3 Stocks to Watch on Friday: Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT), Deere & Company (DE) and Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)

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It was a rough Thursday for U.S. stocks as a stronger dollar and lower oil prices hurt the market. The S&P 500 declined 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% on the day.

3 Stocks to Watch on Friday: Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT), Deere & Company (DE) and Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) and Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) both were on the move — albeit in different directions — after quarterly results were released Thursday. Meanwhile, Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) kicked off Friday with a report of its own.

Here’s what investors should know about each of these companies in Friday’s trade:

Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT)

AMAT shares should start Friday with a bang thanks to a beat on both lines.

Applied Materials earned adjusted fiscal Q2 earnings of 34 cents per share, topping estimates by two pennies, and they did so on revenues of $2.45 billion, which was just enough to get over a bar of $2.43 billion.

AMAT, which provides equipment and software to the semiconductor and solar industries, saw orders surge 37% to $3.45 billion in the quarter.

But perhaps the most bullish piece of information was Applied Materials’ Q3 outlook, which included earnings guidance of 46 to 50 cents per share. Analysts were looking for just 36 cents.

AMAT shares are surging 9% in Friday’s premarket trade in response.

Deere & Company (DE)

DE stock likely will slump at Friday’s open after revealing its fiscal Q2 results.

Earnings declined 28% to $495.4 million for the second quarter, though the per-share figure of $1.56 managed to get past Zacks estimates for $1.66. Revenues also declined, by 4% to $7.11 billion, to beat Zacks’ expectations as well.

What had investors troubled was Deere’s outlook for the coming quarter and year. Deere sees equipment sales declining 12% year-over-year for the third quarter, and the company lowered its full-year earnings outlook from $1.4 billion to $1.2 billion.

Friday’s open will cut into what has been a Street-beating year for DE shares so far, with Deere up 8% year-to-date.

Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)

Lastly, Ross Stores will suffer a setback in what has so far been a sturdy 2016 after its first-quarter earnings report.

Revenues of $3.09 billion came in shy of Wall Street expectations for $3.12 billion, and earnings of 73 cents per share were merely in line. That came on comparable-store sales growth of just 2%, while analysts were looking for 2.4%.

Operating margins also declined to 15.4%, but CEO Barbara Rentler said that was “slightly above plan, mainly due to higher merchandise margins that partially offset the expected impact from the unfavorable timing of packaway-related costs.”

The result? ROST shares are dipping by more than 6% in Friday’s premarket trading. Should those losses stick during regular hours, Ross Stores’ year-to-date gains will be wiped out and then some.

As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/05/3-stocks-to-watch-on-friday-applied-materials-inc-amat-deere-company-de-and-ross-stores-inc-rost/.

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