By Joe Woelfel
Stocks rose Thursday after China's leaders pledged stronger policy support for the world's second-largest economy.
These stocks were making moves Thursday:
Micron Technology was rising 14% after the memory-chip maker reported fiscal-fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.18 a share, beating analysts' estimates for $1.11, as revenue surged 93% from a year earlier to $7.75 billion on "robust AI demand." Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said artificial-intelligence demand "drove a strong ramp of our data-center DRAM products and our industry-leading high-bandwidth memory." Micron said it expects first-quarter revenue of $8.7 billion at the midpoint of its guidance, higher than estimates for $8.3 billion and well more than $4.73 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Shares of other chip makers traded mixed after Micron's report. Advanced Micro Devices gained 2.3%, Applied Materials rose 5%, Nvidia was down 0.4%, ASML jumped 3.9%, Lam Research gained 4.5%, and Western Digital surged 6%.
Super Micro Computer fell 14% after The Wall Street Journal reported the server maker was being probed by the Justice Department following a critical report by short-seller Hindenburg Research. The report cited people familiar with the matter.
Jabil jumped 11% after fiscal-fourth-quarter profit and revenue topped analysts' expectations, and the company said it would cut its head count under a restructuring.
Starbucks was up 2.1% after analysts at Bernstein raised their recommendation on shares of the cafe chain to Outperform from Market Perform.
Southwest Airlines issued expectations for its fiscal third quarter as the carrier kicks off its investor day, saying it anticipates revenue per available seat mile up 2% to 3% year over year. Southwest also said it appointed Robert Fornaro -- who previously served as the CEO of Spirit Airlines -- to its board, effective immediately. Southwest has been pressured by activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which has pushed for changes at the top, including the ouster of CEO Bob Jordan. The stock was up 6.6%.
GE Healthcare was falling 1.5% to $91.61 as UBS analysts downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral, and reduced their price target to $74 from $84.
Costco Wholesale fell 0.6% ahead of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings scheduled for after the closing bell Thursday. Wall Street expects revenue to rise about 1% from a year earlier to $79.9 billion, and same-store sales to grow 5.6%.
Accenture rose 4.9% after the IT consulting company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts' estimates, and a raised quarterly dividend. Accenture's board also approved an additional $4 billion for stock buybacks.
CarMax was up 5.2% after falling in the premarket session. Fiscal-second-quarter sales at the used-car retailer topped Wall Street estimates but auto finance income declined 14.4% amid an increase in a provision for loan losses.
Concentrix tumbled 17% after the global technology and services company reported fiscal-third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.87 a share, missing analysts' expectations for $2.93.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2024 14:17 ET (18:17 GMT)
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