During Market hours Friday (20.11.2020):
- Stocks fell on Friday as rising new coronavirus cases, coupled with questions around central-bank funding for a key emergency programs, cast doubt on a swift economic recovery.
- The Dow (Symbol: DIA) dropped 0.8% and hit its session low with less than an hour left in the session. The S&P 500 (Symbol: SPY) dipped 0.5%. The Nasdaq (Symbol: QQQ) was down 0.2%, erasing an earlier gain.
- Boeing (Symbol: BA) and American Express (Symbol: AXP) were the worst-performing stocks in the Dow, falling 2.9% and 1.5%, respectively.
- Zoom Video (Symbol: ZM) — Shares of the video-conferencing company jumped more than 6% amid a rise in Covid-19 cases. Zoom has been one of the key “stay-at-home” trades, and shares are up 550% this year.
- Nikola (Symbol: NKLA) — The electric vehicle maker rose 0.5%, as Loop Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating.
- Workday (Symbol: WDAY) — Shares of Workday dropped 9% after the software company sounded the alarm on continued pressure from the pandemic. The company did report stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, however.
- Shake Shack (Symbol: SHAK) — Shares of the restaurant chain slid more than 3% after Wedbush downgraded the stock to a neutral rating. “Despite what we believe are very reasonable assumptions (not conservative, not aggressive) within our updated discounted cash flow valuation, we do not arrive at a price target that justifies an outperform rating,” the firm said. Wedbush left its 12-month price target unchanged at $77.
- Intuit (Symbol: INTU) — The software stock slipped 3.8% despite Intuit reporting stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal first quarter. The company reported 94 cents in adjusted earnings per share, more than double the 41 cents per share expected by analysts, according to FactSet. Revenue and second-quarter guidance also topped projections.
- FireEye (Symbol: FEYE) — Shares of FireEye jumped nearly 6% after the cybersecurity company announced a $400 million strategic investment led by Blackstone. FireEye said it intends to use the proceeds to fund the acquisition of Respond Software and grow the company’s cloud, platform and managed services portfolio. Barclays downgraded FireEye to equal weight from overweight on Friday, however, citing growing competition.
- Pfizer (Symbol: PFE) — The pharmaceutical stock gained 1.4% after Pfizer announced that it would apply on Friday for emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine developed with BioNTech. The approval process from the Food and Drug Administration is expected to take a few weeks, and some Americans could receive the vaccine by the end of the year. BioNTech’s (Symbol: BNTX) stock rose more than 6%.
- Hibbett Sports (Symbol: HIBB) — The sporting-goods retailer reported better-than-expected results for the previous quarter, lifting its stock by 1.2%. Hibbett posted a profit of $1.47 per share on revenue of $331 million. Analysts expected earnings per share of 45 cents on revenue of $286 million. The company’s same-store sales grew by 21%, easily topping a forecast of 7.5%.
- Williams-Sonoma (Symbol: WSM) — Shares popped more than 6.5% after the cookware and home-furnishings retailer reported strong quarterly results driven by a 49% surge in digital sales. The company posted a profit of $2.56 per share on revenue of $1.76 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.53 per share on revenue of $1.6 billion.
During Premarket hours today – Monday (23.11.2020):
- Merck (Symbol: MRK) – Merck is buying privately-held drug maker OncoImmune for $425 million cash. OncoImmune is a developer of drugs designed to treat Covid-19, cancer and other diseases, and its vaccine candidate has shown promising results in a late-stage study. Merck shares added 1.9% in premarket trading.
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Symbol: REGN) – Regeneron received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 antibody cocktail, for use in patients who are not hospitalized but are at risk of developing serious illness. Regeneron rose 4% in premarket trading.
- Roku (Symbol: ROKU) – Needham raised its price target on Roku to a Street-high $315 per share from $255 a share, saying the streaming video-device maker is benefiting from accelerated cord-cutting and the presence of multiple devices in homes among other factors.
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