Meta Shares Soar After Hours on Earnings Beat, Dividend
February 01, 2024 04:40 PM EST
Meta (META) shares jumped 13% to a record high in extended trading Thursday after the company blew past analyst estimates with its quarterly earnings report and announced a quarterly dividend.
Net income more than tripled to more than $14 billion in the fourth quarter, as revenue surged to more than $40 billion. Expenses declined 8% year-over-year, with much of the savings coming from a 22% reduction in headcount.
Meta said it would start paying a quarterly dividend, which will start at 50 cents a share. The company also upped its share repurchase authorization by $50 billion, bringing its total buyback stockpile to more than $80 billion.
Equity Indexes Wrap: Indexes Climb Amid Broad Rally; Regional Banks Lag Amid Real Estate Loan Concerns
February 01, 2024 04:11 PM EST
The Dow
Merck (MRK) gained 4.7% after it beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations in the fourth quarter amid strong demand for its blockbuster drugs Keytruda and Gardasil. Fellow drugmaker Amgen (AMGN) rose 3.3%.
Microsoft (MSFT) added 1.6%, rebounding slightly from yesterday’s tech sell-off.
Apple (AAPL) added 1.3% ahead of its quarterly earnings report after the bell.
Disney (DIS) rose 1.1% as it appealed a court’s dismissal of its free speech lawsuit against Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Honeywell (HON) shares slipped 2.5% after its fourth-quarter sales fell short of analyst estimates.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) fell 0.9% a day after the Federal government proposed cutting Medicare Advantage rates for the second consecutive year in 2025.
The S&P 500
Corteva (CTVA) shares jumped 18.9% after the agricultural chemicals company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Competitor FMC (FMC) rose 10.6%.
Etsy (ETSY) climbed 9.1% after appointing a partner at activist investor Elliott Investment Management to its board of directors.
HVAC manufacturer Trane Technologies (TT) rose 7.4% after beating quarterly earnings estimates.
Qorvo (QRVO) gained 6% after beating expectations with its quarterly earnings and current-quarter sales forecast.
Meta (META) rose 1.2% ahead of its earnings report.
Logistics and shipping company C.H. Robinson (CHRW) tumbled 12.6% after missing quarterly earnings estimates.
Insurers Aflac (AFL) and MetLife (MET) both missed Wall Street’s estimates with their quarterly earnings reports. Their stocks fell 9.6% and 5.7%, respectively.
Regional banks tumbled amid concern about commercial real estate losses. Zion Bancorp (ZION) fell 6.3%, M&T Bank (MTB) slid 4.6%, and PNC Financial (PNC) dropped 3.9%.
The Nasdaq 100
Amazon (AMZN) added 2.6% ahead of its earnings report after the bell.
AI semiconductor stocks advanced, led by Nvidia (NVDA), up 2.4%. ASML Holding (ASML) also added 2.4%, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 1.5% to rebound slightly from its losses yesterday stemming from its quarterly earnings report.
Qualcomm (QCOM) slid 5% after it forecast the smart phone market would stabilize—but not grow—in 2024 after contacting in 2023.
Corteva Shares Surge on Earnings Beat
February 01, 2024 03:18 PM EST
Shares of agricultural chemical and seed company Corteva (CTVA) jumped Thursday after its fourth-quarter earnings topped Wall Street estimates on the back of higher seed prices.
Full-year sales decreased 3% in 2023 amid a slowdown in demand in Latin America as producers moved through excess inventory. Seed sales, despite declining volume, grew 5% amid a 13% increase in prices. And the company forecast higher volume in both its seed and crop protection segments this year.
Full-year adjusted earnings were $2.69 per share, a slight uptick from the year before and more than analysts were expecting.
“Overall agricultural fundamentals remain constructive, with record-setting demand for grain, oilseeds, meat and biofuels continuing into 2024,” said CEO Chuck Magro in the company’s earnings release.
Corteva was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Thursday, with its shares up more than 18%. Still, the stock has fallen more than 16% in the past year. Shares of competitor FMC (FMC) were up 9%.
Etsy Shares Soar as Board Adds Activist Investor
February 01, 2024 02:31 PM EST
Etsy Inc. (ETSY) shares took off Thursday as the online marketplace appointed a partner from Elliott Investment Management to its board after the activist investor took a major position in the firm.
