Alright folks, thanks once again for allowing me to sit in for Doug, who is slated to pick the reigns back up tomorrow. 

As I bid adieu until next time, a quick shout out to Bob Lang who is slated to lend a helping hand with the "Off the Charts" segment this week on Mad Money with Jim Cramer. I'd say be sure to tune in, but you should be watching Mad Money to begin with! 

And once again my thanks to the editors that spit polish my thoughts before they are shared with you. 

See ya soon!

As I mentioned earlier, I've got the LendingClub (LC) earnings report to deal with after today's market close, but here are several reports that are likely to drive tomorrow's market open: 

Economic

January PPI

January Housing Starts & Building Permits 

Earnings

Analog Devices (ADI)

Bausch Health (BHC)

Genuine Parts (GPC)

Granite Construction (GVA)

Wingstop (WING)

At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York, or CAGNY, Mondelez International (MDLZ) , the company behind my favorite cookie - the Oreo - reiterated its 2020 outlook, as well as the following long-term targets: 

- Organic Net Revenue growth of 3% plus

- High-single digit Adjusted EPS growth at constant currency

- Free Cash Flow of $3 billion plus

- Dividend growth outpacing Adjusted EPS growth 

As someone who keeps close watch on corporate dividend announcements given our Thematic Dividend All Stars Index at Tematica, I can say Mondelez has averaged more than 13% compounded annual growth in its dividend, which is bound to have it show up on some investor screens.

As we head into the last hour of the trading day, the Dow and S&P 500 remain in the red, but the Nasdaq is wavering between slightly positive and breakeven.

How Apple (AAPL) performs in the last hour will likely dictate how we finish the day.

After the closing bell for the U.S. equity markets rings today, investors will be besieged by a barrage of corporate earnings reports. Given the news of the day, we can expect investors will continue to pay close attention to any and all coronavirus impact. The focal point of this post-market-close earnings reports are likely to be Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) , Groupon (GRPN) , Herbalife Nutrition (HLF) , LendingClub (LC) , Scientific Games (SGMS) , TiVo (TIVO) and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) .

Given our position in LendingClub shares in the Stocks Under $10 Portfolio, that is one of the reports I'll be digging into.

Earlier today, Bob Lang and I used the day's weakness in Apple (AAPL) and Qualcomm (QCOM) shares to nibble modestly... we are hardly from a full position size in either, and will look to opportunistically build that out at favorable prices. 

With Walmart's (WMT) December quarter earnings report out of the way and the company inching its dividend to shareholders up by almost 2%, this could be one that we put through the Trifecta ringer sooner than later.

If you're an investor that is inclined to look at the intersection of what I call the Digital Lifestyle and food industry, you are more than likely looking at the food delivery industry, which has changed significantly in the last several years. While its brought convenience to many a diner that is willing to swallow the fees associated with the service, it has amped up costs for restaurants that choose to be on multiple platforms. A new report takes a look at the industry and shares what could be on the horizon: 

"DoorDash, in one case, is mulling a public listing and is receptive to bringing in more funds from private investors, per an unnamed source. Postmates is also once again reportedly considering going public after privately filing early in 2019. The firm decided not to go public following less-than-stellar Lyft (LYFT) and Uber (UBER) offerings as well as WeWork's blundered listing. 

Food delivery has quickly grown in the United States over the past five years due to an influx of venture capital. Firms with food delivery operations brought in almost $16 billion from 2016 to 2019, per PitchBook, as cited by the report. Delivery firms used the cash to grow throughout the country and compete with one another. 

Uber (UBER) Eats, Grubhub GRUB , Postmates and DoorDash all claim that they can deliver to roughly 75% of the United States population. Delivery has expanded to some 5% of the approximately $600 billion U.S. restaurant market, per Morgan Stanley. 

