Here's your Investing Action Plan for Wednesday: what you need to know as an investor for the coming day.
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk will unveil a new product after a two-day delay, while Halliburton (HAL) and eBay (EBAY) report earnings. The Federal Reserve will release its so-called Beige Book, and data on new-home construction are due.
Stocks To Watch
Earnings reports Wednesday from a few highly rated but lower-profile companies could trigger key milestones for their stocks.
In recent weeks, the stock bounced off the moving average on Oct. 5 toward the 20%-25% profit-taking zone from a 71.41 entry. The stock closed up 0.5% at 83.77 on the stock market today.
United Rentals (URI) rose 1% at 76.44, nearing its 50-day line as well as an 84.73 buy point from a flat base.
St. Jude Medical (STJ) climbed 2.3% to 79.44, also just shy of its 50-day line and edging closer to an 84.10 entry point.
The Elon Musk Show
Over the weekend, Musk tweeted that his company's product announcement will be delayed until Wednesday, citing the need for more "refinement."
He had teased the event earlier, saying only that the new product will be "unexpected by most." Speculation has centered on an update to Tesla's autonomous-driving features, a "Model Y" SUV, and an at-home energy storage device.
At a previously announced Oct. 28 event with SolarCity (SCTY), which Tesla is seeking to buy, a "solar roof product" will be unveiled.
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Halliburton
Analysts expect Halliburton to swing to a loss of 7 cents a share from a per-share profit of 31 cents a year ago. Revenue is seen plunging 30.3% to $3.89 billion.
Despite the grim estimates, the worst of the oil crash is fading and U.S. rig counts have been rising steadily. Oil prices hit year highs earlier this month after OPEC agreed to cut production next month, and analysts see oilfield service providers as early beneficiaries of the oil rally. Watch for any guidance on capital spending and prospects for drilling activity in U.S. shale.
Rival Schlumberger (SLB) will release Q3 results Thursday. Analysts expect EPS to tumble 71.8% to 22 cents and revenue to fall 16.2% to $7.1 billion.
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EBay
The online marketplace is slated to report Q3 adjusted EPS of 44 cents, up a penny from the year-earlier quarter, on sales of $2.19 billion, up 4.1%.
With the spinoff of PayPal (PYPL) in July 2015, eBay has been focusing on its e-commerce mission. Last week, eBay announced it would sell 5.5 million of its 8.1 million shares of MercadoLibre (MELI), cutting its stake in the Latin American e-com giant to 6% from 18%.
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More Economic Data On Tap
Time for another Beige Book. The report, published eight times a year, culls information from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts on consumer spending, manufacturing, construction and other economic conditions.
Also due are housing starts data for the month of September. Economists expect an annualized construction rate of 1.18 million, up from 1.14 million in August.
