Stocks pared earlier losses to post small gains on the day after the Labor Department reported the addition of 160,000 new jobs last month, well below the 200,000 new jobs economists forecast. The April jobs number was the lowest since September 2015. The previous two months saw downward revisions of 19,000.
The S&P 500 added nearly a third of a percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.45%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%.
Although the broader market’s gains were modest, the gains for Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) And Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) were anything but modest.
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI)
Shares of video game maker Activision Blizzard surged 8.5% on triple the average daily volume after the company reported an adjusted first-quarter profit of 23 cents a share, easily topping the 13 cents a share analysts expected.
ATVI, the maker of the “Call of Duty” franchise, posted first-quarter sales of $908 million, also well ahead of the $817.7 million analysts expected. For the current quarter, ATVI forecast EPS of 38 cents on sales of $1.38 billion. Analysts are expecting sales of $1.36 billion.
ATVI forecast full-year earnings of $1.78 per shares on revenue of $6.28 billion.
Herbalife Ltd. (HLF)
Nutritional supplements maker Herbalife jumped 9% on more than quadruple the average turnover after the company revealed it is in talks with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations about HLF’s business practices.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), HLF said its settlement with the FTC is likely to include a monetary payment. HLF also said in the filing a final agreement has not yet been reached.
Pershing Square Capital Management LP, Bill Ackman’s hedge fund, is notoriously bearish on HLF and has waged a messy public battle against the company. HLF appears to be winning, as its shares have surged since Ackman revealed his short thesis on the company several years ago.
Yelp Inc (YELP)
Yelp, the online reviews site, soared almost 24% on more than eight times the average daily volume after the company reported an adjusted first-quarter profit of 8 cents a share on revenue of $158.6 million. YELP revenue climbed from $118.5 million last year.
Analysts expected YELP to post a loss of 16 cents a share on revenue of $156 million.
Earlier this week, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital hedge fund revealed a stake in YELP.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did own any of the aforementioned securities.
