Category: Stock Market News

Cloudera Inc. shares dropped in the extended session Thursday after the data-software company released its first earnings report as a public company. Cloudera shares sank 18% to $18.84 after hours. The company reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $5.78 a share, while analysts polled at FactSet had estimated a loss of $2.45 a share. On an adjusted basis, the company reported a loss of 27 cents a share, compared with analysts’s view of a loss of 36 cents a share. Cloudera reported revenue of $79.6 million versus the estimate of $75.8 million from analysts. For the year, Cloudera expects an adjusted loss of $1.07 to $1.04 a share on revenue of $345 million to $350 million. Analysts expect a loss of $1.07 a share on revenue of $338.1 million. Cloudera launched its initial public offering in late April.

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Ascena Retail Group Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday even after the parent of Ann Taylor and Loft stores fell short of Wall Street earnings expectations. Ascena shares rose 5.2% to $1.91 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal third-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share on revenue of $1.57 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $1.56 billion. For the fourth quarter, Ascena expects an adjusted loss of a penny to 6 cents a share, while analysts estimate earnings of 3 cents a share.

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Shares of Verifone Systems Inc. fell 3% late Thursday after the payments company swung to a surprise loss in the second quarter, citing restructuring and divestiture charges. Verifone said it lost $89.3 million, or 80 cents a share, in the quarter, versus earnings of $2.9 million, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Verifone earned 30 cents a share, compared with 47 cents a share a year ago. Revenue reached $474 million, down from $526 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected GAAP earnings of 2 cents a share and adjusted earnings of 29 cents a share on sales of $472 million. The company predicted net revenue of $1.861 billion to $1.866 billion for the full year, and a net loss of 51 cents to 53 cents a share for 2017.

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Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. had their best day since going public 2 1/2 years ago, after the China-based e-commerce giant provided a sales outlook that was well above Wall Street projections. The stock shot up $16.70, or 13.3%, to a closing record of $142.34. The previous biggest one-day price gain was $6.48 on Aug. 12, 2016, while the previous one-day percentage gain was 8.9% on Feb. 16, 2016. Volume spiked to 80.9 million shares, about 7-times the full-day average, and the most since 97.9 million shares traded on Nov. 30, 2015. The stock made its debut on the NYSE on Sept. 19, 2014, after its IPO priced at $68. At Alibaba’s investor day earlier Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said fiscal 2018 revenue was expected to rise 45% to 49% above year-ago levels, while the FactSet consensus as of May 31 implied 36% growth. Alibaba’s stock has soared 62% year to date, while U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc.’s stock has run up 38% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.7%.

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Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc. sank 9.6% toward an 8-year closing low in afternoon trade Thursday, after the specialty apparel and accessories retailer provided a same-store sales outlook that was much worse than expected. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said that so far during the second quarter, which started in May, comparable retail segment net sales were down from a year ago in the “high single-digit” percentage range. The FactSet same-store sales consensus for the current quarter was down 2.3% at the end of May. Wolfe Research analyst Adrienne Yih followed by cutting the year-end 2017 stock fair value estimate to $17 from $19, while reiterating the peer perform rating. The stock changed hands recently at $16.49, which would be the lowest closing price seen since April 14, 2009. Trading volume spiked to 10.8 million shares, or more than triple the full-day average of 3.2 million shares. The stock has now plunged 42% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 8.1% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.7%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday set a fresh all-time high in intraday trade, but turned lower, on the heels of testimony from former FBI Director James Comey. The broader stock market had been trading modestly higher as Comey ended testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee that some believe provided no surprises that might alter President Donald Trump’s pro-growth policy agenda. The Dow was trading down 0.1% at 21,144 in recent trade, retreating from its intraday of 21,265,69. Comey offered detailed testimony about his interactions with Trump before his firing on May 9, amid the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into Russia’s connection to members of the president’s 2016 election campaign. The S&P 500 index was down 0.2% at 2,428, while the Nasdaq Composite Index , which touched its own intraday record earlier in the session, was flat at 6,299. The Dow had been buoyed by financial shares, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s shares . Bank shares got a lift as Treasury yields rose slightly, with the 10-year benchmark Treasury yield [BX: TMUBMUSD10Y] rose 1.7 basis point to 2.19%. Banks benefit when rates rise because it helps to increase their margins, or what they pay out on short-term deposits and garner for lending long-term.

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Oil prices edged lower Thursday, holding ground at their lowest finish in about a month and poised to notch a third-straight weekly decline. Traders weighed data from the Energy Information Administration released Wednesday, which showed weekly gains in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate stockpiles, along with weak demand for oil products. But the EIA also reported a fall in crude production. July WTI crude shed 8 cents, or 0.2%, to settle $45.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Week to date, prices have lost more than 4%.

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Being cheaper doesn’t make Macy’s Inc.’s stock more attractive, according to analyst Bill Dreher at Susquehanna Financial, given increasing concerns over how the department store chain will deal with the secular changes in the retail sector. Dreher reiterated his neutral rating, while cutting his stock price target to $20 from $26. “Given the lack of catalysts in the near term, and the pace and uncertainty with current plans, we see no reason to bottom fish,” Dreher wrote in a note to clients. The stock inched up 0.1% in afternoon trade Thursday, paring earlier gains of as much as 4.8%. The stock closed the previous session at a 6 1/2-year low in the wake of the company’s gross margin warning. It has plunged 39% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 8% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.6%. The stock’s decline has brought the week-to-date ratio of price to earnings-per-share expectations over the next 12 months to 7.05, the lowest level seen since December 2008. “While valuations are near the trough levels of the Great Recession, those multiples had the upside potential of cyclical margin recovery, while current pressures are due to an overall secular demise, and the unprecedented retail rout,” Dreher wrote.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The personal lawyer for Donald Trump said the president never sought to obstruct an FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He also denied that the president demand “loyalty” from fired FBI director James Comey or asked Comey to drop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The lawyer, March Kasowitz, issued his remarks after Comey testified Thurday before the Senate about his dealing with Trump before the president fired him in early May. Kasowitz also assailed Comey for “unathorized” leaks of his private conversations with the president in an effort to spur the establishment of a special counsel to handle the Russian probe.

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Matt Zames, chief operating officer at J.P. Morgan Chase, has decided to step down from the giant bank, according to an internal memo. Zames, often described as an heir apparent to CEO Jamie Dimon, he had worked at the bank for some 13 years and had held some of the bank’s most important roles, including serving as chief investment officer in the wake of the so-called “London Whale” scandal, which saddled the bank with an embarrassing loss and dented its risk-management reputation. “Matt has held leadership roles in our investment banking and trading businesses, and he was an integral part of the team that helped manage the firm successfully through the financial crisis,” said Dimon in an internal memo on Thursday. The executive is expected to leave in the coming weeks but details about his next move aren’t immediately known. The 46-year-old Zames had long been considered among the C-suite executives in position to succeed Dimon should he decide to step down at the reins of J.P. Morgan.

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