Lockheed Martin, a renowned defense company, experienced a positive gain of approximately 0.6% in midday trading as it reported impressive third-quarter results, surpassing expectations. The company reported earnings per share of $6.73 on revenue of $16.88 billion, while analysts had predicted earnings per share of $6.67 on revenue of $16.74 billion. This news also led to a rise in the shares of defense peers, with Circor International seeing a 5.5% jump. However, Nvidia, a chip stock, witnessed a drop of over 3% due to the US Department of Commerce’s announcement to prohibit the export of additional artificial intelligence chips to China. This decision also impacted other chipmakers, including Marvell Technology, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom, causing their stocks to decrease.
Dollar Tree, the discount retailer, saw a significant increase of 4.1% after receiving an upgrade from Goldman Sachs from neutral to buy. The investment bank is optimistic about Dollar Tree’s potential for strong earnings growth and considers the company’s valuation to be compelling. Following a similar trend, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, another retailer, also received an upgrade from Goldman Sachs to buy and experienced a 3.8% gain.
Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical giant, reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the third quarter. Despite this positive news, the company’s stock experienced a slight decline. J&J posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.66 on revenue of $21.35 billion, while analysts had forecasted adjusted earnings per share of $2.52 and revenue of $21.04 billion. The decline in sales of J&J’s prostate cancer drug Zytiga, blood cancer drug Imbruvica, and its Covid vaccine partially offset the pharmaceutical sales growth.
Tripadvisor, a popular travel website company, witnessed a rise of more than 1.5% after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock as a buy. The investment bank expects the company to surpass revenue estimates, attributing this growth to Viator/Experiences, a tourism company, and improved profitability through increased scale and operating efficiencies.
Goldman Sachs itself reported third-quarter results, leading to a slight decrease in its shares. The financial company earned $5.47 per share on revenue of $11.82 billion, surpassing LSEG’s estimates. However, this represented a 33% year-over-year decrease in earnings per share and a 1% drop in revenue.
Lucid Group, an electric vehicle manufacturer, experienced a 4% decline in its stock as its vehicle production dropped by 32% compared to the previous year. The company produced 1,550 vehicles in the third quarter, while vehicle deliveries increased by 4.2% to 1,457 vehicles.
On the other hand, Bank of America surpassed Wall Street expectations, leading to a 2.7% increase in its shares. The bank reported earnings per share of 90 cents on $25.32 billion in revenue, while analysts had estimated earnings per share of 82 cents on $25.14 billion in revenue. Bank of New York Mellon also witnessed a rise of 3% in its stock following strong earnings results. The bank reported earnings per share of $1.22 on $4.37 billion in revenue for the third quarter, surpassing analysts’ forecast of $1.15 in earnings per share and revenue of $4.33 billion.
In the hospitality sector, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts experienced a significant jump of 7.9% after competitor Choice Hotels offered to acquire Wyndham for $90 per share, valuing the company at approximately $7.8 billion. However, Choice Hotels’ shares fell over 5% in response to this news.
CyberArk, an information security firm, saw a 2.5% increase in its shares following an upgrade to overweight from JPMorgan. The analyst cited an attractive setup and favorable competitive landscape as reasons for the upgrade. Similarly, VF Corporation, an apparel and footwear company, witnessed a surge of over 11% as activist investor Engaged Capital revealed a stake in the company. The exact size of the stake remains unknown. Viasat, a satellite broadband services company, also experienced a 6.7% climb in its shares after JPMorgan upgraded the stock from neutral to overweight, mentioning “increased cost discipline” that should appeal to investors.
Morgan Stanley upgraded Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, a climate investment firm, to overweight from equal weight, leading to a 4% increase in the company’s shares. The bank believes that the recent sell-off in the stock has been exaggerated. Similarly, Fortrea, a drug trial contract research company, gained 3% after activist investor Starboard Value disclosed an 8.7% stake in the company. Starboard Value’s Jeff Smith noted that Fortrea’s current valuation is lower than that of its peers.
Array Technologies, a solar energy tech company, witnessed a 3% rise in its shares following an upgrade from Morgan Stanley. The investment bank upgraded the stock from underweight to equal weight, citing an attractive valuation due to a sell-off in clean energy stocks and growth forecasts in the utility-scale solar market.
However, NetScout Systems, a cybersecurity company, experienced a significant drop of 16% and reached a new 52-week low. The decline was a result of the company’s preliminary fiscal second-quarter revenue and 2024 fiscal-year guidance falling below expectations. NetScout’s management attributed this to macro headwinds negatively impacting service provider demand.
It is worth noting that CNBC’s Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Lisa Kailai Han, Pia Singh, Sarah Min, and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.
I have over 10 years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry and I have been on the list of the top authors on LinkedIn for the past 5 years. I have a wealth of knowledge to share with my readers, and my goal is to help them navigate the ever-changing world of cryptocurrencies.
