WBD - Catalyst watch: Eyes on Ford event Virgin Galactic launch Nvidia earnings and Microsoft conference

2023-05-19 15:00:19 ET

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch - a breakdown of some of next week's actionable events that stand out. Check out Saturday morning's regular Stocks to Watch article for a full list of events planned for the week, or the Seeking Alpha earnings calendar for companies due to report.

Monday - May 22

• Volatility watch - Stocks singled out as short squeeze candidates in the near term include Digimarc ( DMRC ), Cabaletta Bio ( CABA ), Celsius Holdings ( CELH ), Zentalis Pharma ( ZNTL ), and AppLovin ( APP ). Options trading volume is elevated in general on Mullen Automotive ( MULN ) and Rain Oncology ( RAIN ) heading into next week. Also keep an eye on New Relic ( NEWR ) after reports indicated that private equity firms Francisco Partners and TPG are working on a $5B plus takeover of the software company. New Relic is due to report earnings on May 23 and hold an earnings conference call.
• Earnings watch - Notable companies due to report include Global-E Online ( GLBE ) and Zoom Video ( ZM ).
• Healthcare watch - The American Thoracic Society conference will continue to run until May 24. Gossamer Bio ( GOSS ), Verona Pharma ( VRNA ), and Galecto ( GLTO ) are some of the companies highlighted by analysts as potentially seeing some share price movements following their presentations.
• All day - Dell Technologies ( DELL ) CEO Michael Dell and other top execs will give talks at the Dell Technologies World Day event.
• All day - The FTC review on Merck's ( MRK ) planned $10.8B acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences ( RXDX ) will expire. RXDX trades about 4% below the deal price of $200 per share.
• All day - The three-day GamesBeat summit will begin with topics ranging from next-gen gaming to Metaverse, AI and mobile blockchain topics. The list of speakers for the summit includes Warner Bros. Interactive ( WBD ) President David Haddad, Hasbro ( HAS ) CEO Chris Cocks, Chipotle ( CMG ) CMO Chris Brandt, Playtika ( PLTK ) COO Shlomi Aizenberg, and Amazon Games ( AMZN ) Marketing Chief Sarah Anderson.
• 8:00 a.m. Ford ( F ) will hold a Capital Markets Day event titled Delivering Ford+. CEO Jim Farley and CFO John Lawler will discuss progress and expectations for the Ford+ plan and how the company’s new, customer-centered, business segments will drive value creation. Morgan Stanley previewed that a key question is if Ford ( F ) can credibly reiterate targets of 2M units of North American electric vehicle capacity by the end of 2026 with an 8% margin expectation.
• 8:30 a.m. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will give a speech on the U.S. economy and monetary policy at the American Gas Association 2023 Financial Forum. Later in the day, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will participate in the Technology-Enabled Disruption Conference: Uncertainty and Prospects for Disruptive Investments.

For further details see: