U.S. stock futures were looking to carry yesterday’s positive momentum into today with all three major indices trading higher by around 0.9% at the time of writing.
We’ve got a busy day of earnings to look forward to today with PFE, XOM and ETN reporting before the bell, and heavyweights AMZN and GOOGL announcing their results after the market closes.
Sundial Growers (SNDL) and AMC Entertainment (AMC) were again among the most heavily traded stocks before the open, and were down 9% and 21%, respectively, at the time of writing.
Artelo Biosciences was also very active before the bell and was the top gainer in pre-market trading (+114%). Research Solutions and Tiziana Life followed with pre-market gains of 70% and 48%, respectively.
Biggest losers in the pre-market session were Verint Systems (-44%), GameStop (-28%) and Koss Corp (-24%).
In corporate news, Cirrus Logic (CRUS) fell 7% in pre-market trading despite posting better-than-expected fiscal third quarter 2021 results. EPS grew 51.1% year-on-year to $2.13, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.86. A 30% year-on-year jump in quarterly sales also beat expectations of $460.8 million, coming in at $485.8 million. However, fourth quarter revenue guidance of between $280 million and $320 million disappointed analysts who were looking for a figure of $297.8 million.
Tooling and industrial metals supplier, Kennametal (KMT), crushed analysts’ Q2 expectations, despite dropping from last year. It reported earnings of $0.16 per share and revenue of $423.6 million. Analysts were expecting $0.09 in earnings and $423.6 million in revenues. The 13% year-on-year drop in revenue was driven by a 14% drop in organic sales. However, foreign currency exchange rates had a favorable impact on net sales. CEO Christopher Rossi said that the company experienced “solid margin improvement and strong free operating cash flow in the quarter.”
Virgin Galactic (SPCE) was 14% higher before the bell after rocketing 21% higher yesterday. The company announced that its window for the rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo Unity would open on Feb. 13. In December, a test flight was aborted due to an engine failure, but the company confirmed that corrective work for the test flight and extensive testing on the ground has been completed. The test flight will be manned by two pilots and will carry research payloads as part of the NASA Flight Opportunities program.
Shares of ON Semiconductor (ON) looked set to open over 2% higher after rallying 6.4% on Monday. The semiconductor supplier reported Q4 earnings of $0.35 per share, up 16.7% from last year and beating analysts’ estimates of $0.28. Revenues increased 3% year-on-year to $1.45 billion and surpassed the consensus mark of $1.36 billion. An improvement in the global macroeconomic environment and recovery in the automotive end-market were the main drivers behind ON’s positive results.
In M&A news, Eaton (ETN) announced that it has agreed to buy air-to-air refueling systems maker Cobham Mission Systems (CMS) for $2.8 million as it expands its aerospace business. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of this year. This follows an announcement last week that Eaton had acquired Tripp Lite, a supplier of power products and connectivity solutions for $1.7 billion.
