Top Midday Stories: Super Micro Places Co-Founder on Leave After Chip-Smuggling Charge; FedEx Posts Strong Earnings, Guidance

MT Newswires Live03-20 23:25

All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Friday and appear headed for another losing week as the war in Iran continues.

In company news, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) said late Thursday it placed two if its employees on administrative leave and terminated a contractor, effective immediately, after US prosecutors indicted all three people for allegedly conspiring to violate export controls. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York informed the company that it charged Yih-Shyan Liaw, Super Micro's co-founder, board member and senior vice president of business development, for his role in an alleged scheme to illegally send US-assembled servers with Nvidia (NVDA) chips to China, according to media reports. Ruei-Tsang Chang, Super Micro's sales manager in Taiwan, and contractor Ting-Wei Sun were also charged, the company said. Super Micro shares were down 27.4% around midday, while Nvidia shares were down 1.4%.

FedEx (FDX) reported fiscal Q3 non-GAAP net income late Thursday of $5.25 per diluted share, up from $4.51 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $4.15. Fiscal Q3 revenue was $24 billion, up from $22.2 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $23.49 billion. For fiscal 2026, the company said it expects non-GAAP EPS of $19.30 to $20.10 on revenue growth of 6% to 6.5%. Analysts polled by FactSet expect non-GAAP EPS of $18.69 on revenue of $92.81 billion. FedEx shares were up 1.4%.

Ecolab (ECL) said Friday it has agreed to acquire CoolIT Systems for about $4.75 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close in Q3, the company said. Ecolab also said it expects Q1 adjusted diluted EPS of $1.69 to $1.71, compared to its prior guidance of $1.67 to $1.73 and the FactSet consensus of $1.70. Ecolab shares were down 0.4%.

McCormick (MKC) is holding talks on a potential acquisition of Unilever's (UL) food business, the companies said Friday. The discussions are ongoing, and there is no certainty that a deal will be reached, McCormick said. McCormick shares were down 0.3%, while Unilever shares were up 0.4%.

Price: 22.30, Change: -8.49, Percent Change: -27.57

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