Catalyst watch for next week: MicroStrategy event, AMD earnings and OPEC meeting
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Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch - a breakdown of some of next week's actionable events that stand out. Check out Saturday morning's regular Stocks to Watch article for a full list of events planned for the week or the Seeking Alpha earnings calendar for companies due to report.
Monday - January 31


All week - Options trading volume has jumped on Hertz Group (NASDAQ:HTZ) and Oatly (NASDAQ:OTLY). Stocks generating strong interest on Reddit's WallStreetBets include Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) and Block (NYSE:SQ). On Stocktwits, AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) are near the top of the buzz list. Short interest on electric vehicle stocks Blink Charging (NASDAQ:BLNK), Arcimoto (NASDAQ:FUV), Workhorse Group (NASDAQ:WKHS), Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA), Romeo Power (NYSE:RMO) and Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) is still high.

All day - CITIC Capital Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:CCAC) shareholders will meet to vote on the SPAC deal to take lidar specialist Quanergy public. After Quanergy starts to trade, it will join Velodyne (NASDAQ:VLDR), Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR), AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR), Ouster (NYSE:OUST), Innoviz Technologies (NASDAQ:INVZ) and Aeva Technologies (NYSE:AEVA) in the growing lidar sector.

10:45 a.m. Ocuphire Pharma (NASDAQ:OCUP) will hold its Investor R&D Day 2022 event. Topics will include a review of previous Phase 2 and 3 readouts from 2021, status updates for ongoing clinical trials, a preview of expected 2022 catalysts including a potential NDA submission for the RM indication, and prospective commercial dynamics and competitive positioning of Nyxol in RM and presbyopia, and APX3330 in retinal diseases.

Postmarket - Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS) is expected to see a 10% move after it reports earnings based on options trading. Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) is anticipated to see a 14% swing. Harmonic jumped 13% after its last earnings report.

Tuesday - February 1


All day - Chinese electric vehicle makers Nio (NYSE:NIO), XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) are lined up to post their monthly deliveries update. The stocks have seen heavy selling pressure over the last few weeks. Morgan Stanley warns that the January numbers could be soft due to a normal slowdown in activity ahead of the Chinese New Year and COVID restrictions impacting part of the supply chain.

All day - The latest monthly gaming revenue report from Macau could impact casino stocks like Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO) and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) once again. The Chinese New Year holiday also begins, although tight border restrictions due to COVID cases is seen leaving just a little upside for gaming revenue compared to recent months.

All day - The two-day MicroStrategy World 2022 event will feature several keynote addresses and talks on the outlook for Bitcoin (BTC-USD). MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor is hosting a Bitcoin for Corporations panel that will include Block (SQ) Jack Dorsey and Silvergate Capital's (NYSE:SI) Alan Lane. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will not have a representative at the event, but the company just reported no change to its Bitcoin balance sheet holding.

All day - Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp. (IVAN) shareholders will meet to approve the SPAC deal to take lithium-metal battery supplier SES Holdings public. Shareholders with Omnichannel Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:OCA) meet to vote on the SPAC deal with Kin Insurance.

All day - Analyst research opens up on Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLX), CinCor Pharma (NASDAQ:CINC), Hour Loop (NASDAQ:HOUR) and Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL).

Postmarket - Companies due to report earnings with large share price swings implied by options trading include MicroStrategy (MSTR) with a 13% expected move and AMD (AMD) with a 10% anticipated move.

Wednesday - February 2


All day - The OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting will take place via videoconference. Analysts expect OPEC+ to stick to a plan to hike production 400,000 barrels a day in March. In December, OPEC+ nations only achieved about two-thirds of the expected increase due to shortages with Nigeria, Angola and Russia. Oil prices are poised for their sixth weekly gain ahead of the meeting. Brent crude futures (CO1:COM) stand at $90.24 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (CL1:COM) are at $87.17 a barrel at last check.

All day - Athersys (NASDAQ:ATHX) is scheduled to present a program milestone update titled "MultiStem Clinical Programs: An In-Depth Look." Some analysts have circled the event as a potential share price catalyst.

