The stock market looked ready to pop on Wednesday thanks to a report on reduced oil production sending crude prices flying. However, shares tapered off at the end, leading to thin gains for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which posted respective gains of 0.1% and 0.2%.
Earnings continue to be the driver of the day, with numerous stocks primed to move as we head into Thursday morning’s trading. Among the stocks to watch for sizable moves today are Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT), Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM).
Here’s what is driving each one:
Mattel, Inc. (MAT)
The popular toy maker reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results late Wednesday, underwhelming Wall Street in several areas.
Backing out certain items, Mattel posted a loss of 13 cents per share for Q4 on net sales of $869.4 million. The latter beat analyst estimates of $861.1 million in revenues, though the former was a deeper loss than the 7 cents expected by Wall Street.
Mattel’s poor quarterly earnings can be partially attributed to sluggish sales of its iconic Barbie dolls, which tumbled 3.4% in the quarter.
The loss of popularity of Barbie dolls may be related to the ongoing shift in the way we define beauty. Mattel has received its share of flak for creating dolls that perhaps set a one-dimensional idea of what it means to be female and beautiful. The company has made efforts to remedy this issue with a variety of Barbies earlier this year — perhaps this move will help Mattel become profitable once again.
Mattel was off some 6% in premarket trading. If that figure holds, that would plunge shares below their 50-day moving average of about $32.50.
Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM)
QCOM shares took a hit, too, despite the chipmaker reporting quarterly figures for its fiscal Q2 that exceeded estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Qualcomm posted revenue of $5.5 billion, beating the $5.34 billion average that Wall Street expected. However, that sales figure was off 19% year-over-year. Quarterly net income also beat analysts’ projections — the company posted EPS of $1.04, ahead of the consensus estimate for 96 cents per share.
Most concerning was QCOM’s third-quarter forecast, in which it sees chip shipments falling 13% to 22%.
Qualcomm was off by about 4% in Wednesday’s postmarket trading, though that figure had tamed a bit to about 2% in Thursday’s premarket action.
Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM)
Investors were delighted to hear what Yum Brands had to say after the bell yesterday, though.
The parent of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut reported its first-quarter earnings of 95 cents per share, well ahead of the 83 cents per share expected by analysts. That seemed to overshadow its slight revenue miss, with YUM posting sales of $2.62 billion vs. estimates for $2.66 billion.
CEO Greg Creed pointed out that operating profit growth of 21% was driven by 42% growth in the China business. The China division — which Yum Brands plans to spin off later this year — saw comps improve 6% in the quarter.
YUM shares are up some 4% in premarket trading, which would help extend a currently 13% year-to-date run that has the stock at highs not seen since October 2015.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
