In the first half-hour of trading Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrials were 0.26% lower, the S&P 500 down 0.15% and the Nasdaq down 0.09%. The monthly consumer price index (CPI) came in as expected with an increase of 0.5% month over month, and core CPI also met an expected increase of 0.4%. Overall inflation dropped to 6.4% on a 12-month basis, an improvement over December’s 12-month inflation rate of 6.5%. The data was clearly interpreted to mean more Federal Reserve tightening, and shares that had been traded higher in the premarket sank as the opening bell approached.
After U.S. markets closed Monday, Palantir Technologies reported beating fourth-quarter estimates on both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue. The $0.04 per-share profit was the company’s first since coming public in September 2020. Guidance for the first quarter and the full 2023 fiscal year was a bit light, but shares traded up 10.5% shortly after Tuesday’s opening bell.
Vornado Realty Trust reported better-than-expected profits but missed on revenue. Shares traded down 0.2% early Tuesday.
Before markets opened on Tuesday morning, Dow component Coca-Cola met analysts’ EPS estimate and beat the revenue estimate. Warren Buffett’s favorite drink also issued upside guidance. Shares traded up a fraction in the morning.
Peabody Energy hammered the consensus EPS estimate and easily beat the revenue forecast. Shares traded up 4.2%.
Cleveland-Cliffs reported results that were more or less in line with expectations, but far below the iron ore miner and steelmaker’s fourth quarter of last year. Shares traded down about 1.5%.
After markets close on Tuesday, Airbnb, Devon Energy and Livent will report quarterly earnings. Barrick Gold, Kraft Heinz and Roblox are scheduled to post their quarterly results before Wednesday’s opening bell.
Here is a look at what to expect from these four firms expected to share their results later on Wednesday.
Albemarle
Lithium producer Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) has added about 17% to its share price in the past 12 months, thanks to a year-to-date bump of 24.5%. The company posted a new 52-week high in mid-November, and shares rose by more than 30% by the end of the year. Battery-grade lithium carbonate has dropped in price by around 21% since reaching a mid-November high of $87,600. The current price is around $69,600 per metric ton. At its investor day last month, Albemarle gave upbeat guidance for the 2023 fiscal year and outlined a path to an 80% jump in sales by 2027.
Analysts are mostly bullish on Albemarle. Of 26 brokerages covering the stock, 14 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and 10 have Hold ratings. At a recent price of around $270.00 a share, the implied gain based on a median price target of $315.00 is 16.7%. Based on the high price target of $497.00, the upside potential is 84.1%.
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