triggering customer boycotts from those opposed to the Gaza offensive. While the Middle East represents around 2% of McDonald's global sales, the impact has been significant enough to prompt concerns about the recovery of sales in the…

Feb 4th, 2024 - Let’s face it, Apple (AAPL) (Purchased 0.6 units @ $183.96) has had a less than desirable 6 months. The stock has barely moved since June, and isn’t having the most positive beginning to 2024. Most investors have concerns regarding iPhone 15 and 15 pro sales, especially when it comes to the Chinese market, which has proven to be a particularly challenging demographic given the domestic competition. All those factors combined have contributed to a couple of bearish quarters that have even resulted in the company falling second to Microsoft (MSFT) (Purchased 0.1 units @ $374.44) in market valuation.  However, the company’s CEO Tim Cook hasn’t expressed concerns regarding poor iPhone sales. His focus is entirely directed toward the company as a whole, especially the Apple Vision…

Feb 3rd, 2024 - In the latest round of earnings calls from major tech companies including Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple, a common theme emerged: substantial investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are crucial for future growth.  Tech leaders highlighted the importance of introducing AI across every layer of their technology stack. Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, stressed the transition from talking about AI to applying it at scale, winning new customers and driving productivity gains. The generative AI boom, marked by sophisticated chatbots and assistants, particularly benefited Nvidia, whose GPUs power large language models created by major players in the field. To finance AI initiatives and the necessary cloud infrastructure, cost-cutting measures are being implemented across various departments. Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, highlighted 2023 as the 'year of efficiency,' emphasizing…

Feb 2nd, 2024 - Friday indices performances: the S&P 500 closed the session with a + 1.07% performance, rising for a fourth-straight week thanks to strong tech earnings and reaching a new record. Thanks to almost the same tech companies, the Nasdaq was up by 1.74%, and also the Dow Jones gained 0.35% in this session.  Meta Platform shares soared around 20% on Friday, after posting a better-than-expected result in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company has also declared its first dividend of 50 cents per share, that will be paid in late March, along with authorization for additional stock buybacks. Portfolio Holding Apple (AAPL) (Purchased 0.6 units @ $183.96) experienced a 2% stock decline despite beating expectations in Q1 earnings with $2.18 EPS and $119.6 billion in revenue.…

Feb 1st, 2024 - Today shares jumped and fell after many companies reported their quarters’ results, but in general the market reacted positively, the biggest winner was NASDAQ as it grew 1.3% closing at 15,361.64. Just points lower we have the S & P 500 with an increase of 1.25% that closed at 4,906.19 and lastly DOW JONES growing 0.97% closing at 38,519.84. Shares of Internet of Things service provider Digi International (DGII), soared today, as much as 16.2% after the company reported fiscal first-quarter 2024 financial results. Despite the results being negative as revenue fell 3%, net loss of $3 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.48, flat from a year ago, shares jumped as they beat expectations. In fact analysts were only expecting revenue of $105.8 million,…

Jan 31st, 2024 - On Wednesday, Wall Street experienced its most significant decline since September after Big Tech stocks reported earnings. The S&P 500 lost 1.6% . The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2%, and the Dow fell 0.8%. FED held rates unchanged.The market was pricing rate cuts to start in March but chairman of FED Powell said that he thinks it would be too soon to start cutting in March, however he also expressed that inflation is heading towards their target and rate cuts will start at some point this year. One of our portfolio holdings, Novo Nordisk (NVO) (Purchased 1 unit @ $100.88) increased by more than 5% after posting a Q4 earnings report that topped estimates. (Earnings of 71 cents compared to 66 cents expected.) The company announced that…