The company announced that Marc Steinberg would take his seat next Monday. Steinberg will also join the board’s audit committee.
Elliott has built about a 13% stake in Etsy, according to people familiar with the matter cited by CNBC. That would make it the company’s largest shareholder.
Steinberg currently sits on the board of image-sharing website Pinterest Inc. (PINS), as well as three private companies.
Etsy shares, despite rising 8% to $71.84 at 2:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, have lost nearly half their value over the past year.
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Shell Announces $3.5 Billion Share Buyback, Better-Than-Expected Profit
February 01, 2024 01:10 PM EST
Energy giant Shell (SHEL) on Thursday reported a 2023 profit of $28 billion, down almost 30% from the previous year, but said it will raise its dividend and hand back $3.5 billion to shareholders.
In its fourth-quarter earnings release the Anglo-Dutch firm announced adjusted earnings of $7.3 billion which beat analysts’ expectations for $6 billion. However, that was down from a record $9.8 billion in the previous year due to falling oil & gas prices. The company said it handed back $23 billion in 2023 but would still be raising its dividend by 4% from the previous quarter and increasing its share buyback program by $3.5 billion.
CEO Wael Sawan took over the energy giant at the start of 2023 vowing to be “ruthless” in improving performance and investor returns. The company started cutting jobs in January of 2024, with Sawan saying on Thursday’s earnings call that the company has “already achieved $1 billion in structural cost reductions,” of his planned $2 to $3 billion in cuts by the end of 2025.
Shares in Shell were up 1.7% at $63.95 Thursday afternoon. The stock has gained about 10% over the past year.
Qorvo Stock Rises As Smartphone Handset Revival Drives Guidance Beat
February 01, 2024 12:29 PM EST
Qorvo (QRVO) shares added more than 4% in intraday trading Thursday after the wireless chipmaker’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales guidance exceeded analysts’ expectations due to a rebound in the smartphone market.
The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company expects to earn an adjusted profit of $1.20 per share in the current quarter on revenue of $925 million, plus or minus $25 million, whereas Wall Street had expected $1.17 a share on net sales of $913.1 million.
The company’s upbeat outlook centers around a recovery in Android mobile handsets as users upgrade to 5G-compatible devices. “We are seeing incremental improvement in end market demand in the Android ecosystem, and we expect to achieve year-over-year revenue growth in all of Qorvo’s operating segments in the March quarter,” CEO Bob Bruggeworth said in the company’s earnings statement.
During the fiscal third quarter, the chip manufacturer’s top line came in at $1.07 billion, increasing 44% from the prior year and surpassing the consensus figure of $1 billion. The bottom line also topped expectations, coming in at $2.10 per share compared to forecasts of $1.66 a share.
Qorvo shares have traded within a 25-point range over the past 12 months, with several failed breakout attempts. After a recent test of the pattern’s top trendline, the price has retraced to the 200-day moving average, with volume increasing into the company’s earnings announcement. If the stock can close above the 50-day moving average today, keep an eye out for another test of the range’s upper trendline around $113.50.
Bank Stocks Tumble as Real Estate Jitters Intensify
February 01, 2024 11:52 AM EST
Regional banking stocks sank Thursday as banks across the globe warned of impending trouble in the commercial real estate sector.
Major Japanese lender Aozora said Thursday it expects losses on U.S. property loans to drag its full-year earnings into the red. Its concerns echoed those of regional lender New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), which yesterday reported a surprise quarterly loss after building up its credit loss provisions by 790%.
Shares of New York Community Bancorp tumbled 12% to trade below their March 2023 banking crisis lows. Other regional lenders followed—Zions Bancorp (ZION) fell 8% while M&T Bancorp (MTB) and KeyCorp (KEY) slid 6%.
Larger lenders with comparatively small commercial real estate portfolios were also lower Thursday, with Bank of America (BAC) down more than 2.5% and Citigroup (C) falling about 2%.
Peloton Stock Plummets to All-Time Low on Disappointing Earnings Outlook
February 01, 2024 11:08 AM EST
Shares of Peloton (PTON) tumbled to an all-time low Thursday morning after the fitness company missed fiscal second-quarter earnings estimates and forecast weaker sales and a bigger-than-expected loss in the current quarter.
