E🍸quity Indexes Wrap: ꧒Healthcare Leads Indexes Higher; Chip Stocks Lag

The Dow

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) led the index higher, rising 4.3%. 

Disney (DIS) added 2.7% ahead of its earnings report tomorrow after the 🌸bell. 

Boeing (BA) rose 0.9% despite Federal Aviation Administration administrator Michael Whitaker telling Congress this morning that the agency would increase scrutiny of the jet maker f🅺ollowing last month's Alaska Air incident. 

Amgen (AMGN) fell 1.8% ahead of its earnings report after markets closed. 

The S&P 500

DuPont de Nemours (DD) gained 7.3% after the company’s board approved a $1 billion in stock b𝐆uybacks and raised its dividend. 

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) advanced 7.2% after beating expectations with its ꦆquarterly earnings. 

United Parcel Service (UPS) rose 4.9% after UBS upgraded the s🍃tock to buy, citing the benefit of 🥃cost-cutting measures. 

Linde Plc (LIN) rose 3.7% after the gas giant’s quarterly e🍌arnings topped Wall Street estimates. 

FMC (FMC) tumbled 11.6% after reporting 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:soft sales, destocking, and drought inꦰ Brazilꦉ weighed on quarterly earnings. 

Tyson Foods (TSN) fell 3.7% after gaining slightly yesterday following a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:better-than-e🌌xpected earnings report. 

Amazon (AMZN) slid 0.7% as it announced it would lay off h🌟undreds of employees in its healthcare units. 

Eli Lilly (LLY) shares slipped 0.2% despite 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:beating quarterly earnings and sales estimates amid booming demand for its weight-loss drugs. 

The Nasdaq 100

GE HealthCare (GEHC) soared 11.7% after topping Wall Street’s eꦿs🐈timates with its quarterly sales and earnings. 

Doordash (DASH) added 3.9% after analysts at JMꦏP Securities and UBS raised their price targets. The stock has risen more than 80% in the past year🙈.

PayPal (PYPL) climbed 3.5% ahead of its ear♕nings report tomorrow. 

Tesla (TSLA) added 2.2%, rebounding slightly from 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:yesterday’s sell-off. 

Charter Communications (CHTR) fell 4.4%, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:continuing to slide after last week’s ꧑disappointing earnings report. 

Chip stocks lagged, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) losing 3.6%, Micron (MU) slipping 2.7%, and Nvidia (NVDA) retreating 1.6%. 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) fell 3% despite surpa🐲ssing♕ analyst estimates with its quarterly results. 

What You Need Too Know Ahead of Disney Earnin🎃gs Tomꦦorrow

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:expected to eke out modest revenue and net income gains year-over-year when it reports first-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings after markets close tomorrow. The media giant had a relatively lackluster 2023 holiday box office and cable cord-cutting continues to affect its legacy networks.

Disney is forecast to post 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:net income attributable to the company of $1.82 billion, up just a fraction of a percent compared with the prior-year quarter. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Earnings per share (EPS) is expected 𓂃to come in at 84 cents, comparedಌ with 70 cents the same time last year.

Anaꩵlysts predict that Disney will report revenue of $23.72 billion, up less than 1% year-over-year. This would be the slowest pace of growth since the company returned to revenue gains nearly three years ago.

While a general shift away from 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:traditional cable services has weighed on some of Disney's legacy entertainment offerings, the company has made great strides with its direct-to-consumer segment, including 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:streaming offerings such as Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu.

Disney is forecast to report direct-to-consumer entertainment revenue of $5.45 billion for the most recent quarter, the😼 highest figure from this category to date. This represents an increase of 13% year-over-year.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Nathan Reiff

Weight-Loss Drugs Buoy Eli Lilly's Q4 Earnings and 2024 Outlook

Eli Lilly (LLY), the world's most valuable drugmaker, reported 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:strong fourth-quarter earnings driven by demand for its weight-loss drugs, and projected sales could rise over 20% this year.

Eli Lilly forecast 2024 sales of $40.4 billion to $41.6 billion, topping analysts' expectations, and up from $34.12 billion in 2023.

The pharmaceutical giant reported fourth-quarter 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings per share of𝐆 $2.49, up 13% from a year ago, and a 28% surge in revenue on the back of sales of weight-loss treatments Zepbound an🧜d Mounjaro.

Zepbound, which Eli Lilly 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:began selling in November and has the same ingredꦚients as Mounjaro, brought in $175.8 million during the fourth quarter.

Eli Lilly said, however, that due to the time it will take to bring production fully online🐓, demand for its diabetes and obesity drugs will likely outpace supply this year.

Eli Lilly shares were 0.8% lower at $700.47 Tuesday afternoon. Still, t🍒hey have more than doubled in value over the past year amid t💎he buzz surrounding its weight-loss drugs.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Kevin George

GEꦕ HeꦦalthCare Leads S&P 500 After Earnings Beat

Shares of GE HealthCare (GEHC) jumped Tue⛦sday after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and 🦄earnings. 

GE HealthCare, which was spun off of General Electric (GE) in January 2023, reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $403 million, or 88 cents per share, on revenue of $5.2 billion. Both sales and earnings were lower than a year ago but exceeded analysts’ expectations nonetheless.

Revenue at the company’s imaging unit, its largest, grew 4% to $2.8💮 billion while margins widened by 10 basis points to 11.9%. Sales at its high margin (24.4%) pharmaceutical diagnostics unit rose 25% to $591 million.

The company also forecast adjusted earnings per share of between $4.20 and $4.35 in 2024, represent🌜ing a 7% to 11% increase from 2023. 

