U.S. stocks ended little changed on Tuesday, but the Nasdaq eked out a modest gain while investors kept an eye on Treasuries yields and awaited more earnings to assess the health of American companies.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.71 points, or 0.02%, to 42,924.89, the S&P 500 lost 2.78 points, or 0.05%, to 5,851.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 33.12 points, or 0.18%, to 18,573.13.
Market Movers
Enphase Energy plunged 12.4% post-market Tuesday after reporting a wide miss on Q3 adjusted earnings and a 31% Y/Y decline in revenues, while also guiding Q4 revenues well below Wall Street consensus.
Seagate Technology (STX) stock fell late Tuesday, despite the data storage company posting fiscal first quarter earnings and sales that exceeded expectations. The disk-drive manufacturer's guidance for current quarter revenue was also in-line with projections from analysts.
Texas Instruments Inc.'s earnings reflected continued pressures in industrial semiconductors, though overall revenue improved on a sequential basis. The chip company posted $4.15 billion in revenue for its third quarter, down 8% from a year before but up 9% sequentially. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $4.12 billion. Texas Instruments shares rise 4% to $201.8 after the bell.
Nvidia was flat, a day after shares of the leading provider of chips to train artificial-intelligence systems closed at a record high of $143.71 and its market cap reached $3.525 trillion. Nvidia is the second U.S. company to ever close with a market value above $3.5 trillion; Apple first closed above $3.5 trillion on July 9. Apple's market cap at the close of trading Monday was $3.595 trillion.
Starbucks Corp suspended its forecast through the next fiscal year as new CEO Brian Niccol looks to turn around the coffee giant struggling with falling demand for its pricey drinks. The coffee chain also reported preliminary fourth-quarter results, saying same-store sales, net revenue, and profit declined, weighed down by weak demand in the U.S. Its shares fell about 4% in after-hours trading. The stock has gained nearly 28% since the company named Niccol as CEO in early August.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late Tuesday it is investigating an outbreak of E. coli linked to McDonald's Corp. Quarter Pounder burgers that has killed one person and hospitalized 10 people in 10 states. McDonald's shares $(MCD)$ dropped about 6% in the extended session after ending the regular trading day down less than 0.1%. If that holds up through Wednesday's trading, it would be the stock's worst one-day decline since March 16, 2020, when it fell 15.9%.
Third-quarter operating profit at SAP on an adjusted basis rose 27% from a year earlier and the German business-software company raised its full-year outlook. SAP said a significant part of its cloud deals in the third quarter "included AI-use cases." U.S.-listed shares of SAP rose 1.2%.
GE Aerospace was down 9.1% after third-quarter earnings from the commercial aerospace firm topped Wall Street forecasts. The company also raised full-year financial guidance. Coming into Tuesday, the stock has gained 91% this year.
Shares of General Motors surged 9.8%. The auto maker reported third-quarter earnings of $2.96 a share and an operating profit of $4.1 billion on sales of $48.8 billion. Wall Street was looking for earnings of $2.38 and an operating profit of $3.3 billion on sales of $44.7 billion.
Verizon Communications was down 5% after the telecommunications giant posted third-quarter revenue that slightly missed analysts' expectations because of a decline in wireless equipment sales. Adjusted earnings in the period topped estimates and Verizon reported retail postpaid-phone net additions of 239,000, better than estimates of 221,000.
Philip Morris International rose 11% after the tobacco firm easily beat adjusted earnings and revenue estimates for the third quarter and boosted guidance.
Lockheed Martin declined 6.1%. The defense company reported third-quarter earnings of $6.80 a share on sales of $17.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $6.50 on sales of $17.4 billion. For the year, Lockheed expects sales of $71.3 billion, compared with sales of $71.2 billion projected by Wall Street.
3M was down 2.3%. The maker of Scotch tape and Post-its beat third-quarter earnings expectations, and raised its full-year outlook. The company raised earnings guidance for the year to a range of $7.20 to $7.30 a share, up from a prior range of $7 to $7.30.
Sherwin-Williams fell 5.3% after the paints and coatings company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.37 a share, below Wall Street estimates of $3.55, and net sales of $6.16 billion that missed forecasts of $6.2 billion. CEO Heidi G. Petz noted "continued choppiness in the demand environment."
Genuine Parts fell 21% after the distributor of automotive and industrial replacement parts slashed its outlook. The company expects 2024 adjusted earnings of $8 to $8.20 a share, lower than a previous forecast of $9.30 to $9.50. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of $9.35.
Steel maker Nucor posted third-quarter earnings and revenue that declined from a year earlier as the average sales price per ton fell 15% from a year earlier, and the company shipped 6.2 million tons to outside customers in the period, down 1%. The stock was down 6.5%.
iRhythm Technologies jumped 22% after the Food and Drug Administration granted clearance for its submission to prior design changes made to its Zio AT device, a prescription-only outpatient cardiac telemetry device.
Market News
Pfizer Receives FDA Approval for RSV Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of Pfizer's vaccine for a deadly respiratory virus to a new age group.
The vaccine, called Abrysvo, has been approved for the prevention of lower respiratory tract diseases, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, caused by respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in people between the ages of 18 and 59.
Netflix Backs Out of Plan to Develop Blockbuster Videogame
Netflix is giving up on making the videogame equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster and will instead focus on producing casual games.
The streaming giant earlier this month pulled the plug on developing its own high-end game—what the industry calls a Triple-A title—less than a year into development, a spokeswoman confirmed. The company laid off a team of about 30 people in Southern California, including high-profile veterans who worked on franchises such as Microsoft’s Halo and Sony’s God of War. The project was a multiplayer shooter game, according to a person familiar with the matter.
