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Worst Trading Day of the Year So Far; PANW Beats, COIN Mixed
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Market indices have just ended their worst trading session of 2023 today, beginning a holiday-shortened week that is also the last major week of Q4 earnings season. Each of the four majors closed at lows aside from the small-cap Russell 2000, which underperformed the field. The Dow shed -705 points, -2.09%, while the Nasdaq lost -295 points, -2.51%. The S&P 500 crept back below 4K for the first time in a month, -2.01% on the day. The Russell bottomed out -2.71%.
We’ve been talking a lot about how well these indices have performed year to date, and to an extent that remains the case overall: the Nasdaq is still up more than +10% since the start of the year, the Russell +8%, with the S&P a still-strong +4.5%. Only the Dow is trading in the red for 2023 to this point. However, pull back the scope to one year, and we see a much different picture: the Dow is -1.4%, the Russell -4.5%, the S&P -7% and the Nasdaq still -14%. All-time highs were set in November ’21 and January ’22 — this is important to keep in mind; the markets are still down, but off ALL-TIME HIGHS.
We hope to get a better picture of what the Fed is thinking tomorrow when the minutes to the February 2nd Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting are released. In recent trading days — indeed, lending to this southward turn in trading — we’ve seen a sure-footed Fed continuing on a 25 bps rate hike path (and near the end of that) change to offhanded comments about ramping back up to a 50 bps hike, at least among a couple non-voting matters. Seeing how the votes broke down earlier this month — and the tone the Fed takes in discussing the market — may have an impact on Hump Day trading.
Cybersecurity leader Palo Alto Networks (PANW - Free Report) reported very strong fiscal Q2 results after today’s closing bell, posting earnings of $1.05 per share, which was well ahead of the 78 cents expected and the 58 cents per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $1.66 billion were slightly improved over the $1.65 billion in the Zacks consensus, for year-over-year billings growth of +26%.
Even better, revenue estimates for fiscal Q3 have been ratcheted well higher than previous expectations. The company now expects a billing range of between $2.2-2.5 billion, from a previous Zacks consensus of $1.74 billion. Shares are up +7% on the report, adding to the +20% gains Palo Alto Networks has put up year to date. Perhaps we’re seeing enterprise spending pulling back from certain things, but cybersecurity does not appear to be one of them.
Crypto platform Coinbase (COIN - Free Report) posted mixed results in its Q4 release after today’ close, missing on the bottom line to -$2.46 per share from the expected -$2.39 on $629 million in quarterly revenues, which easily surpassed the $581 million analysts had anticipated. The company operates in a challenging industry these days, and the numbers bear that out: Trading Volume is down -9% quarter over quarter, while Monthly Transaction Users reached 8.3 million. That said, Coinbase is still up more than +80% year to date, while shares are only selling off -1.24% on the Q4 news. Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
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Worst Trading Day of the Year So Far; PANW Beats, COIN Mixed
Market indices have just ended their worst trading session of 2023 today, beginning a holiday-shortened week that is also the last major week of Q4 earnings season. Each of the four majors closed at lows aside from the small-cap Russell 2000, which underperformed the field. The Dow shed -705 points, -2.09%, while the Nasdaq lost -295 points, -2.51%. The S&P 500 crept back below 4K for the first time in a month, -2.01% on the day. The Russell bottomed out -2.71%.
We’ve been talking a lot about how well these indices have performed year to date, and to an extent that remains the case overall: the Nasdaq is still up more than +10% since the start of the year, the Russell +8%, with the S&P a still-strong +4.5%. Only the Dow is trading in the red for 2023 to this point. However, pull back the scope to one year, and we see a much different picture: the Dow is -1.4%, the Russell -4.5%, the S&P -7% and the Nasdaq still -14%. All-time highs were set in November ’21 and January ’22 — this is important to keep in mind; the markets are still down, but off ALL-TIME HIGHS.
We hope to get a better picture of what the Fed is thinking tomorrow when the minutes to the February 2nd Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting are released. In recent trading days — indeed, lending to this southward turn in trading — we’ve seen a sure-footed Fed continuing on a 25 bps rate hike path (and near the end of that) change to offhanded comments about ramping back up to a 50 bps hike, at least among a couple non-voting matters. Seeing how the votes broke down earlier this month — and the tone the Fed takes in discussing the market — may have an impact on Hump Day trading.
Cybersecurity leader Palo Alto Networks (PANW - Free Report) reported very strong fiscal Q2 results after today’s closing bell, posting earnings of $1.05 per share, which was well ahead of the 78 cents expected and the 58 cents per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $1.66 billion were slightly improved over the $1.65 billion in the Zacks consensus, for year-over-year billings growth of +26%.
Even better, revenue estimates for fiscal Q3 have been ratcheted well higher than previous expectations. The company now expects a billing range of between $2.2-2.5 billion, from a previous Zacks consensus of $1.74 billion. Shares are up +7% on the report, adding to the +20% gains Palo Alto Networks has put up year to date. Perhaps we’re seeing enterprise spending pulling back from certain things, but cybersecurity does not appear to be one of them.
Crypto platform Coinbase (COIN - Free Report) posted mixed results in its Q4 release after today’ close, missing on the bottom line to -$2.46 per share from the expected -$2.39 on $629 million in quarterly revenues, which easily surpassed the $581 million analysts had anticipated. The company operates in a challenging industry these days, and the numbers bear that out: Trading Volume is down -9% quarter over quarter, while Monthly Transaction Users reached 8.3 million. That said, Coinbase is still up more than +80% year to date, while shares are only selling off -1.24% on the Q4 news.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>