All day - Shareholders with CyrusOne (NASDAQ:CONE) will vote on the KKR buyout on February 2 and NeoPhotonics Corporation (NYSE:NPTN) shareholders vote on the Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) acquisition.

10:00 a.m. LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) will hold a virtual analyst and investor event with senior management scheduled to introduce the company's outlook for fiscal year 2022 and update the investment community on the business performance and key strategic priorities. Shares of TREE have rallied significantly in the past during similar events.

10:30 a.m. ARK Invest's Cathie Wood is due to speak at a CBOE-hosted webcast titled "Invest with Impact: The Importance of Transparency in a Portfolio." The ARK Transparency ETF (BATS:CTRU) hit the market last month and includes top holdings in MaxLinear Inc. (NASDAQ:MXL), Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:TER), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Tesla (TSLA) and HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ).

11:00 a.m. A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) will hold an Investor Day event a day after reporting Q4 results. Management is scheduled to outline the company's long-term strategy.

11:00 a.m. The U.S. House Committee on Transportation is on tap to conduct a hearing on "The Road Ahead for Automated Vehicles." The hearing could hold some interest for autonomous vehicle companies like Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR), TuSimple (NASDAQ:TSP), Cruise (NYSE:GM), Waymo (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Embark Technologies (NASDAQ:EMBK).

Thursday - February 3


All day - SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp I (NASDAQ:SBEA) shareholders will meet to vote on the proposed business combination with Authentic Brands LLC in a SPAC Deal. Authentic Brands is the parent company of Black Rifle Coffee Company. The Black Rifle coffee brand has become popular in military, conservative and gun-rights circles and sells through top retailers like 7Eleven (OTCPK:SVNDF), Bass Pro Shops and Walmart (NYSE:WMT).

Premarket - Companies due to report earnings with large share price swings implied by options trading include Regis (NYSE:RGS) with a 30% expected move, Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO) with a 14% anticipated swing and Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN) with a 13% expected move. All three stocks saw double-digit share prices moves after their last earnings report.

8:30 a.m. InflaRx NV (NASDAQ:IFRX) will host a R&D event that will feature insight on the development of vilobelimab in Hidradenitis Suppurativa, including details on the study design and novel endpoint for the Phase III trial. Shares of InflaRx have soared in the past off positive vilobelimab data.

8:30 a.m. Cigna (NYSE:CI) will hold its earnings call with traders watching for any information concerning the reports that the company reached out to Centene (NYSE:CNC) about a potential takeover. Centene has seen extra attention ever since activist Politan Capital Management took a stake in the company and is reported to have started to push for board changes.

10:00 a.m. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will hold a confirmation hearing on Sarah Bloom Raskin to be Vice Chairman for Supervision and a member of Fed board of Governors. The Raskin pick has raised some pushback over her calls for federal regulators to transition financing away from the fossil fuel industry. The hearing will also cover the Fed board picks of Dr. Lisa DeNell Cook and Dr. Philip Nathan Jefferson.

11:00 a.m. Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) will webcast a capital management update. Top execs will share TI's strategy to maximize long-term growth of free cash flow per share. They will also review TI's 2021 performance against its stated capital management metrics and discuss management's expectations for performance in the years ahead.

Friday - February 4


8:30 a.m. The January employment report is expected to show an increase of 178K jobs adds to fall back from the 199K jobs added in December. Bank of America is forecasting nonfarm payrolls will actually be down 150K in the month due to the short-term quarantine effect with hourly workers amid the surge of Omicron COVID variant cases.

10:00 a.m. Gain Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GANX) will hold its R&D Day 2022 event. Shares of Gain Therapeutics are down 23% on a year-to-date basis.

10:00 a.m. SomaLogic (NASDAQ:SLGC) will hold an analyst and investor meeting with presentations from company leaders outlining SomaLogicâs unique positioning in proteomics, financial profile, and plans for continued business evolution and growth as the company furthers its scientific and commercial progress.

10:00 a.m. Needham will host an expert call on the home furnishings sector. The call will focus on recent trends in the home furnishings space both online and in brick & mortar. Read-throughs are anticipated for Wayfair (NYSE:W), Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), RH (NYSE:RH), Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM), Arhaus (NASDAQ:ARHS), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walmart (WMT).