By Joe Woelfel
Stocks fell Friday as Wall Street dialed back expectations for interest-rate cuts after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank wasn't in a hurry to reduce rates. The S&P 500 was on track for its worst week since early September.
These stocks were making moves Friday:
Applied Materials reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates but shares fell 8.6% after the chip-equipment maker issued a disappointing outlook. Applied Materials said it anticipates fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.29 a share, plus or minus 18 cents, on revenue of $7.15 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Wall Street was expecting adjusted earnings of $2.27 a share on revenue of $7.24 billion.
Shares of vaccine makers such as Pfizer and Moderna declined after President-elect Donald Trump announced he was nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic and harsh critic of federal health agencies, to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Pfizer fell 4.6%, Moderna dropped 9.5%, BioNTech was down 2.8% in U.S. trading, and Novavax slid 2.9%. The prospect of Kennedy leading HHS or a similar agency has raised major questions about the future of the health system.
Tesla was up 2.7% after falling 5.8% on Thursday following a report from Reuters that said Trump likely would eliminate $7,500 purchase tax credits for electric vehicles. Analysts generally see the credit rollback as neutral for Tesla since it has the scale and cost structure to be profitable without the credits. An elimination of the credits, however, was being perceived as a negative for the rest of the industry. Rivian Automotive was down 6% after tumbling 14% on Thursday.
Palantir Technologies was rising 7.2% on a plan to transfer its listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 26. Upon transfering, Palantir said it anticipates meeting the eligibility requirements of the Nasdaq-100 Index, which includes the largest non-financial companies listed on the exchange.
Super Micro Computer fell 1.7% and was down for a sixth straight session as the server maker is quickly approaching a delisting deadline. The company has until Monday to get approval from the Nasdaq exchange on how it plans to regain compliance with listing requirements. A source familiar with the matter told Barron's that Super Micro intends to submit a plan to regain compliance by that date.
AST SpaceMobile, the space-based broadband company, reported a third-quarter loss of $1.10 a share, well wider than a loss of 23 cents a share a year earlier and analysts' estimates that called for a loss of 20 cents. Revenue of $1.1 million also missed forecasts of $1.8 million. The stock declined 13%.
Domino's Pizza rose 0.2% after Berkshire Hathaway bought 1.3 million shares of the pizza chain that were worth about $550 million on Sept. 30, according to a quarterly 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Warren Buffett's company also initiated a holding in Pool, buying 404,000 shares that were worth $152 million on Sept. 30. Pool shares jumped 1.7%. Ulta Beauty fell 2.9% after Berkshire Hathaway sold nearly all its position in the beauty products retailer.
Alibaba reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings that topped analysts' estimates but revenue that missed forecasts. U.S.-listed shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant were down 2.8%. Revenue from Alibaba's cloud business rose 7% from the year-earlier period on growth in products related to artificial intelligence.
Bloom Energy surged 45% to $19.27 after reaching a supply agreement for up to 1 gigawatt with American Electric Power. The stock also was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler and the price target was boosted to $20 from $10.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 15, 2024 12:23 ET (17:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments