Today's noteworthy upgrades include: ABB (ABB) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS... ACADIA (ACAD) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray... ASML (ASML) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank... Alaska Air (ALK) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank... Arrow Electronics (ARW) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow... Avnet (AVT) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow... Avon Products (AVP) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray... BankUnited (BKU) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Sandler O'Neill... Barclays (BCS) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Berenberg... Bristol-Myers (BMY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Berenberg... CA Technologies (CA) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho... CaixaBank (CAIXY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura... Canadian Pacific (CP) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital... Cardinal Financial (CFNL) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette... Columbia Sportswear (COLM) upgraded to Outperform at Baird... Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at CLSA... Gorman-Rupp (GRC) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Boenning & Scattergood... Independent Bank (INDB) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Compass Point... JD.com (JD) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura... KeyCorp (KEY) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens... Lincoln National (LNC) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James... Masco (MAS) upgraded to Outperform at Baird... MetLife (MET) upgraded to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James... Northern Trust (NTRS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Sandler O'Neill... Pacific Continental (PCBK) upgraded to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette... Qualcomm (QCOM) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland... SL Green Realty (SLG) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust... SVB Financial (SIVB) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray... SunPower (SPWR) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays... WEX Inc. (WEX) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Consensus for FY24 EPS is $16.25. Raises FY24 revenue view to $2.73B-$2.77B from $2.70B-$2.74B, consensus $2.73B.

Reports Q1 revenue $652.7M, consensus $654.7M. "WEX delivered impressive financial results in the first quarter, including record first quarter revenue, marking a strong start to 2024 and reinforcing our ability to drive robust performance in any macroeconomic environment," said CEO Melissa Smith. "Moreover, we continued to execute against our strategic initiatives. During the quarter, we made great progress integrating our recent acquisitions, launched the pilot for an enhanced acceptance offering for our North American Mobility customers, and continued to drive innovation to expand our customer value proposition. We are also laser-focused on leveraging technology and AI to improve efficiency and further enhance our offerings. Looking ahead, I remain confident in our ability to drive growth across the business in the near- and long-term."

WEX (WEX) announced that it has reached a new long-term agreement with Booking.com (BKNG), effective April 2024. This agreement distinguishes WEX as Booking.com's preferred virtual card provider as it continues providing WEX payment solutions in support of Booking.com's payments vision to make buying and selling travel-related products and services easier for everyone. "With more than 800,000 active customer relationships worldwide, WEX is proud to work with eight of the top ten online travel agencies globally, including Booking.com," said Carlos Carriedo, WEX's Chief Operating Officer, International. "Building on years of working together, we remain committed to delivering WEX's deep expertise in both payments and travel, as well as the reliability of our technology platform, to help Booking.com power its B2B travel payment activities 24/7 and 365 days/year at scale, globally." Booking.com first became a WEX customer in 2013. Over a decade later, WEX now processes payments for Booking.com across the world.

Returns: targeting a greater than 12% RoTE; Capital returns: plan to return at least GBP 10bn of capital to shareholders between 2024 and 2026, through dividends and share buybacks, with a continued preference for buybacks. Plan to keep total dividend stable at 2023 level in absolute terms, with progressive dividend per share growth driven through share count reduction as a result of increased share buybacks. Dividends will continue to be paid semi-annually. This multi-year plan is subject to supervisory and Board approval, anticipated financial performance and our published CET1 ratio target range of 13-14%; Income: targeting Group total income of c.GBP 30bn; Costs: targeting total Group operating expenses of c.GBP 17.0bn and a Group cost: income ratio of high 50s in percentage terms. This includes total gross efficiency savings of c.GBP 2bn by 2026; Impairment: expect an LLR of 50-60bps through the cycle; Capital: expect to operate within the CET1 ratio target range of 13-14%; Targeting IB RWAs of c.50% of Group RWAs in 2026; Impact of regulatory change on RWAs in line with prior guidance, expected to be at lower end of 5-10% of Group RWAs. This includes c.GBP 16bn RWAs expected in H224 due to USCB moving to Internal Ratings-Based models

Returns: targeting RoTE of greater than 10% and c.10.5% excluding inorganic activity; Income: targeting Barclays Group NII excluding IB and Head Office of c.GBP 10.7bn, of which Barclays UK NII of c.GBP 6.1bn; Costs: targeting Group cost: income ratio of c.63%, which includes c.GBP 1bn of gross efficiency savings in 2024; Impairment: expect an LLR of 50-60bps through the cycle; Capital: expect to operate within the CET1 ratio target range of 13-14%.

Notable companies reporting before tomorrow's open, with earnings consensus, include Merck (MRK), consensus $1.87... Caterpillar (CAT), consensus $5.14... Comcast (CMSCA), consensus 99c... Honeywell (HON), consensus $2.17... Bristol-Myers (BMY), consensus ($4.44)... Altria (MO), consensus $1.15... Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), consensus 35c... GE Vernova (GEV), consensus (37c)... Royal Caribbean (RCL), consensus $1.33... Tractor Supply (TSCO), consensus $1.72... Mobileye (MBLY), consensus (6c)... Textron (TXT), consensus $1.23... LabCorp (LH), consensus $3.48... Southwest Airlines (LUV), consensus (34c)... American Airlines (AAL), consensus (29c)... Harley-Davidson (HOG), consensus $1.51.

SunPower told employees today it was eliminating 1,000 positions, more than 25% of its workforce. In a letter to staff, Tom Werner stated: "I'm writing to share difficult news with you as we implement changes across our organization in the days and weeks to come. To position SunPower for the future, we need to achieve financial viability, which includes simplifying our business structure, transitioning away from areas where we have been unable to sustain profitable operations, and improving financial controls. As such, we are moving to a low fixed-cost model that we believe we will be able to better flex when the market is up or down. Specifically, we are winding down our SunPower Residential Installation locations and closing SunPower Direct sales. We are also reducing our workforce to better align our business with our new focus. With this shift, we will reduce our workforce by approximately 1,000 people in the coming days and weeks. While we worked hard to avoid this outcome, the market has been slower to recover than we initially expected. Additionally, we have dedicated resources to improving our financial controls, and will continue to do so. We believe this shift in our strategy is necessary to safeguard the company's future." Reference Link