Here’s what to remember from the stock market day of Thursday, April 25.
The markets: A copious diary!
The CAC 40 lost 0.93% this evening, 8017 points in the fixing, penalized by disappointing corporate results and American growth below expectations. Among the most sanctioned titles, Herms and Dassault Systmes lost 2.38% and 4.24% respectively, this can be seen in this edition. Sanofi soars by 4.47% thanks to good quarterly results, and STMicroelectronics continues to progress, after its excellent performance yesterday. The stock now gains nearly 8% over the week. Brief! Stock market volatility is high while the quarterly results publication season is in full swing. Wall Street is also losing ground, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are currently losing around 1.50%, after the cold shower from Meta (-15%!), parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The slowdown in American growth in the first quarter does not help matters… GDP increased by “only” 1.6% over one year, compared to 3.4% in the previous quarter and 2.2% expected. by the market. This slowdown is due to a decline in consumer spending, exports and investments
Values: Herms, Dassault Systmes and Pharnext
Herms The luxury heavyweight fell 2.38% to 2,297 this evening despite the announcement of a turnover of 3.8 billion euros for the first quarter, up 17% year-on-year, clearly exceeding forecasts. . This performance contrasts with the situation of Kering, which revealed a significant drop in its sales. Herms attributes its resilience to its artisanal model and the attractiveness of its creations, despite a difficult environment, particularly in Asia. Growth was particularly strong in Japan and Europe, with revenues increasing by 25% and 15%, respectively. North America slightly underperformed with an increase of 12% when the consensus expected a little more (+13%). The leather goods and saddlery divisions were the main contributors, with impressive growth above expectations. The luxury group continues to plan ambitious growth despite current economic and geopolitical uncertainties, supported by its solid business model and customer loyalty. Despite these good results, Herms shares suffered a decline. Some profit taking has occurred, obviously due to the French giant’s excessive dependence on handbag sales, in a context of increasing pressure on consumers. The stock still gains nearly 18% in 2024. Dassault Systems Red lantern of the CAC, the software publisher fell by 4.24% to 37.29 this Thursday, clearly underperforming the market after announcing disappointing results. The company recorded growth of 6% over one year, lower than expectations (7.9%). Of concern is the performance of Medidata, a subsidiary specializing in software for clinical trials, whose revenues fell by 3%. Dassault Systmes, however, expects growth to resume in the second half thanks to improvements in the clinical trials market and an increase in orders. Management maintains its guidance for 2024 and expects revenue growth of between 8% to 10%. The operating margin should be around 32.5%: the results of the second half will be crucial to achieve these annual objectives. The stock has now lost 17% since the start of the year. Pharnext The biotech eligible for PEA-PME posted an increase of 17.50% to 0.16, after the encouraging presentation of the first results of its trial for a new treatment for neurological Charcot disease. Although the study is not yet complete, the preliminary results have aroused keen interest among patients and health professionals, reinforcing the hope of an (imminent?) therapeutic solution for this neurodegenerative pathology for which there is no known There is currently no satisfactory treatment. Since the start of the year, the stock has collapsed by 92%.
Tomorrow’s headlines: The health of all dangers
This Friday is highly anticipated. We have been talking to you about it in recent days, the PCE Core will be published at 2:30 p.m. For the American Central Bank, it is the best indicator for estimating inflation. On an annual basis, it should stand at 2.6% in March, compared to 2.8% in February, once again confirming its slowdown. It excludes energy and food prices. All prices combined, the PCE index is expected to show a slight rebound from one month to the next, of 2.5% to 2.6% over one year. Wall Street is hoping for lower results, a harbinger of upcoming rate cuts, to make the stock indices rebound after the bright red session this Thursday. On the business side, place for the oil companies! ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total will be on the grill. At the same time, Safran, Amundi and Aéroports de Paris will also publish their first quarter results. But that’s not all… Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft are expected to turn this evening, after closing. Their financial reports will therefore be decisive for the stock markets tomorrow.
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The world after: 40 billion in AI!
Meta’s ambitions in terms of artificial intelligence are causing concern among investors and increasing tensions on Wall Street. While first quarter results slightly beat expectations, the expected explosion in capital spending for 2024 is cooling the market. Indeed, Meta has adjusted its spending forecasts to a range of $35 billion to $40 billion for 2024, which is significantly more than initially planned due to its developments in AI. According to Mark Zuckerberg, this ambitious strategy could position his group as a world leader in AI. However, this direction raises fears that the company will neglect its advertising activities, which are vital to its profitability. Meta also announced revenue prospects for the second quarter of between $36.5 billion and $39 billion. Below expectations, these forecasts caused a fall of almost 15% in early Wall Street exchanges (+22% since the start of the year). The announcement brings back bad memories, raising fears of a repetition of costly past adventures, in particular the colossal (and useless?) investment in the metaverse… However, AI could prove more beneficial than not appears, paving the way for future innovations that could transform our daily lives and, Zuck hopes, increase the revenues of the Californian juggernaut.
The glossary: Pilot management
Pilot management, also called management under mandate, is a method of managing a life insurance contract or an investment portfolio in which a professional, the manager, takes charge of managing the assets on behalf of the the saver, the customer. Concretely, the manager makes asset allocation choices, i.e. the distribution of capital between the different investment vehicles available (shares, bonds, raw materials, private equity, real estate, money market funds, etc.) based on the client’s risk profile and investment objectives. It also carries out one-off arbitrages, i.e. it buys and sells investment vehicles based on fluctuations in the financial markets and its expectations in order to optimize the performance of the portfolio.