Pre-Market : Hawaiian Electric gains; Farfetch falls: Stocks in news August 18

Pre-Market active stocks

Gainers

• Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) stock rose 13% after falling sharply earlier in the week, with the power supplier announcing that it is seeking expert counsel in the aftermath of the state’s disastrous wildfires, but that the intention is not to restructure the company. 
• Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) stock jumped 4.9% after the bargain retailer upped its annual sales and profit forecasts after exceeding quarterly expectations, as customers browsed for its lower-priced clothes. 
• The shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) climbed 0.8% after the semiconductor equipment company issued a bullish forecast as chip demand rises and governments spend billions on subsidies. 

Losers

• Farfetch (NYSE:FTCH) stock plunged 42.2% after the e-commerce company posted dismal second-quarter earnings, resulting in KeyBanc reducing its position to ‘Sector weight’ from ‘Overweight’. 
• WeWork (NYSE:WE) stock fell 11.3% after the workspace provider announced a one-for-forty reverse stock split of its outstanding class A and class C common stock, as previously authorized by shareholders. 
• XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) stock slumped 6.8% after the Chinese electric car maker forecasted lower third-quarter revenue and announced a margin hit due to an inventory write-down. 
• Estée Lauder (NYSE:EL) stock slumped 6.4% after the cosmetics behemoth provided disappointing annual profit and net sales predictions that fell short of market expectations, pointing to a slower-than-expected rebound in China. 
• Deere (NYSE:DE) stock fell 1.9%; Despite the business posting high third-quarter profits and improving its annual net income projection due to robust demand for its large tractors, combines, and precision agriculture equipment, Deere (NYSE:DE) stock dipped 1.9%, reversing gains of more than 13% year to date. 

MARKET MOVERS 

WMT Walmart Inc	157.93 1.439%	JNJ Johnson & Johnson	172.49 0.874%
BA Boeing Co	226.65 0.94%%	GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc	324.93 0.791%
UNH UnitedHealth Group	498.44 0.907%	AMGN Amgen Inc	261.82 0.769%
CVX Chevron Corp	160.9 0.72%	TRV Travelers Companies Inc	162.47 0.575%
CSCO Cisco Systems Inc	55.04 0.566%	WBA Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc	26.54 0.525%

MIDDAY MOVERS

GAINERS

•  
• Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE) shares surged 9.7% after falling sharply earlier in the week, with the power supplier announcing that it is seeking expert counsel in the aftermath of the state’s disastrous wildfires, but that the intention is not to restructure the company. 
• Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) stock jumped 6% after the bargain retailer upped its annual sales and profit forecasts after exceeding quarterly expectations, as customers browsed for its lower-priced clothes.  
• The shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) climbed 2.2% after the semiconductor equipment producer issued a bullish forecast as chip demand rises and governments spend billions on subsidies. 

LOSERS

• Farfetch (NYSE:FTCH) stock plunged 40.6% after the e-commerce company posted dismal second-quarter earnings, resulting in KeyBanc reducing its position to ‘Sector weight’ from ‘Overweight’.  
• WeWork (NYSE:WE) stock fell 10.8% after the workspace provider announced a one-for-forty reverse stock split of its existing class A and class C common stock, which shareholders had previously authorized. 
• XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) stock plummeted 5.1% after the Chinese electric car maker forecasted lower third-quarter revenue and announced a margin hit due to an inventory write down. 
• Deere (NYSE:DE) stock fell 4.8%; Despite the business posting high third-quarter profits and improving its annual net income projection due to robust demand for its large tractors, combines, and precision agriculture equipment, Deere (NYSE:DE) stock slumped 4.8%, reversing gains of more than 13% year to date.  
• Estée Lauder (NYSE:EL) stock slumped 2.9% after the cosmetics behemoth provided disappointing annual profit and net sales predictions that fell short of market expectations, pointing to a slower-than-expected rebound in China. 

5 huge earnings hits

Cisco exceeds expectations; analysts split 

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares rose 3.3% Thursday after the tech giant beat Wall Street fourth-quarter projections due to enterprise demand for AI, security, and cloud. 

The business reported adjusted EPS of $1.14, $0.08 higher than expected, on $15.2 billion in revenue, exceeding the $15.05B average projection. 

Q1 earnings outlook of $1.02 to $1.04 per share beat expectations of $0.99, and revenue of $14.5B to $14.7B met targets. For the full year, analysts expected $4.04 per share on $58.4B in revenue and $4.01 to $4.08 per share on $57B to $58.2B in sales. 

