After about an hour of Thursday’s regular trading session, the Dow Jones industrials were up 0.43%, the S&P 500 up 0.64% and the Nasdaq up 0.65%. New claims for unemployment benefits came in well below expectations, and the second estimate of gross domestic product growth came in at 2.7%, down from the preliminary estimate of 2.9%. Both indicate a slightly cooling U.S. economy.
After U.S. markets closed Wednesday, Nvidia beat both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue estimates despite taking a big hit in its gaming sales. The company’s comments on its AI plans carried the most weight, however. Shares traded up more than 14% Thursday morning.
Coterra Energy also beat top-line and bottom-line estimates and increased its base dividend by $0.20 per share to $0.80. It also is targeting a return to shareholders of the base plus at least 50% of free cash flow to shareholders. The free cash flow return, however, may be supplemented by a new $2 billion share buyback program. The stock traded up 6.9%.
eBay also beat analysts’ EPS and revenue estimates, but the company’s outlook indicated that boosting sales may not be working out as well as the company is saying. Sales are projected to be flat year over year in the current quarter, after declining nearly 4% in the fourth quarter. Shares traded down 6.5%.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid posted a narrower-than-expected loss per share but missed the consensus revenue estimate. Even the company’s plan to double production this year fell short of expectations. The stock traded down 17.2%.
Before markets opened on Thursday, Alibaba topped both EPS and revenue estimates. The company fired 19,000 workers last year, including 4,000 in the fourth quarter. The e-commerce giant faced a slow Chinese economy as a result of the strict COVID-19 lockdowns. Cutting costs remains a focus going forward. Shares traded up 2.1%.
Newmont missed the consensus EPS estimate by a penny while topping the revenue estimate. Gold production is expected to be roughly flat year over year in 2023. Newmont has offered to buy Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining for $17 billion, looking to boost production. That deal is far from complete. Shares traded up about 0.1%.
Nikola reported a smaller-than-expected per-share loss and a big miss on revenue, and it issued downside revenue guidance for both the current quarter and the full 2023 fiscal year. Shares traded down 6.0%.
Block, Carvana and Warner Bros. Discovery are expected to report results after Thursday’s closing bell. There are no notable reports scheduled for Friday.
Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE) was tentatively scheduled to report results after markets closed Monday. The company announced Thursday morning that its earnings release would be delayed a week until Monday, March 6. That was not the worst news. Lordstown also said that the company was experiencing performance and quality issues with certain components of its Endurance EV pickup. Lordstown has had to halt product and deliveries.
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