Stocks rose Friday as blowout earnings reports from Meta and Amazon countered pressure from a stronger-than-expected jobs report that sent bond yields soaring.
The Nasdaq Composite traded 1.8% higher Friday afternoon, while the S&P 500 rose 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which closed at a fresh record yesterday, inched up 0.5%.
Meta (META) jumped after it initiated its first-ever dividend following a quarter in which earnings more than tripled. Amazon (AMZN) stock also popped after reporting net income of $10.6 billion, far outpacing analysts’ expectations.
Treasury yields surged after a report from the Labor Department showed the U.S. added 353,000 jobs in January, the largest increase in a year and far more than economists were expecting.
Stocks gained yesterday to rebound slightly from Wednesday’s sell-off.
Cigna’s Stock Surges on Q4 Results, Guidance and Dividend Boost
6 minutes ago
Shares of The Cigna Group (CI) rose to their highest level in more than a year after the health insurance company posted better-than-expected results, raised its earnings guidance and boosted its dividend as it added pharmacy and medical plan customers.
Cigna reported fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $6.79, with revenue increasing 11.7% to $51.11 billion. Both were above forecasts.
The company noted that sales at its pharmacy benefits division was up 12% to $40.52 billion, and sales at its health insurance unit gained 17% to $13.01 billion. The number of customers for its pharmacy benefits increased 5% to 98.6 million, while health insurance customers climbed 10% to 19.8 million.
Cigna’s medical care ratio, which measures the percentage of premiums spent on insurance payouts, was 82.2%, less than anticipated.
Cigna shares were 5.6% higher at $324.69 late Friday afternoon, trading just below their all-time high set in December 2022.
Clorox Shares Jump on Earnings Beat, Raised Guidance
1 hr 8 min ago
Shares of Clorox (CLX) jumped after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and raised its full-year guidance amid a normalization of retailer inventory.
Clorox reported adjusted earnings of $2.16 per share, up from 98 cents a year ago, on $1.99 billion in sales. Both sales and earnings came in above analyst estimates.
The company also raised its 2024 fiscal year earnings forecast. It now expects adjusted earnings of between $5.30 and $5.50 a share. Prior guidance anticipated earnings to fall between $4.30 and $4.80 per share.
Clorox was the victim of a cyberattack last August that disrupted manufacturing and distribution, leading net sales to plummet 20% in the three months ending in September.
“Our second quarter results reflect strong execution on our recovery plan from the August cyberattack,” said CEO Linda Rendle in a press release. “We are rebuilding retailer inventories ahead of schedule, enabling us to return to merchandising and restore distribution.”
Clorox shares were up 5.4% at $156 Friday afternoon. They have risen about 10% in the past year.
Intel Slips Amid Reports of Delayed $20 Billion Ohio Chip Project
2 hours ago
Intel (INTC) won’t be meeting its initial timeline for 2025 completion of its $20 billion chip-manufacturing project in Ohio.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that construction won’t be finished until late 2026, attributing the delay to a challenging chip industry and the slow rollout of U.S. government grant money to grow the domestic industry.
“While we will not meet the aggressive 2025 production goal that we anticipated when we first announced the selection of Ohio in January 2022, construction has been underway since breaking ground in late 2022 and we have not made any recent changes to our pace of construction or anticipated timelines,” said Intel spokesperson William Moss in an email to Investopedia Friday.
Intel shares were down 2.5% at $42.29 Friday afternoon. They have fallen 11% this year.
Bristol Myers Squibb Tops Earnings Estimates, Boosted by New Drug Sales
2 hr 29 min ago
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) shares edged higher in intraday trading Friday after posting better-than-expected results and guidance as it benefited from the addition of new drugs to its lineup.
The pharmaceutical company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.70, with revenue rising 1% from a year ago to $11.48 billion. Both beat forecasts.
Bristol Myers Squibb said new product sales grew 66%, led by sales of its Reblozyl anemia medicine, which were 61% higher at $274 million, and its Opdualag treatment for advanced skin cancer, up 83% to $187 million.
The company also posted solid sales for its two most popular drugs, blood thinner Eliquis and cancer immunotherapy Opdivo. Eliquis sales were up 7%, while Opdivo sales grew 8%.
Shares of Bristol Myers Squibb were 0.4% higher at $48.84 Friday afternoon. However, they’ve been in a long downward slide, losing nearly 40% of their value since hitting an all-time high in December 2022.
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Meta on Track to Post Record $200 Billion Jump in Market Cap
3 hr 38 min ago
As of midday Friday, Meta shares were up more than 20%, adding $208 billion to its market capitalization. If the firm can hold on to those gains, it will post the largest ever one-day jump in market value.
