Tech Leads Stocks Higher as Investors Mull Mixed Inflation Data

Stock Indexes Wrap: Apple, Nvidia Lead Tech Rally; Financials Slip Ahead of Bank Earnings

12 hr 3 min ago

The Dow

Apple (AAPL) led the index, climbing 4.3% after Bloomberg reported the company plans to revamp all of its Macs with new M4 chips designed to run artificial intelligence. 

Nike (NKE) climbed 3.4% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to “buy,” citing its attractive valuation and management’s efforts to revive sales growth. 

Amazon (AMZN) added 1.7%, putting the company’s market value just shy of $2 trillion. 

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dipped 0.1% ahead of its earnings report before the bell tomorrow. 

The S&P 500

Tech giants lifted the index, with Nvidia (NVDA) gaining 4.1% and Alphabet (GOOGL) rising 2.1% to close, like Amazon, just below $2 trillion.

Globe Life (GL) plummeted 53% after a short seller report accused the company of abetting insurance fraud. 

CarMax (KMX) sank 9.2% after the used-case retailer reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings as high prices and interest rates weighed on demand. 

Morgan Stanley (MS) shed 5.3% amid reports federal regulators were probing the bank’s wealth management arm and its anti-money laundering efforts. 

Insurance companies were some of the day’s worst performers. Aflac (AFL) fell 4%, while Allstate (ALL) and Assurant (AIZ) slid 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively. 

The Nasdaq 100

Broadcom (AVGO) gained 4.5% amid a broad tech rally. Micron (MU) climbed 4.4%, while Datadog (DDOG) added 4% and Qualcomm (QCOM) rose 2.5%. 

Vertex (VRTX) advanced 0.7%, erasing yesterday’s after-hours losses that followed its announcement of the $4.9 billion acquisition of Alpine Immune Science. 

Marvell Technology (MRVL) nearly missed out on the tech rally; its stock ticked up just 0.2% despite hosting an AI conference. 

Fastenal (FAST) fell 6.5% after the industrial distributor missed first-quarter earnings estimates, which the company attributed in part to “poor demand.”

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) slipped 1.7% after the Department of Justice accused the company of knowingly manipulating Medicare’s drug pricing processes. 

Alphabet, Amazon Approach $2 Trillion Mark

12 hr 26 min ago

Shares of tech giants Alphabet (GOOG; GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) were up about 2% late in the session Thursday, bringing both stocks within fractions of a percentage point of a $2 trillion market capitalization.

Google-parent Alphabet has been here before. Its market cap briefly crossed $2 trillion on Nov. 8, 2021, but it failed to close above that mark.

Amazon, meanwhile, has never hit $2 trillion before.

CarMax Stock Sinks as ‘Vehicle Affordability Challenges’ Hurt Demand

13 hr 58 min ago

CarMax (KMX) shares plunged Thursday after the biggest U.S. used-car retailer posted weaker-than-expected quarterly results amid slowing demand.

The company reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.32, down from $0.44 a year ago and significantly less than analysts had anticipated. Revenue slipped 1.7% to $5.63 billion, also missing forecasts.

Retail vehicle unit sales increased 1.3%, but revenue was down 0.7% to $4.5 billion. Wholesale vehicle unit sales dropped 4.0%, and revenue fell 5.5% to $974.3 million. CarMax noted that the average retail selling price declined by $600 per unit, and by $250 per unit for wholesale vehicles.

The company said sales were hurt by “vehicle affordability challenges.” It added that it faced “ongoing headwinds due to widespread inflationary pressures, higher interest rates, tightened lending standards and low consumer confidence.”

The news sent CarMax shares down 11.5% to $70.20 Thursday afternoon and into negative territory for 2024.

-Bill McColl

Constellation Brands Stock Jumps on Q4 Earnings Beat, Dividend Hike

14 hr 42 min ago

Constellation Brands (STZ) stock rose Thursday as the beverage company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings, driven by a rise in beer sales.

Constellation, which makes Corona and Modelo beers as well as several wine and spirits brands, reported $2.14 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, up from $2 billion in the year-ago quarter and above analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Adjusted income came in at $414.2 million or $2.26 per share, compared to expectations of $385.9 million and $2.10 per share, respectively.

Constellation’s board also approved an increase to its quarterly dividend by 13% to $1.01 per share of Class A stock, which will be paid out on May 17 to shareholders of record by May 3.

As in its previous two quarters of fiscal 2024, beer sales were a key driver of growth while wine and spirit sales continued to struggle. Beer sales reached $1.7 billion in the quarter, an 11% bump from the $1.54 billion Constellation reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.

Constellation shares were up 2% Thursday afternoon. The beverage maker has gained about 12% so far this year, and more than 18% in the last 12 months.

-Aaron McDade

Globe Life Tumbles on Short Seller Report Alleging Fraud

15 hr 49 min ago

Globe Life (GL) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Thursday after short seller Fuzzy Panda Research said it had taken a short position in the company and alleged management turned a blind eye to accusations of wide-ranging insurance fraud. 

