Equity Indexes Wrap: Tech,🐻 Led by AMD, Propels Indexes Higher; Health Care Lags

The Dow

Salesforce (CRM) gained 3% after its quarterly earnings report exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Intel (INTC) rose 2.5%, one of several semiconductor stocks 🍌to advance today amid excitement about artifici🌳al intelligence. 

Tech giants Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) added 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively. 

Boeing (BA) shares fell 1.6% as the president of Emirates Airlines expressed doubts the carrier would receive the Boeing planes it has ordered by the end of 2025. 

The S&P 500

Hormel Foods (HRL) led the index, rising 14.4% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results 🍒on higher sales volum✃e.

FMC Corp. (FMC) gained 10% after it tapped Barry๊ Crawford, VP of Operations, for an executive role overseeing the company’s restructuring. 

Best Buy (BBY) rose 1.5% after posting a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:smaller-than-feared revenue decline in the fourth quarter.

Bath & Body Works (BBWI) dropped 5.4% after it forecast earnings would decline in 2024, overshadowing a fourth-quarter earnings beat. 

The Nasdaq 100

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares surged 9.1%, taking the chip company’s market cap above $300 billion. Other chip stocks followed, including Texas Instruments (TI), up 2.6%, and Nvidia (NVDA), up 1.9%.

Monster Beverage (MNST) 𝕴climbed 5.8% after reporting profit and revenue were higher in the fourth quarter than the year prior.

ZScaler (ZS) c♛limbed 2% ahead of its earning꧅s report after the bell. 

Xcel Energy (XEL) tꦕumbled 8.6% after property insurers said it may be liable for damages rel♔ated to wildfires in northern Texas. 

Health care stocks fell en masse, led by Moderna (MRNA), down 5.4%, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), down 2.2%. 

Chemours Plummeꦓts as To🎃p Executives Put on Leave Amid Accounting Investigation

Shares of Chemours (CC) tumbled Thursday after the chemical maker put three top executives soon administrative lea💞ve and delayed its quarterly earnings report while it investigates its accounting practices.&nbsꦑp;

Chief Executive Mark Newman, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Lock, and accounting officer Camela Wisel were put on administrative leave pending the completion of an internal review of the company’s accounting and its handling of reports to the Chemours Ethics Hotline.

The company also delayed the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results, which were scheduled to be released after the bell on Wednesday. It did, however, release unaudited preliminary results, which suggested sales declined more than 11% to $6 billion in 2023. Chemours also expects it will report a net loss of between $225 million aꦛnd $235 million after reporting a net income of $578 million in 2022. 

Shares sank as much as 47% Thursday morning before paring losses to trade abou♕t 32% lower in the afternoon. 

Best Buy Stock Rises as Retailer Rep𝔉orts Better-Than-Expected Q4 Sales and Earnings

Best Buy (BBY) shares gained💖 ground Thursday after the 🌊retailer posted better-than-expected results as the post-pandemic slump in demand for its electronics eased.

Best Buy reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings per share of $2.72, versus $2.61 a year earlier, and revenue of $14.65 billion, which was down 0.6%. The top and bottom lines for the quarter through Feb. 3 were both above analysts' estimates.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Same-store sales fell 4.8%, which was a smaller decline than analysts anticipated. The company got a boost from its international segment, which had a sales increase of 2.7% to $1.24 billion. Domestic revenue dropped 0.9% to $13.41 billion.

Best Buy predicted fisca🐽l year 2025 EPS of $5.75 to $6.20, with revenue in the range of $41.3 billion to $42.6 billion. Those were basically in line with analysts’ forecasts.

The news sent sha🍌res of Best Buy to their highest level since July in early trading. The stock ☂was up 1.5% at $80.92 Thursday afternoon after rising as high as $86.11 early in the session.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Bill McColl

Pure Storꦍage Jumps to Record on♐ Earnings, Outlook Beat

Shares of Pure Storage (PSTG) soared Thursdayꦑ after the data storage solutions provider reported better-than-expected earnings and offered upbeat full-year guidance.

Pure Storage reported an adjusted net income of $166 million, or 50 cents a share, down slightly from last year’s 53 cents-per-share profit but better than expected. Total revenue declined 3% to $790 million, but subscription revenue increased 24% to $329 million. Subscription revenue is often preferable to other types because it is recurring and predictable.

For its 2025 fiscal year, which corresponds to the 2024 calend🎃ar year, Pure Storage expects revenue to increase 10.5% to $3✃.1 billion. I also forecast an adjusted operating income of $532 million, representing a margin of 17%.

The company also increased it💟s share repurchase authorization b🌱y $250 million, bringing its total to $395 million. 

Pure Storage shares were up more than 2♋3% at a record $51.86 Thursday afternoon. They have more than 80% in the past 12 months.

Birkenstock Tumbles as Earnings Disappoint

Shares of Birkenstock (BIRK) fell Thursd🍸ay after the German sandal maker’s fiscal 2024 first-quarter earnings met e🉐xpectations despite revenue blowing past estimates. 

Birkenstock reported an adjusted net income of 16.7 million euros ($18.1 million), or 9 euro cents per share, for the last three months of 2023. That was down from 26.5 million euros ($28.6 million) in the year-ago quarter but in line with analysts’ expectations. Meanwhile, revenue increased 22% to 303 million euros ($327 million), outpacing the Wall Street consensus. 

Gross profit margin contracted to𒉰 61% from 61.7% in the same period in 2022 amid increased spending on the expansion of its production capacity and retail footprint. 