In January, news surfaced that DoorDash has come out ahead of Grubhub as the No. 1 food delivery service in the country. DoorDash received 33% of all food delivery sales in the country last year, while Grubhub only took in 32%. Uber Eats took 20% and Postmates received 10%. DoorDash sales rose 143% year over year, which transformed the delivery landscape from 2018, when Grubhub had 43% of the market." 

Food for thought as a few of these look to eventually tap the public equity markets as are the wide swings in expected EPS for Grubhub between last year's $0.79, this year's consensus forecast of $0.04, and the one for 2021 at $0.45.

Despite Simon Property Group's (SPG) view on brick & mortar retail, S&P Global Ratings seems to have a somewhat different view as it downgraded Macy's (M) credit to "junk" status, citing a weaker profitability outlook after the company unveiled its three year strategic plan. 

"While we believe management's strategic plan is a necessary step toward rightsizing the enterprise, it demonstrates to us that the company's competitive advantage has diminished more than we expected, and to a point that we no longer believe is consistent with an investment-grade rating... We now project operating performance will deteriorate over the next several quarters, with declines in comparable same-store sales." 

In my mind this begs some dueling questions between the company's ability meet its quarterly dividend expectations and the need for more real estate sales.

Simon Property Group (SPG) , the biggest U.S. mall owner which is already finishing up an $81 million deal to rescue the bankrupt teen apparel retailer Forever 21, is now planning to acquire rival mall owner Taubman Centers (TCO) in a deal valued at around $3.6 billion - seriously doubling down on bricks over clicks.

Before taking the stage at the CAGNY investor conference in Orlando, General Mills (GIS) reiterated its recent guidance that calls for organic sales growth of 1%-2% this year and constant-currency adjusted diluted EPS to be up 3%-5% vs. +5% consensus. It would seem the company is looking to fend off questions spinning out of the ConAgra (CAG) negative pre-announcement I discussed earlier this morning. 

More specifically, General Mills goes on to say: 

"Nearly half of our company-owned Häagen-Dazs shops in Greater China have been temporarily closed, and the remaining shops are operating under severely restricted hours. For context, the Greater China region represents approximately 4 percent of General Mills net sales, of which approximately 40 percent are net sales from Häagen-Dazs shops and other foodservice outlets. Because of the evolving nature of the situation, we are not able to quantify the financial impact of the outbreak on our fiscal 2020 results at this time." 

Another reminder that we as investors need to dig into a company's business and its exposures to understand the potential impact to be had. 

Talk about talking out of both sides of one's mouth... 

Bernstein has nearly doubled its price target on Tesla (TSLA) shares, saying the electric car maker is the "ultimate 'possibility' stock." 

Huh what? I wasn't aware we had a new rating category to work with... or is this an update take on "cult stock"? 

Moving along... Bernstein boosted its price target to $730 while maintaining the Market Perform rating its had for the past three years. 

My take is it's a viewpoint that missed the TSLA move and is looking to save face. File it under a day late and several dollars short.

And while today's big driver is Apple (AAPL) , let's check the facts courtesy of FactSet: 

"Of the 364 companies that have held Q4 earnings calls, 138 cited the term "coronavirus" during the call, and about 25% of those included some impact from the coronavirus or modified guidance due to the virus." 

Weighing in, Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, said "The ramp up in China will take much longer than many expect because of the need to prevent a secondary flare up in contagion..." 

And as The Wall Street Journal shares, "Among the respondents to the survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, 78% said they don't have sufficient staff to run a full production line." 

I agree with Swonk's assessment that attempting to forecast the effects of CIVID-19 are like standing on quicksand. We'll continue to prudently pick our spots in the Trifecta Portfolio and Stocks Under $10, favoring inelastic and U.S. focused businesses in the near-term.

Twitter (TWTR) shares are trading higher today, and checking around as to why, points to activist speculation in the shares.

While private equity shops have ample cash to put to work, readers should be mindful when engaging on the heels of such rumors.