Peloton reported a net loss of $195 million, or 54 cents a share, on $744 million in revenue. Sales surpassed analyst estimates, while profit came up short. The company reported a 4% year-over-year decrease in membership and a modest 1% increase in paid subscriptions.
The company has struggled with growth ever since Covid-19 restrictions were loosened in 2021, giving millions of people the freedom to leave their homes and Peloton bikes. Thursday’s results suggest the company is still struggling to return to growth, but CEO Barry McCarthy forecast revenue growth would resume in the fourth quarter ending in June.
However, investors were spooked by Peloton’s grim outlook. The company expects full-year revenue to decline 3% from the 2023 fiscal year. And management said it would take the company longer than expected to reach its profitability goals.
“My primary goal for FY24 has been to restore the company to positive free cash flow for the full year. Based on our updated forecast, we now expect the business to generate positive free cash flow in Q4 (vs. $(74) million in 4Q23) but to fall short of achieving our goal for the full year,” warned McCarthy.
Peloton shares fell 23% to $4.24 Thursday. Shares have lost nearly 75% of their value in the last year, and are more than 96% off their all-time high from the height of the pandemic.
C.H. Robinson Stock Drops as Logistics Company Delivers Q4 Earnings Miss—Key Levels to Watch
February 01, 2024 10:25 AM EST
Shares in logistics giant C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) fell sharply in early trading Thursday as slumping freight demand weighed on the company’s quarterly results.
The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 50 cents per share, considerably less than the 81 cents per share analysts had expected. Revenue also disappointed, coming in at $4.2 billion, contracting 17% from the December 2022 quarter and falling short of the consensus estimate pegged at $4.34 billion.
The top line came under pressure during the period from waning freight volumes and excess capacity, both of which suppressed transportation rates.
The C.H. Robinson’s share price broke down from an 11-month trading range in early September before bottoming out just below $80. A recent countertrend rally came to an abrupt end on Wednesday, with the stock closing convincingly below the 50-day moving average on higher-than-average share turnover. If the price succumbs to further earnings-driven weakness, monitor the November swing low as a potential area of chart support.
D.H. Robinson shares were down 11% at $74.84 Thursday morning. The stock has lost about a quarter of its value over the past year.
BoE Holds Rates Steady
February 01, 2024 09:49 AM EST
The Bank of England on Thursday voted to hold interest rates steady, but hinted that rate cuts are on the horizon.
The 9-member policymaking committee was split three ways on what to do with rates today—six members voted in favor of a hold, two voted to raise rates, and one voted for a cut.
The BoE also forecast inflation falling to its 2% target in the second quarter of this year before reaccelerating as the benefit of lower energy prices wanes. The bank warned that it expects inflation to be about 2.75% at the end of the year.
“It then remains above target over nearly all of the remainder of the forecast period. This reflects the persistence of domestic inflationary pressures, despite an increasing degree of slack in the economy,” said officials in a statement.
The yield on the 10-year Gilt—the U.K. equivalent of a Treasury note—was lower at about 3.75% around 2:50 p.m. GMT. Stocks were slightly higher, with the FTSE 100 inching up about 0.2%.
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket
February 01, 2024 09:19 AM EST
Gains:
- Align Technology Inc. (ALGN): Shares of the Invisalign maker jumped 15% after it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and sales, and offered an upbeat current-quarter outlook.
- Royal Caribbean Group (RCL): Shares of the cruise operator rose 4% after it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street estimates.
- Shell Plc (SHEL): The oil major’s shares gained 2% after it reported better-than-expected full-year earnings, raised its dividend, and announced a $3.5 billion share buyback program.
Losses:
- Wolfspeed Inc. (WOLF): Shares of the semiconductor maker fell 5% after offering disappointing current-quarter guidance as flagging electric vehicle demand weighs on sales.
- Aflac Inc. (AFL): Shares of the insurance company slumped 3% after missing revenue estimates with its fourth-quarter results amid a slowdown in its Japanese business.
- Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM): Shares of the chip maker slipped 2% after forecasting current-quarter earnings below analysts’ estimates, overshadowing its fiscal first-quarter earnings beat.
Stock Futures Gain at Outset of Another Big Tech Earnings Day
February 01, 2024 08:26 AM EST
Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1% in premarket trading on Thursday.
S&P 500 futures traded 0.4% higher about an hour before markets opened.
Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.5%.