“We uncovered extensive allegations of insurance fraud ignored by management despite being obvious and reported hundreds of times,” the researchers wrote in their report.

Fuzzy Panda accused executives of partaking in a kickback scheme, and alleged Globe Life sales teams wrote policies for deceased and fictitious customers. 

Globe Life did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Shares fell more than 23% Thursday to a more than three year low of about $80. 

Fastenal Stock Slips After Q1 Results Miss Estimates on ‘Poor Demand’

16 hr 43 min ago

Shares of Fastenal (FAST) slipped Thursday as the distributor of fasteners and tools attributed lower-than-expected quarterly results to weakness in the manufacturing sector.

The company reported first-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52, with revenue increasing 1.9% year-over-year to $1.9 billion. Both were slightly below estimates. Operating profit margin was 20.6%, also short of forecasts. Sales of fasteners dropped 4.4% from a year earlier.

CEO Daniel Florness said in an investor presentation that the “core issue remains poor demand.” He pointed to a sluggish Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), explaining that “such slow growth” resulted in pressure on margins and EPS. He argued that “it is difficult to sustain margins at current sales growth rates.”

Fastenal shares fell 4.9% to $71.10 Thursday morning but remained up about 10% this year.

-Bill McColl

Key Takeaways From CEO Andy Jassy’s Letter to Amazon Shareholders

17 hr 53 min ago

Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andy Jassy released his annual letter to Amazon (AMZN) shareholders Thursday, covering a range of topics across its business from the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) to the benefits of regionalizing its warehouse network.

Jassy thinks “Generative AI may be the largest technology transformation since the cloud (which itself, is still in the early stages), and perhaps since the Internet,” echoing JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s shareholder letter from earlier this week, and highlighted the benefits of Amazon’s shift to a more regionalized warehouse network that has allowed for more same-day and overnight deliveries.

Jassy also wrote that the company has seen significant benefits from its cost-cutting efforts, with plans to continue to identify areas of the business where Amazon could trim costs going forward.

The company hasn’t announced a date to report first-quarter earnings yet, but has usually done so in late April, and plans to hold its annual shareholder event May 22.

Amazon shares were up slightly Thursday morning, and have risen nearly 23% so far in 2024 and 86% over the last year.

See here for more insights from Jassy’s letter.

-Aaron McDade

Analysts Unfazed by Nvidia’s Recent Correction

18 hr 26 min ago

Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose early trading Thursday, extending yesterday’s rebound from its recent slide into correction territory with analysts saying investors shouldn’t worry, citing Nvidia’s strengths amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Bank of America (BAC) analysts called Nvidia’s recent selloff a “refreshing pause,” noting that volatility is not unusual for the stock, and said they are confident in the chipmaker’s ability to maintain or gain market share.

The sell-off that saw Nvidia fall 10% between March 25 and April 9 marked the ninth time since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022 that Nvidia shares saw a drop of 10% or more, according to Bank of America research.

While some investors may be worried about recent chip announcements by tech giants such as Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google Axion Processor and Intel’s (INTC) Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, Bank of America reiterated its “core view” that Nvidia is a top pick.

The analysts said they project Nvidia will “continue to dominate,” capturing more than 75% of the approximately $90 billion accelerator market. Bank of America anticipates In-house custom chips by companies like Google, Microsoft (MSFT), and Amazon (AMZN) will account for 15% to 20% of the market, while another 15% to 20% could be spread across others like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel (INTC).

Read more of what analysts are saying about Nvidia.

-Naomi Buchanan

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

19 hours ago

Gains:

• Alpine Immune Sciences (ALPN): Shares jumped about 37% after Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) offered to acquire the immunotherapy company for about $4.9 billion. 
• AstraZeneca Plc (AZN): Shares rose about 2% after the British biotech hiked its dividend ahead of a shareholder vote on whether to raise CEO Pascal Soriot’s pay.
• Albemarle (ALB): Shares advanced about 1% as analysts at Berenberg upgraded the lithium miner’s stock to “buy” and Wells Fargo reiterated its “buy” rating, both citing an anticipated bottoming of lithium prices.

Losses:

• CarMax (KMX): Shares of the used-car retailer fell 8% after it missed earnings and sales estimates in the fiscal fourth quarter and said it would take longer to reach its goal of selling two million units a year than previously expected. 
• Fastenal (FAST): The industrial distributor’s stock dropped about 5% after it also reported lower-than-expected earnings and sales in the first quarter. 
• Robinhood (HOOD): Shares of the online brokerage fell nearly 3% after Citi analysts downgraded its stock to “sell,” citing the disconnect between the company’s bitcoin-boosted stock price and the valuation warranted by its core business. 

Futures Point to Further Losses for Stocks

19 hr 52 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4% in premarket trading on Thursday.

S&P 500 futures were also off 0.4%.

Nasdaq 100 futures traded 0.3% lower about an hour before markets opened.