I pointed this out recently with shares of USA Technologies (USAT)  which are in the midst of a proxy battle during which it was speculated the current management may be attempting to sell the company before the upcoming shareholder meeting. That comment was unearthed in a recent filing with the SEC, and as I pointed out we've seen companies put themselves in play before. While there are times when it does result in a favorable acquisition, there's no shortage of times when it doesn't. 

In short, let the buyer beware when speculation is driving shares higher.

Following up on my cybersecurity comments, this morning we are wading deeper into the shares of MobileIron (MOBL) in the Stocks Under $10 Portfolio managed by Sarge Guilfoyle and myself.

While most are focused on the fallout from the coronavirus this morning, the February Empire State Manufacturing Index "moved up eight points to 12.9. The new orders index shot up 16 points to 22.1, and the shipments index climbed to 18.9." 

The full report can be read here.

If you're watching financial news this morning, turn your channel over to Cheddar and watch my partner in crime Lenore Hawkins share her take on the global macro landscape.

She'll be hitting the airwaves and digital streams at 9:30 am ET.

Reports suggest Dell Technologies (DELL) is nearing a deal to sell its RSA cybersecurity business to technology focused private equity firm STG Partners LLC for more than $2 billion. 

This continues the hot streak of cybersecurity deals of late that not only included Broadcom (AVGO) buying the enterprise facing security business from Symantec, but also the acquisition of NSS Labs by private equity shop Consecutive in October, and the recently speculated takeout of FireEye (FEYE) by Cisco Systems (CSCO) . 

My position has been that as we move deeper into our connected society, a move that will likely be hastened by 5G and the Internet of Things, cybersecurity demand will grow due in part to the growing wall of privacy regulations around the globe with GDPR serving as the lighting rod. My thoughts on this were only reinforced this morning by a report that ran in today's Financial Times: 

"The EU immediately rejected Facebook's latest vision of how online content should be regulated, warning that the social media company will have to assume more responsibility for illegal material on its platforms."

__________ 

The Trifecta Portfolio is long CSCO shares. CSCO and FEYE are constituents in the Foxberry Tematica Research Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Index.

More trouble in retail land as home furnishings company Pier 1 Imports  (PIR) filed for bankruptcy yesterday and announced it will try to find a buyer. While the company has closed more than 400 stores, as of yesterday it had more than 500 open.

Granted Pier 1 had been struggling for some time, but the concern is what will the impact be of closing those additional locations if a buyer isn't found?

How about some potentially positive news... 

Casinos in Macau are set to reopen Wednesday (Feb. 19), which is expected to provide some relief to casino operators including Las Vegas Sands (LVS) , MGM Resorts International (MGM) , Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Galaxy Entertainment Group (GXYEF) , among others. 

... and some not so good news that is bound to be a bit of head scratcher to more than a few investors when they juxtapose it against some of the recent data. 

ConAgra (CAG) reduced its 2020 revenue and EPS guidance following softer than expected quarterly performance that included "consumption declines" across the food industry. The company now expects its 2020 organic net sales growth to be flat to +0.5% and its EPS in the range of $2.00-$2.07. 

I'd note this paints a very different picture than the one offered by the January Retail Sales Report that showed sales rising 6.1% year over year for the three month period ending January 2020 at food services & drinking places, as well as January grocery retail sales climbing 2.5% year over year. 

The quick comparison suggests ConAgra might be losing some market share... 

And Walmart (WMT) reported January quarter EPS of $1.38, below the expected $1.44, on revenue of $141.7 billion that matched expectations. The bulk of the bottom line miss was attributed to disruptions in Chile and legal issues. Comp sales for the quarter rose 1.9% while the company's e-commerce business soared 35% YoY with strong growth in grocery pick-up and delivery. Walmart issued in-line guidance for the coming year with EPS of $5.00-5.15 vs. the $5.12 consensus. 

Alongside those results, Walmart also raised its annual dividend by 1.9% to $2.16 per share.

