As we alluded to in last Friday's Roundup, after today's market close Micron (MU) , as well as Jefferies (JEF) , will report their latest quarterly results. Earlier today, while on Yahoo! Finance, Chris Versace shared Micron's results will be a litmus test for the recent tech rally as the company updates its outlook for several key end markets, including PCs, smartphones, and data center.
In late December Micron shared expectations for PC unit volume to decline by a low to mid-single-digit percentage and smartphone volumes to be flat to up slightly. At the time, Micron pointed to a decline in smartphone volume during 1H 2023 with an expected rebound in 2H 2023 with one swing factor being the reopening of China's economy.
Research firm IDC sees the year playing out like this: "Most regions will face double-digit declines in the first half of the year, make a turn into positive territory in the third quarter, and then boost into double-digit growth in the last quarter of the year."
When Micron shares its outlook, given our Apple (AAPL) exposure, we'll be looking to see if it backs that view, or if the expected rebound has been pushed out some or even pulled forward. The same goes for our shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and Micron's updated PC outlook.
In terms of data center and automotive, when Micron management spoke at Susquehanna's 12th Annual Technology Conference, it shared it is "excited about the data center trends long term. It's going to be growing faster than most segments of the market, except for automotive growing even faster."
That speaks to our longer-term view with the shares of Marvell (MRVL) , a position we added to yesterday ahead of Micron's earnings later today. As we shared in that note to members, if MRVL shares trade-off in response to Micron's earnings and guidance we have ample room to grow the portfolio's position, especially at levels below the current cost basis of $40.65.
Banking Landscape, Apple
Turning to Jefferies, we'll be interested in what it has to say about the overall banking environment and credit trends, but also what it sees ahead for the investment banking landscape. When we started the current position in Bank of America (BAC) shares, we noted the rebound in that market is a catalyst we are watching for.
And Apple has officially released its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in the U.S., which allows users to make purchases and pay for them over time with no fees and no interest. This is an incremental positive to spur the company's Apple Pay business, a move that is likely to impact other BNPL businesses at Affirm (AFRM) , PayPal (PYPL) , and Block's (SQ) Afterpay.