-- Consumer stocks were mixed Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) rising 1.2% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) down 0.6%.
In corporate news, Coca-Cola (KO) lifted its full-year earnings growth outlook on Tuesday as the beverages giant posted fiscal Q1 results above market expectations amid pricing and volume gains. Its shares jumped past 5%.
CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:XYL delivered mixed Q1 results, with EPS of $1.12 beating consensus by $0.04 on operational execution, though orders were flat Y/Y. Revenue of $2.1B was flat organically, with strong Measurement & Control (M&C) sales (up 15%) offset by Water Solutions declines (down 15%). We attribute the beat to margin expansion and operational improvements from transformation initiatives, with adjusted EBITDA margin improving 20 bps to 20.6%. Management raised full-year revenue guidance to $9.2B-$9.3B from $9.1B-$9.2B, while maintaining EPS guidance at $5.35-5.60. Segment results were mixed, with M&C serving as a growth engine delivering 18% order growth on robust smart water tech demand, while Water Solutions orders declined 12% due to timing. We believe XYL's 80/20 simplification strategy continues supporting profitability amid inflationary pressures, though we take unchanged EPS guidance as lacking confidence that higher sales will translate to better margins.
CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:We keep our 12-month target at $92, 12.6x our next-12-month EPS view of $7.34. We trim our 2026 EPS view by $0.06 to $7.00 and 2027 by $0.44 to $7.52. Q1 offered some positives with top- and bottom-line beats and better-than-guided International profits (-15.7% vs. -30.0%). Management maintained its 2026 guidance of $89.7B revenue and 9.6% adjusted operating margin, projecting operational inflection in Q2. We think revenue goals are reasonable, but we think margin goals are overly optimistic as we estimate Q2-Q4 requires an average margin of ~10.7%. Consumer spending trends in the U.S. lead us to believe a pullback was materializing prior to the conflict in Iran and we expect that to accelerate. Declines in B2B volumes (-5.1%) indicate industrial weakness. We think cost recovery via fuel surcharges will fail to deliver on profit protection as consumers become less accepting of price increases. Continued margin compression could pressure dividend feasibility as our 2026 EPS view implies a ~94% payout ratio.
Crude futures climbed in midday trading on Tuesday as a military standoff in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz outweighed the shock of the UAE's departure from OPEC and the broader OPEC+ alliance.Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 4.11% to $100.58 per barrel, while Brent futures were up 2.65% to $111.07/bbl.US-Iran peace talks remain at an impasse, with efforts to restart negotiations stalled, Saxo Bank strategists said in a note on Tuesday.On Tuesday, President Trump said in a social media post that Iran wants the US to lift its blockade of the Hormuz and reopen the strategic waterway as soon as possible.Iran, on the other hand, has signaled it may be willing to accept an interim deal to reopen the Strait in exchange for an end to the blockade, according to media reports.The double blockade of the Strait by the US and Iran has ground vessel traffic to near zero, choking off flows of crude, natural gas and oil products.US Marines boarded a commercial vessel in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, US Central Command said in a post on X, adding they later released the container ship after confirming it would not stop at an Iranian port.Soojin Kim, research analyst at MUFG, said crude edged higher as markets assessed Iran's latest proposal to revive peace talks while disruptions in the Hormuz continued to constrain global energy supplies.The latest data from Kpler show that only six vessel crossings were recorded, up two day-on-day, all moving west to east and evenly split between commercial and non-commercial activity.The shipping data firm said access to the strategic waterway remains uncertain as Iran advances a new negotiation proposal, with the modest uptick in daily crossings indicating caution rather than a meaningful recovery in traffic.Japanese crude very large crude carrier Idemitsu Maru completed a transit via the Hormuz carrying 2 million barrels of crude, which was loaded from Saudi Arabia's Juaymah terminal in early March, according to Marine Traffic.Meanwhile, the UAE will leave OPEC on May 1, a significant blow to the producer group as the global energy market grapples with the massive supply disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.Neil Crosby, a Sparta Commodities analyst, said the producer cartel is facing renewed questions over its long-term cohesion after the UAE's departure, though the immediate impact on global oil balances remains muted.In the short term, it means very little for oil balances with the Strait of Hormuz closed, the analyst told, adding that the implications are more in the longer term if and when the OPEC+ group returns to its prior role in the market.