“We bolstered our market position with strategic acquisitions, while at the same time paying down $1 billion in debt, setting a solid foundation for continued growth,” CEO Peter Arduini said of the 2023 results. “We’re confident heading into 2024 amid 🥀the backdrop of an improved capital equipment landscape.”

Shares of GE HealthCare were up 12.5% at $82.60, a six-month 😼high, Tuesday afternoon. They have gained about 1ಌ5% in the last year.

🦩FMC Stock Plunges as Weak Sales, Destocking Hit Earnings

Shares in FMC Corp. (FMC) tumbled more than 10% Tuesday after the agriculture chemical manufacturer issued weak first-quarter 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings guidance as the company ♎continues to grapple with low sales💃 volumes and destocking challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The maker of insecticides and harvest aids said it expects current-quarter adjusted earnings to range between 21 and 43 cents per share, less than half the $1-a-share figure analysts had forecast. For the three-month period ending December 31, the company posted 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.07, compared with $2.37 a year earlier, while revenue of $1.15 billion declined 29% from the prior year’s corresponding quarter.

FMC said that destocking presented ongoing challenges in all of its geographic regions. During the pandemic, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:supply chain bottlenecks led many distributors to stockpile crop chemicals, resulting in excess inventory levels that 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:customers are still working through.

The chemical maker also said drought conditions in Brazil had weighed on ea🃏rnings. In the December quarter, FMC’s Latin American business, which accounts fo🔯r roughly a third of total revenue, posted a 38% decline in sales.

Since dropping below the key $50 level in late October on the back of a disappointing third-quarter update, FMC's share price somewhat stabilized and even managed to claw back above the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:50-day moving average.

If earnings-driven selling intensifies in upcoming trading sessions, keep a close eye if buyers can defend the $50 level. A successful hold of this area could help shift investor sentiment, while a convincing 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:breakdown may lead to a resumption of the long-term downtrend༒.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Timothy Smith

DocuSign Stock Falls Amid Third Round of Layoffs

Shares of DocuSign (DOCU) tumbled in early tra♏ding Tuesday after the e-signature software maker said it would cut 6% of its workforce. 

DocuSign said the majority of the cuts would hit its sales and marketing departments. It also estimated that it would incur $28 million to $32 million in one-time restructuring charges, the majority of which would be booked in the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year. 

The layoff announcement comes just one day after Reuters reported that takeover talks with private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman had stalled. 

The layoffs announced Tuesday are DocuSign’s ༺third round in the past year and a half. The company cut 9% of its workforce in September 2022 as growth slowed after a pandemic boom. Then in February 2023 it announced it would lay off an additional 10% of employees to further cut costs. 

Tech companies of all sizes went on a hiring spree during the pandemic as lockdowns boosted demand for digital products and services. And they’ve spent the last two years attempting to “right-size” by laying off staff in the thousands, even as enthusiasm about AI has boosted optimism. PayPal (PYPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Microsoft (MSFT) are amo🦂n꧂g the firms that have already cut jobs this year.

DocuSign shar💜es were down 4% at $51.30 midday Tuesday.

Palantir Stock Skyrockets as AI Plat🌱forms Fuel Q4 Sales Growth—Key Price Levels to Watch

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares jumped nearly 30% in early trading Tuesday after the big data analytics software maker topped Wall Street’s sales forecast amid ongoing demand for its 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) platforms

The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $608.4 million, up 20% from the year-ago quarter and ahead of the $602.4 million figure analysts had expected. Meanwhile, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:adjusted earnings for the period came in at 8 cents per share, in line with the consensus forecast. The results were bolstered by the company’s U.S. commercial division, which grew its customer count by 55% from last year’s corresponding quarter.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp said in a letter to shareholders late Monday that the company’s expansion and growth has never been greater, especially with "unrelenting" demand in the U.S. market for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:large language AI models. Karp ad꧑ded that the company’s AI technology pilots had increased morಞe than sixfold over the past year.

Palantir shares have traded within an 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:ascending channel since early August, with the pattern’s lower 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trendline roughly aligning with the 200-day moving average. Interestingly, the stock yesterday recorded its largest single day of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:share turnover since early November, with the price running into selling pressure near the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:50-day moving average.

If the stock continues to climb after Tuesday, keep an eye on the channel’s top trendline, currently around $22.80, as an area of potential chart resistance.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Timothy Smith

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

Gains:

• Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR): Shares of the data analytics software company soared 20% after it beat earnings expectations amid booming demand for its AI products. 
• Spotify Technology SA (SPOT): The music streaming company’s stock rose 8% after it topped Wall Street estimates with its quarterly results, reporting its second-largest fourth-quarter subscriber increase. 
• BP Plc (BP): Shares of the British oil giant rose 5% after it posted a smaller-than-expected decline in profit in the fourth quarter and said it would ramp up its share buybacks. 
  

Losses:

• FMC Corp. (FMC): Shares of the fertilizer company tumbled 13% after it missed quarterly earnings estimates and forecast lower-than-expected full-year sales and profit. 
• DocuSign Inc. (DOCU): Shares of the cloud software developer fell 7% after it said it would cut about 6% of jobs. It also took a hit from reports yesterday that takeover talks with two private equity firms had stalled. 
• UBS Group (UBS): Shares of the Swiss bank fell 4% despite posting a narrower-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter and announcing it would restart stock buybacks with plans to spend $1 billion in the second half of the year.

Stock Futures Inch Higher

Futures contrꦉacts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down less than 0.1% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

S&P 500 futures were up less than 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up nearly 0.2%.