Stocks in Play - January 30th 2025

TLDR Stocks in Play: UPS, META, BX, NOW, CLS

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Irish Born Investor
January 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Stocks in Play - January 30th 2025

TLDR Stocks in Play: UPS, META, BX, NOW, CLS

Welcome to today's Stocks in Play report. Below are the key stocks to watch, along with brief x-ray and analysis.

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1) United Parcel Service (UPS) (Rating: B+, Single-Day - SHORT)

Industry Group: Air Freight/Couriers, Market Cap: $95b, Float: 725m, Short Interest: 1.7%, Days to Cover: 2.9, Exchange: NYSE

Catalyst: AMZN (biggest customer) cutting it’s business with UPS by 50%. Amazon continues to insource more of their shipping. One would imagine this trend will continue. Actual results weren’t awful but the Revs guide is a big miss ($89b vs. est $95b). This is likely a big headline today. AMZN overhang is a big headwind. I think it offers a good short opportunity intraday.

2) Meta Platforms (META) (Rating: B, Single-Day)

Industry Group: Technology Services, Market Cap: $1.5t, Float: 2.2b, Short Interest: 1.2%, Days to Cover: 1.9, Exchange: NASDAQ

Catalyst: Huge EPS Beat ($8.02 vs est. $6.78), Big Revs Beat, Big Operating Margins Beat. Strong Rev Growth and Free Cash Flow. Raised Capex (already announced). No FY25 Guide. No share repurchase this Quarter vs $9b previous. Lots of AI talk by Zuck on the call and promises of lots of announcements and that they intend to be the Standard for AI on Open Source. Price action pretty flat but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this bought up at some stage today even if we sell at the open. The numbers are big and the outlook is big and sentiment around META is roundly bullish. For that reason I will be watching it today.

Honorable Mention to: BX - Slow mover but their report was really bullish. Massive beat on KPIs - Inflows ($57b vs est. $40b), Performance Revs up 728% YoY. Bullish commentary from management. NOW - Slight miss on several metrics. Company converting to a consumption model rather than subscription and some FX & seasonal headwinds.. Stock down 10%. I like it at an undercut and recovery of $1,000 area. CLS - Very slight beat on Revs & EPS. Including this mainly due to price action. It got hammered with the AI stocks on Monday. It was very strong last night along with IBM. Worth keeping an eye on.

Market Awareness

The big earnings last night are slightly muted. Listened to the META call which was quite bullish, The TSLA call was the usual Elon rambling. Some nice reactions in smaller names. Picks & Shovels doing well. Plenty of volatility and opportunities today but I don’t think the market itself is quite ready to run and I don’t see anything that would spur it on yet. Plenty of big moves after earnings. I think we could see rotation into smaller names today.

Cautiously bullish. Watching for daily Trump bombs. I think I may actually start tracking when he is speaking. Continue to hit singles and wait for good opportunities for delayed reaction swings on my top picks. Less is more in this choppy environment. Found it difficult today to pick out the best Stocks in Play. Lots of options no clear favourite.

After Hours I’m Watching: AAPL, DECK, TEAM, INTC(Earnings)

Tomorrow Morning I’m Watching: XOM, CVX, ABBV (Earnings)

Top Pick Watchlists:

Sources & Services I Use in my Trading:

PS: There are many ways to trade stocks in play. It does not have to be the one that keeps going straight up and sometimes it doesn’t even have to be day one of the catalyst. Everyone must find a setup, timeframe and method that works for them. This list is supposed to educate on the criteria I use and the methods in which I find Stocks in Play. Yours may differ and that is completely okay.

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