Daily Brief United States: S&P 500 INDEX, Adobe Systems, Apple Hospitality Reit, Ralph Lauren, Binance Coin, Burlington Stores, Dollar Tree Inc, Ecovyst, Immix Biopharma Inc, Kimberly Clark and more

• Explosive SPX upside is a result of funds having to chase as most have not participated in the rise above 4,200. 
• Our 4,500 target may need to be upgraded with a fresh projection at 4,547. Bull energy slated to extend into late June and like buying dips.
• Will A and H shares be the next rotation flavor? HSCEI 6,600 bull pivot. A50 13,200 resistance.

• Revenue: Digital Media net new ARR $470 Mn ($50 mn higher than guide).

• Gross Margin: Digital Media gross margin remains steady at ~96%, but Digital Experience posted its highest ever gross margin of 67.3% in 2Q’23.

• Cost Structure: 2Q’23 GAAP operating margin was 33.7%, down from 34.9% in 2Q’22.

• First of all, Apple is the most valuable company on the planet with a $2.8 trillion market capitalisation and eying for the whooping $3 trillion: +41% in 2023 alone.
• And that equates to a total return in the last 10 years of a whooping 1,266%! Note also it was not a smooth run with some big drawdowns which even they had: 2016: 32%, 2019: 39%
• Key take-away: business ownership vs stock ticker mentality is key …

• Ralph Lauren delivered an all-around beat in the previous quarter.
• In the fourth quarter, the company’s total revenues climbed 9% in constant currency, driven mostly by double-digit growth in Asia.
• Mid-single-digit revenue declines in constant currency were seen in their digital environment.

• While CeFi liquidity has been on a gradual decline this year, which will be the main focus of this article, DeFi is facing a liquidity crisis of sorts in the last few days as one of the most liquid pools in the space becomes heavily imbalanced, so we’ll start there.
• After the latest round of fears surrounding Tether, the 3pool moved to a weight of 75% Tether in the last day, as users rushed out of crypto’s largest stablecoin at once.
• This resulted in Tether depegging to a price of $0.996. This is the most imbalanced the Curve pool has been this year.

• Burlington Stores delivered a disappointing set of results as the company was unable to meet the revenue expectations as well as earnings expectations of Wall Street.
• Comparable store sales increased by 4%, while overall sales increased by 11% during the quarter.
• Product sourcing costs increased by 60 basis points as a percentage of sales.

• Dollar Tree delivered a mixed set of results in its most recent result, with revenues above Wall Street expectations but below-par earnings.
• Both the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar sectors had good top-line growth.
• At Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, in-stock positions improved by 200 basis points and 400 basis points, respectively.

• ECVT has experienced a series of block trades over the past year after its largest shareholder decided to liquidate its position.
• The block sales overshadow the second quarter that is expected to show a rebound in ECVT’s ecoservices
• For second quarter 2023 we are raising our sales and adjusted EBITDA estimate

Immix Biopharma has completed its $5.0m at-the-market (ATM) offering program. The funding is as a result of the initial share sales agreement in March 2023 and is anticipated to further support Immix’s pipeline activities with the development of its key assets: the CAR-T treatment, NXC-201, and the tissue-specific therapeutic, IMX-110. We view the ATM offering as a positive, especially in light of the current macro funding environment for biotech companies.

• Kimberly-Clark’s disappointing performance in recent years is hardly a surprise and does not make the company a bargain.
• The short-term perspective on margins remains mixed, in spite of the management’s optimism.
• KMB could no longer support these activities, according to the company’s management.