Look at the companies that make headlines in the afternoon trading.
GameStop – Gambling retailer shares continued their rally as the share price more than doubled to surpass $ 360, up 140%. Retail investors pushed the stock price higher and pushed short sellers. Melvin Capital, which is short GameStop, closed its position on Tuesday afternoon after facing losses.
AMC Entertainment – The movie theater operator enjoyed a 175% boost and started the day at $ 20.34, before falling back to around $ 15 per share. This is still a 200% increase from when it closed on Tuesday. Trading volume increased sharply for AMC Entertainment – more than 689 million shares exchanged hands today – while retail investors continued to push for short sellers.
Bed Bath & Beyond – Shares of the home retailer rose more than 35% to $ 50, from their opening price of $ 42.98. The company was a favorite among speculative traders, bet by small investors against short sellers. Bed Bath & Beyond’s share price rose despite Baird downgrading the company on Wednesday to neutral from better than performance.
Microsoft – Shares rise 2% after technology giant’s strong quarterly earnings. Microsoft’s revenue grew 17% year-on-year due to growth in its cloud industry, compared to 12% growth in the previous quarter, according to a statement. Microsoft reported earnings of $ 2.03 per share on revenue of $ 43.08 billion. According to Refinitiv, Wall Street expected $ 1.64 per share on revenue of $ 40.18 billion.
Starbucks – The coffee chain dropped its shares by 5.75% after saying on Tuesday night that US sales in the same store fell by 5% during the first quarter amid a surge in new Covid-19 business. The company also announced that chief operating officer Roz Brewer will leave the company at the end of February to become CEO of another listed company.
Advanced Micro Devices – AMD’s shares fell 4.8% about halfway through the trading session after reporting earnings results just above analysts’ expectations on Tuesday, with earnings per share up 52 cents from the 47 cents expected. Despite the blows, analysts on Wednesday left some analysts wondering if investors were still hoping for the Santa Clara, disc maker, in California.
Boeing shares of the American aircraft manufacturer fell 3% on Wednesday morning after the company reported a quarterly loss of $ 15.25 per share, partly due to $ 8.3 billion in costs related to the 737 Max and a delay in the 777-X program. CEO Dave Calhoun told CNBC on Wednesday that the slow deployment of Covid-19 vaccines would prolong a recovery in travel demand.
F5 Networks – Applications services company’s shares fell more than 3%, despite Wall Street’s estimates for its quarterly earnings. According to Finitiv, F5 has earnings of $ 2.59 per share compared to the $ 2.47 per share analysts expect. The company generated revenue of $ 625 million, in line with expectations.
Texas Instruments – Texas Instruments reported an adjusted quarterly earnings of $ 1.64 per share, 30 cents above estimate, while the chips’ revenue was also above estimate, according to Refintiv. However, the disc maker’s share fell by 4%.
Brinker International – Shares of the restaurant business increase more than 7% after Brinker reported results for the fiscal second quarter. The company reported 35 cents of adjusted earnings per share on $ 761 million in revenue, slightly exceeding Refinitiv’s consensus estimates on both points. Some analysts have pointed out in customer notes that the earnings figure has been increased by a tax benefit. Brinker said 18% of Chile locations and 31% of Maggiano locations were still closed due to the pandemic.
National Anthem – Shares of national anthem fell by more than 6%, despite the fact that Wall Street’s expectations beat the top and bottom line in the fourth quarter report. The insurance company reported earnings of $ 2.54 per share on revenue of $ 31.82 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv recorded $ 2.52 per share and $ 30.78 billion in revenue. However, according to FactSet, the lead for earnings in 2021 was lower than expected.
– with coverage by Thomas Franck, Jesse Pound and Darla Mercado of CNBC.