Category: Stock Market News

Wells Fargo & Co. was trading near highs of the day, up 0.7%, after a tweet from the president saying fines could be “substantially increased.” President Trump was pushing back against a report from Reuters, citing three sources, which said that fines pursued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are being reviewed by Interim Director Mick Mulvaney. Under the CFPB’s prior director, the report said Wells Fargo had agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars in fines over alleged mortgage lending abuse. “Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, substantially increased. I will cut Regs but make penalties severe when caught cheating,” the president tweeted.

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Shares of Finisar Corp. gained 3.7% in Friday morning trade even though the company’s earnings fell short of expectations and several analysts slashed their price targets. The company, which reported fiscal second-quarter earnings late Thursday, also delivered a lower-than-expected earnings outlook for the current quarter. Finisar, which makes products that help enable 3D-sensing technology, said on its earnings conference call that it had acquired a new plant in Texas and would expand manufacturing capacity. “This was a mixed quarter, with gross margin weakness from the low 3D utilization, but with shipments ramping, the trajectory suggests Finisar received certification to sell to Apple ,” wrote Raymond James analysts led by Simon Leopold. The firm lowered its price target to $22 from $27 but maintained a strong buy rating. Finisar shares, which closed at a 17-month low earlier this week, have fallen 38% so far in 2017, compared with an 18% gain for the S&P 500 .

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Shares of videogame publishers Electronic Arts Inc. , Activision Blizzard Inc. , Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. , and Ubisoft Entertainment all gained in Friday morning trade after analysts commented on recent third-party sales data from market-research firm NPD Group. Electronic Arts’s stock rose 1.3% after NPD reported weak performance for new launches “Need for Speed: Payback” and “Star Wars Battlefront II,” as well as strong sales for “FIFA” and “Madden,” according to BMO analyst Gerrick Johnson. Activision’s “Call of Duty: WWII” outsold its predecessor by 73% in November, and its stock rose 2%. Take-Two has “the lightest holiday slate,” wrote Johnson, but its “NBA 2K18” title performed well in November. Take-Two shares rose 2%. Ubisoft gained 0.6% after its “Assassins Creed” posted a strong showing, according to Piper Jaffray’s Michael Olson. The S&P 500 Index is up 0.4%.

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Wholesale inventories in the U.S. fell 0.5% in October, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Companies were not able to keep up with production owing to a combination of growing demand and supply disruptions caused by hurricanes in the prior month. Inventories are up 3.9% year over year, however. Wholesale sales jumped 0.7% in October. At October’s sales pace, the inventory-to-sales ratio slipped to 1.25 from 1.26. One caveat: If inventories don’t recover in the November and December, it would dampen fourth-quarter GDP.

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Micron Technology Inc. shares rose 1.6% in Friday morning trade after analysts at Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock to $60 from $54. The analysts, led by Medhi Hosseini, wrote that “Micron’s narrative is changing from a company with single-digit earnings power to one that could potentially do double digits ($10+) by the turn of the decade if it were to execute.” Hosseini increased his earnings estimates due to better DRAM price trends and the company’s debt restructuring. Micron reports November-quarter earnings on Dec. 19 after market close. Micron shares have soared 97% so far in 2017, compared with an 18% gain for the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stock-market indexes opened higher on Friday, boosted by a stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report for November. The U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. The hourly average earnings rose 0.2%. The S&P 500 opened 8 points, or 0.3, higher at 2,645. The index is on track to finish the week slightly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 68 points, or 0.3%, to 24,279. The blue-chip index also looked set to book modest weekly gains. The Nasdaq Composite index advanced by 48 points, or 0.7%, to 6,861 at the open. The tech-heavy index is on track to finish the week little changed.

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Shares of touch-pad developer Synaptics Inc. rose 4.9% in premarket trade Friday after analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to perform from underperform. “We maintain a fundamental negative view of Synaptics’ market position and mobile opportunities but recognize solid execution can offset those temporary headwinds,” the analysts, led by Andrew Uerkwitz, wrote. He believes that Synaptics’ share price reflects “the majority of the downside,” including a slowly declining market for fingerprint sensors. Synaptics shares have fallen 32% so far in 2017, compared with an 18% gain for the S&P 500 .

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Food services company Sysco Corp. said Friday it has ordered 50 of Tesla Inc.’s new, fully electric Semi tractors. Tesla unveiled the Semi to much fanfare in November, touting its ability to drive up to 500 miles on a single charge and reduce the cost of cargo transport. Other companies that have already put in orders for the vehicle include Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. . Tesla shares were up about 1% premarket, and have gained 46% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 18%.

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Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp. said Friday it will raise its quarterly dividend by 14.3%, as the vacation-ownership company said it continues to focus on returning excess capital to shareholders. The new cash dividend of 40 cents a share, up from 35 cents a share, will be payable Jan. 4 to shareholders of record on Dec. 21. Based on Thursday’s stock closing price of $134.42, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 1.19%, compared with the implied S&P 500 dividend yield of 1.91%, according to FactSet. Marriott Vacations’ shares, which were still inactive in premarket trade, have soared 58.4% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 17.8%.

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Movie theater chain Studio Movie Grill said that it’s seen record attendance numbers for its cinemas in 2017, and it says that’s thanks, in part, to its partnership with movie-theater subscription service MoviePass. Studio Movie Grill said in a news release late Thursday that while the industry sounds the alarm on poor box office performance, its theaters have experienced increases in off-peak attendance and attendance for smaller films. Studio Movie Grill started its strategic partnership with MoviePass in 2016, before the company in August of 2017 slashed the cost of its membership to $10 per month from as much as $50. “Studio Movie Grill was amazed to learn that in some cases, as with Lady Bird, MoviePass generated a double digit percentage of total attendance,” said Studio Movie Grill Chief Executive Brian Schultz. The company’s Chief Financial Officer Ted Croft said MoviePass’s subscription-based model has the potential to be the future of the film exhibition business. Earlier this week, Cinemark Holdings Inc. introduced its own subscription-based movie-going service. Shares of MoviePass owner Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. have gained close to 152% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 18% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up almost 23%.

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