Wall Street’s main stock indexes fluctuated between gains and losses ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the US labor market and as inflation increased moderately in January.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%. The S&P 500 Index retreated 0.1%.
In automotive news, shares of General Motors slipped 3.3% as the vehicle maker said production will be affected for a prolonged period due to the semiconductor shortage. As a result, the automobile giant will need to extend the temporary downtime at its production plants in Kansas, Canada and Mexico until the middle of March. Additionally, GM said that its Bupyeong 2 assembly plant in Korea will be operating at half of its capacity from Feb. 8.
In earnings news, Under Armour surprised investors with posting a profit in the fourth quarter, which pushed shares up almost 10%. The athletic apparel retailer reported EPS of $0.12 in 4Q versus analysts’ expectations of a loss per share of $0.07. The company’s revenues declined 3% to $1.4 billion year-on-year, surpassing consensus estimates of $1.3 billion. Wholesale revenue declined 12% in 4Q to $662 million year-on-year. Against this, direct-to-consumer revenues climbed 11% year-on-year to $655 million, driven by 25% growth in e-commerce sales.
Shares of Lyft jumped 4.7% as the ride-sharing company reported better-than-feared 4Q results and sees a recovery in demand starting in 2Q of this year. Revenues in 4Q dropped 44% to $570 million year-on-year but exceeded consensus estimates of $562.5 million. The company posted an adjusted net loss per share of $0.58, vs. a loss of $0.72 forecasted by analysts. “While the first quarter of 2021 continues to be uncertain primarily due to COVID-19 headwinds, based on current recovery expectations, we should experience a growth inflection beginning in the second quarter that strengthens in the second half of the year,” Lyft CFO Brian Roberts commented.
Twitter popped almost 9% after reporting better-than-expected Q4 results. Total revenues grew 28% to $1.29 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion, while adjusted earnings increased 52% on a year-over-year basis to $0.38 per share, beating Street estimates of $0.31 per share. Total revenue for Q1 2021 is anticipated to be in the range of $940 million to $1.04 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $965.14 million. “Given the hiring and investment decisions made in 2020 and previous years, along with anticipated 2021 headcount growth, we expect total costs and expenses to grow 25% or more in 2021, ramping in absolute dollars over the course of the year,” the social media giant said.
Meanwhile, Cisco Systems fell 4%, as Q2 revenues of $12 billion came in flat year-on-year, but ahead of analysts’ estimates of $11.9 billion. EPS of $0.79 beat analysts’ expectations of $0.76. Cisco’s software business generated $3.6 billion in revenues, with 76% of that coming from software subscriptions. In the fiscal third quarter, the company expects sales to grow between 3.5% to 5.5% year-on-year. EPS is forecasted to land between $0.64 to $0.69 in 3Q. Additionally, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 3% to $0.37 per share.
In healthcare updates, Genfit spiked more than 14% after the late-stage biopharma company announced “positive” results from the Phase 2 clinical trial testing its elafibranor therapy in patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), a form of liver disease. Based on the data, Genfit will conduct a longer-term, larger scale pivotal Phase 3 study to evaluate elafibranor in patients with PBC.