While we wait for U.S. equity markets to open, let's take a look at some economic news to be had today across the globe. As you can see, it's not something that will offset the weight of Apple's (AAPL) comments this morning. If anything, it will add to investor concerns. 

Japan's economy shrank at an annualized rate of -6.3% in the December 2019 quarter, far faster than the expected 3.7% drop. I'd note this marks the first decline in five quarters for the country's GDP, which is being attributed in part to the sales tax hike that hit consumer and business spending. Paired with the fallout of the coronavirus, we could see the country hit a technical recession during the current quarter. Japan is the top tourist destination for residents of Beijing. 

The February ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment reading for Germany fell to 8.7 from 26.7 in January, missing the 21.5 consensus, with the assessment of the economic situation component dropping to -15.7, down 6.2 points from January. The suspected reason behind the February tumble is the impact of the coronavirus on the German economy. China is Germany's third largest export partner, accounting for 7.2% of all exports in 2018, with the United States and France accounting for 8.7% and 8.1%, respectively. 

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the eurozone fell by 15.2 to 10.4 in February from 25.6 in January, substantially below the expected reading of 30 for the month.

Dun & Bradstreet is full of good news this morning, and yes my friends that was sarcasm, as it shares a briefing on the global impact of the shutdowns across large parts of China: 

- The areas affected with 100+ confirmed cases as of February 5 are home to over 90% of all the active businesses in China.

- Just under 50% of the companies with subsidiaries in the impacted areas are headquartered in Hong Kong, 19% in the U.S., 12% in Japan, and 5% in Germany.

- At least 51,000 companies worldwide and 163 of the Fortune 1000 have one or more direct "tier 1" suppliers in the affected region. Nearly 1/10th or 938 of the Fortune 1000 have one or more "tier 2" suppliers in the affected region. 

And for those looking to wrap their economic arms around all of this, yesterday Moody's revised its global growth forecasts down by 0.2%, forecasting G-20 aggregate growth of 2.4% in 2020, and China falling to 5.2%.

Good morning all! I was hoping that we would start the week of on a bright note, but I'm afraid to say that it's not looking like that will happen at least for U.S. equities. 

Last Friday, I noted to Trifecta Portfolio subscribers that traders would likely take a cautious stance heading into the long weekend that saw U.S. equity markets closed yesterday in observation of Presidents' Day -- and it was a correct assumption, as stocks gave back most of their gains to finish the day little changed. That concern proved to be on the nose as Apple (AAPL) pre-announced that it would not meet its revenue expectations for the current quarter that it laid out on Jan. 28, which was wider than usual, as the company looked to account for impact of the coronavirus.

Citing both demand and supply from China, Apple announced it does not expect to meet its March-quarter revenue guidance of $63 billion-$67 billion, issued in late January, despite strong demand outside of China. Given the coronavirus, Apple is "experiencing a slower return to normal condition" than anticipated for both its manufacturing partners and its retail stores. The company noted that "worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained." 

Odds are this news will have a ripple effect across the smartphone supply chain and weigh on known iPhone supply companies, including Qualcomm (QCOM) , Skyworks Solutions  (SWKS) , Qorvo (QRVO) , Broadcom (AVGO) and Cirrus Logic (CRUS) . And with Apple shares accounting for 7.5% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and 4.85% of the S&P 500, it comes as no surprise that Apple's news will have the week's trading at least start off in the red. 

As we've all come to realize in recent weeks, the scope of the virus's impact has been far greater than many initially expected -- and even as China looks to get back to work, that resumption has been slower than expected. On Monday morning, we are seeing that play out in the latest Zew Indicators for both the eurozone and Germany, and it's worth nothing that China is a larger trading partner for the U.S. than Germany. It is likely this means we will be hearing more reports like the one from Apple in the coming days.

Now go grab a cup of coffee to shake off the long weekend and I'll see you back here shortly.