S&P 500? More Like 1,500! — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | January 24, 2013 5:04 pm

[1]The good news Thursday? The S&P 500 briefly touched 1,500 for the first time since 2007 in the face of a huge blood-letting in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[2]), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average set yet another five-year high — both thanks in part to mostly upbeat corporate earnings and positive data on U.S. jobless claims.

The bad news? Apple shareholders were subject to that blood-letting, and the Nasdaq couldn’t overcome it. By day’s end, the Apple- and tech-heavy index finished 0.74% lower to 3,130.38; the Dow finished up 0.33% to 13,825 and the S&P 500 was marginally higher at 1,494.82.

AAPL fell more than 12% after the company posted record earnings in its fiscal first quarter, but said current-quarter sales would come in under analysts’ expectations, as well as a host of other mixed messages[3].

On the flip side was Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX[4]), which saw its shares surge 42% after announcing a blowout quarter[5].

3M (NYSE:MMM[6]) announced that profits rose 4.4% in the fourth quarter, driven by record sales, and it confirmed its guidance for the coming year. However, MMM shares traded only fractionally better.

Shares of Nokia (NYSE:NOK[7]) dove more than 8% after the company announced it would suspend its dividend — that despite the company reporting its first quarterly profit in the past six periods.

Rare earths miner Molycorp (NYSE:MCP[8]) lost just more than 10% after announcing it expects considerably lower-than-estimated revenue and cash flow for the first half of 2013 — the results of which suggest a cash shortfall of around $250 million[9]. MCP plans to offer fresh shares in an attempt to raise up to $300 million.

After the bell, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[10]) entered the earnings confessional and came out a loser, with shares down more than 2% in early after-market trading. Fourth-quarter earnings were off 4% to $6.4 billion (76 cents per share), narrowly beating expectations of 75 cents per share. Revenues of $21.46 billion were up 3% but just slightly shy of estimates. MSFT also reported that it has sold more than 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date.

Notable earnings releases for Friday include Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG[11]), and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB[12]), while Monday (Jan. 28) opens with Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT[13]).

Three Up

• Swift Transportation (NASDAQ:SWFT[14]): Up 28.5% ($2.92) to $13.15.
• Tempur-Pedic (NYSE:TPX[15]): Up 9.2% ($3.23) to $38.35.
• Green Mountain Coffee (NASDAQ:GMCR[16]): Up 6.6% ($2.70) to $43.78.

Three Down

• McCormick (NYSE:MKC[17]): Down 6.3% ($4.22) to $62.37.
• Noble Energy (NYSE:NE[18]): Down 6% ($2.39) to $37.46.
• Under Armour (NYSE:UA[19]): Down 3.8% ($1.83) to $45.86.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he was long AAPL and MSFT.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/01/thursdays-ip-market-recap-aapl-msft-nflx-goog-mmm-nok-mcp/

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