To put that in perspective:
- America’s five largest airlines—Delta (DAL), Southwest (LUV), United (UAL), American (AAL), and Alaska (ALK)—have a combined market value of about $71 billion.
- The world’s 20 largest airlines are cumulatively valued at $210 billion.
- Starbucks (SBUX) and Airbnb (ABNB) have a combined market cap of about $208 billion.
- Only 33 companies in the S&P 500—excluding Meta—have a market cap larger than its gains today.
Before today, Apple (AAPL) held the record for the largest single-day gain. It added $190.9 billion in market cap on Nov. 10, 2022, after a better-than-expected inflation report sent U.S. equities soaring.
Rounding out the top three is Amazon (AMZN), which tacked on $190.8 billion on Feb. 4, 2022, after an upbeat quarterly earnings report.
Tesla Stock Slumps Amid 2.2 Million Car Recall
4 hr 33 min ago
Tesla (TSLA) shares fell in early trading Friday after recalling nearly 2.2 million vehicles to remedy a font size on the vehicles’ warning lights panel that is too small, in Tesla’s largest recall to date.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the instrument panel for the vehicles’ brake, park, and antilock brake system (ABS) warning lights has a font size that is too small and “could reduce the driver’s detection of it when illuminated, increasing the risk of a collision.”
The issue affects 2.19 million Tesla vehicles, including the Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, and the 2024 Cybertruck—almost all of Tesla’s vehicles sold in the U.S.
Tesla will release a software update free of charge to address the safety hazard, the NHTSA said, noting that owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on March 30, 2024.
Tesla shares were down 3% at $183.12 Friday morning. They’ve lost more than 26% of their value so far this year.
4 Key Takeaways from Meta’s Earnings Call
5 hr 28 min ago
Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) soared nearly 20% in early trading Thursday after the company blew past analysts’ expectations in its fourth-quarter earnings.
Here are four key takeaways from Meta’s post-earnings conference call Thursday night.
A Leaner Meta: CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted that Meta was now a “leaner company” following its “year of efficiency,” allowing it to “execute better and faster.” But trimming is a thing of the past. Headcount at the firm was down 22% over the year, but up 2% from the third quarter. And in 2024, the company projects capital expenditures of $30 billion to $37 billion, higher than prior estimates.
AI Plans: Zuckerberg said that Llama 3, the next version of Meta’s open-source Llama 2 large language model, was already in training and was “looking really good.” Zuckerberg said the company’s goal was to develop an AI assistant for use by businesses, consumers, and developers. That could see the company go head to head with premium AI assistant subscription tools from Google (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Investing in the Metaverse: The second long-term focus of Meta will be its work in the metaverse and the Reality Labs segment, which posted $1 billion in revenue for the first time in the fourth quarter, though it continued to consume far more money than it made. The unit reported a $4.6 billion operating loss for the period.
App Monetization: Despite these big bets, advertising on apps remains Meta’s bread and butter. Average revenue per user grew to $10.10 from $8.63 a year ago and is being driven by a wider range of apps, including Reels, Meta’s answer to TikTok, and microblogging app Threads, which added 30 million monthly active users in the quarter.
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket
6 hr 26 min ago
Gains:
- Meta Platforms Inc. (META): Shares of the social media and tech company soared 16% after it blew Wall Street’s expectations out of the water with its quarterly earnings report, in which it initiated its first dividend and authorized $50 billion in stock buybacks.
- Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): Shares of the e-commerce giant jumped 7% after topping analyst estimates with its earnings report. The company said revenue grew 14% while operating expenses declined nearly 7%.
- Cigna Group (CI): Shares of the health insurer rose 2% after it beat earnings expectations on lower-than-expected medical care costs.
Losses:
- Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR): Shares of the telecom fell more than 10% after it reported lower-than-expected earnings after losing 61,000 internet customers in the fourth quarter.
- Apple Inc. (AAPL): Shares of the iPhone maker fell more than 3% after reporting a 13% decline in sales in China, overshadowing its earnings beat and sales growth in other regions.
- Intel Corp. (INTC): Shares of the chipmaker fell 2% after it delayed a $20 billion Ohio plant, citing a slowdown in the semiconductor market.
Treasury Yields Spike on Red Hot Jobs Report
6 hr 46 min ago
Treasury yields jumped early Friday after data showed the U.S. added almost twice as many jobs as economists expected in January, dashing hopes a cooling labor market could put interest rate cuts close on the horizon.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 353,000 in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s an acceleration from December’s 333,000 and the largest increase since January 2023.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury leaped 12 basis points to 4%. The 2-year note soared 18 basis to about 4.39%.
Stock Futures Rise Following Meta, Amazon Earnings
7 hr 10 min ago
Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1% in premarket trading.
S&P 500 futures climbed about 0.7% before the bell.
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.1%.