The company stood by its full-year guidance, issued just las🔯t month. 🀅It is still forecasting revenue to grow 17% to 18% this year, and adjusted EBITDA margin to be about 30%.

Birkenstock shares plummeted at the open Thursday before recovering somewhat. Early in the afternoon, they were down 6.7% at $47.83, just slightly above their 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:October IPO price of $46.

Snowflake Stock Plunges After Company Names New CEO, Issueꦺs Disappointing Guidance

Snowflake (SNOW) shares plunged 20% Thursday morning after the company named Sridhar Ramaswamy as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:chief executive officer (CEO), replacing Frank Slootman, and issued earnings guidance that fell short of Wall Street expe🌺ctations.

Ramaswamy was previously the cloud data company's senior vice president of AI, joining the team in 2023 after Snowflake acquired Neeva, an AI-powered search engine that Ramsaswa co-founded. Before joining Snowflake, Ramaswamy led Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google advertising products for 15 years.

The announcement of the CEO change coincided with the release of Snowflake's fiscal 2024 fourth-quarter earnings report. The company said product revenue in the quarter ending Jan. 31 rose 33% to $738.1 million, which topped analysts' consensus view. The company recorded a net loss of $169.9 million, which was narrower than the $207.5 million loss a year earlier and also better than Wall Street anticipated.

However, the company's forecast of product revenue for the current fiscal year of $3.25 billion, which would represent a 22% increase over fiscal 2024, fell well short of expectations. Product revenue grew 38% in fiscal 2024.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Naomi Buchanan

Salesforce Sto♌ck Climbs Following Earnings Beat, Dividend Announceཧment

Shares of Salesforce (CRM) ticked up 1🌼% Thursday morning, rebounding from a sell-off in extended trading yesterday aft🃏er its fourth-quarter earnings beat was overshadowed by a lower-than-expected sales forecast.

The company's net income for the three months ended Jan. 31 came in at $1.45 billion or $1.47 per diluted share. This was better than the $1.26 billion or $1.29 per diluted share 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:forecast by analysts. Revenue grew nearly 11% to $9.29 billion.

The company's shares fell in after-hours trading as investors focused on the guidance provided. Salesforce projected revenue of $9.12 billion to $9.17 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. Full-year fiscal 2025 revenue is pegged at between $37.7 billion and $38 billion, which would represent a 9% increase over fiscal 2024. Both fell slightly short of Wall Street's estimates.

The company, however, initiated its first-ever dividend of 40 cents and authorized an additional $10 billion for its share repurchase program. On Salesforce's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings call, chief financial officer Amy Weaver said the dividend and buyback program reflected "the confid🍎ence we have in the future of our business, and our ability to drive long-term cash flow."

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Mrinalini Krishna and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Naomi Buchanan

Okta Sto🎶ck Surges on Strong Earnings,🐬 Raised Outlook

Okta (OKTA) shares surged 27% Thursday morning after the cloud identity software maker 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:topped quarterly estimates and raised its annual sales outlook on growing🙈 momentum from en🌜terprise customers.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, the identity management company posted a 19% jump in revenue from the prior year to $605 million, comfortably ahead of the $587 million figure estimated by analysts. Adjusted earnings came in at 63 cents per share, above the 51 cents-per-share consensus.

Looking ahead, the San Francisco, California-based company said it sees current-quarter revenue ranging between $603 million and $605 million, with the lower end of that band sitting comfortably ahead of the $584 million expected by analysts. Okta projects 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:adjusted earnings in the period of 54 cents to 55 cents, whereas Wall Street had forec𒊎ast 41 cꦆents.

Taking a look at the weekly chart, Okta shares have traded within an orderly range since early April last year. Amid an earnings-driven breakout, it’s worth keeping an eye on two key areas on the chart that may provide overhead 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:resistance. Firstly, monitor how the price responds to the $108 region, an area where the stock may find selling pressure from a prior countertrend peak. Also watch the $145 level, where the price could run into resistance from the July 2019 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:swing high and downward sloping 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:200-week moving average.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Timothy Smith

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

Gains:

• Okta Inc. (OKTA): Shares of the identity management software company jumped more than 23% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings and guidance. 
• Pure Storage Inc. (PSTG): Shares of the data storage company surged more than 13% on its stronger-than-expected report and guidance. 
• Best Buy Co. (BBY): Shares of the consumer tech retailer rose 4% after its quarterly earnings and full-year forecast topped Wall Street’s estimates. 
  

Losses:

• Snowflake Inc. (SNOW): Shares of the cloud software company tumbled more than 20% after its current-quarter guidance fell short of expectations. It also announced that CEO Frank Slootman would retire. 
• Celsius Holdings Inc. (CELH): Shares of the energy drink maker slid more than 5% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings of 17 cents per share.
• Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD): The brewer’s shares slipped about 2% after it reported a 17% decline in U.S. revenue in the fourth quarter, with the declines led by Bud Light.

Futures Jump on Slowing Inflation

Stock futures, down earlier in the morning, jumpeꦇd after PCE data cam🅠e in as expected, a relief after a surprising Consumer Price Index (CPI) report earlier in the month.

Dow futures popped to trade about in line with yesterday's close.

S&P 500 futures traded 0.3% higher.

And Nasdaq 100 futures soareไd to trade up about 🅷0.5%.

Stock Futures Fall Ahead of January PCE

Futures ༺contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3% in early trading on Thursday.

S&P 500 futures were also 0.3% lower about an hour befo🍌re marketsꦺ opened.

Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.2%.