On the conference call, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins stated the company is “super well positioned” on AI and prepared for “further share gains” in campus switching, wireless LAN, and SP routing, having earned “over 3 percentage points of market share” vs. the prior year. 

Walmart beats, shares fall. 

Walmart’s Q2 same-store sales (excluding gas) grew 6.3%, beating expectations of 4%, and the world’s largest retailer raised its full-year projection due to a glut of budget-conscious shoppers. 

The company now expects full-year adjusted EPS of $6.36 to $6.46, up from $6.10 to $6.20. An average of $6.28 was expected by InvestingPro analysts. Its top line is expected to expand 4% to 4.5% in fiscal 2024, up from 3.5%. 

Walmart reported Q2 earnings of $1.84 per share, exceeding the $1.69 Street estimate. 

Shares fell 2.2% Thursday after rising premarket. 

Target results better than feared 

Walmart rival Target (NYSE:TGT) rose 3% a day earlier on a less severe guidance change. 

Target’s Q2 comps fell 5.4%, vs 3.8% projected. Revenue fell 4.9% to $24.8B from $25.33B. 

Gross margin rose to 27% from 21.5% last year and 25.6% expected. 

Adjusted EPS was $1.80, well above $1.47. 

The business predicts adjusted EPS of $1.20 to $1.60 in Q3, below the $1.84 consensus, and EPS projections of $7 to $8. Market analysts expected Target to drop forecast, and the cut was better than expected. 

Home Depot leads opinion.  

On Tuesday, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) reported lower Q2 comps, net sales, and EPS reductions than expected. 

Wall Street expected a 4.1% fall in comparable-store sales, and its top line fell 2% to $42.9B from $42.1B. EPS was $4.65, down from $5.05 last year but above the $4.46 expectation. 

Home Depot expects comps to fall 2% to 5% and EPS to fall 7% to 13% in fiscal year 2024. 

CEO Ted Decker said, “We remain very positive on the medium-to-long term outlook for home improvement and our ability to grow share in a large and fragmented market,” despite “continued pressure in certain big-ticket, discretionary categories” despite strength in smaller home-improvement categories. 

On Tuesday, shares rose fractionally to $332.14. 

Applied Materials exceeds guidelines 

Finally, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) provided blowout earnings outlook after the bell Thursday after fiscal third-quarter results above analyst estimates as the enterprise race to the digital and AI age drove chip demand and growth. 

Fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS is projected at $1.82 to $2.18, above the expectation for $1.59, and revenues of $6.51B exceeded the 5.87B average target. 

Q3 adjusted EPS was $1.90, exceeding expectations for $1.74, while sales was $6.43B, exceeding $6.15B. 

The company’s largest business, semiconductor systems, decreased 1.2% to $4.68B. 

After these findings, Bernstein boosted Applied Materials’ price objective to $175 from $150. 

Friday premarket trade saw shares rise 3% to $141.76. 

UPGRADES BY EXPERTS 

Adobe has been raised to Buy on the basis of its AI potential. 

Given the company’s ability to leverage AI for significant extra revenue in FY24, BofA Securities upgraded Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Buy from Neutral and upped its price objective to $630.00 from $575.00.  

Following a 65% reduction in stock price, Hawaiian Electric was elevated to Equal Weight. 

Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE), Hawaii’s largest energy supplier, has been raised to Equal Weight from Underweight, with a price target of $8.00 (down from $25.00).  

Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares increased more than 1% in pre-market trading today after B. Riley upgraded the firm to Buy from Neutral and increased its price objective to $75.00 from $60.00.  

Citi raised CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) from Neutral to Buy, with a $70.00 price objective. 

DOWNGRADES BY EXPERTS

Farfetch has been downgraded following a dismal second quarter. 

Following dismal Q2 earnings, KeyBanc downgraded Farfetch (NYSE:FTCH) to Sector Weight from Overweight, resulting in a 37% decline in stock price pre-market today.  

Cigna reduced to Hold 

Cigna (NYSE:CI) has been downgraded to Hold from Buy by Edward Jones. 

The company released its Q2 results earlier this month, with EPS and revenues exceeding consensus projections. However, sales guidance for the full year fell short of expectations.  

Following the company’s Q3 earnings announcement yesterday, Barclays downgraded Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) to Equal weight from Overweight and reduced its price objective to $144.00 from $204.00.  

Loop Capital downgraded XPO (NYSE:XPO) to Hold from Buy with a price objective of $74.00 (down from $55.00) today. 

 

Earnings Calendar

Friday, August 18

Deere & Company (DE), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Estee Lauder Cos. (EL), Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (VIPS), and XPeng Inc. (XPEV) report earnings

For details

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