Tuesday was another down day for the U.S. stock market, with few corporate earnings to serve as a distraction for the looming “Brexit” decision and today’s Federal Market Open Committee announcement. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% yesterday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a 0.3% decline.
A few companies will be moving strongly at the bell today, including Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY), Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) and Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS).
Here’s a look at what will have investors focused on these three stocks today:
Best Buy Co Inc (BBY)
BBY shares are off by a couple percent in Wednesday’s premarket trade thanks to a downgrade by a Credit Suisse analyst.
Specifically, Seth Sigman dropped BBY shares to “neutral” from “outperform” and cut his price target on the stock to $31 — just more than 6% better than Tuesday’s closing price.
Sigman wrote that he still sees “significant value” in Best Buy, but he believes mobile sales are going to weigh on fiscal fourth-quarter comps, and that uncertainty “may continue to limit upside to the stock in the near-term.”
BBY stock has already dropped a quick 10% in the past couple of weeks of trading after shares collapsed under their 50- and 200-day moving averages, and the stock just scrawled out a death cross, to boot.
Best Buy was off 2% before Wednesday’s bell.
Bob Evans Farms Inc (BOBE)
Bob Evans released its quarterly earnings report Tuesday afternoon, and Wall Street looks displeased at first glance.
The restaurant chain reported earnings of 48 cents per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of 43 cents per share. Revenues of $345.6 million just skated over analyst expectations for $345.3 million, too.
What likely had investors unhappy, though, was full-year guidance that sees earnings of $2 to $2.15 per share, falling well below Wall Street’s estimate for $2.19. Revenue projections also came in weak, with the midpoint of BOBE’s range of $1.28 billion to $1.33 billion missing estimates for $1.32 billion.
BOBE shares were off 6% in Wednesday’s premarket trading.
Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS)
EXAS shares continue to soar ahead of an investor presentation at William Blair’s 36th annual growth stock conference.
Exact Sciences jumped more than 33% on Tuesday, and looks to gain another 17% in Wednesday’s trade, based on premarket figures.
The catalyst, though, is unknown. The only real news behind the company responsible for Cologuard — a colon cancer screener — has been the hiring of a former Baird analyst this month. Otherwise, EXAS has just been making the rounds at a few conferences, including ones by Goldman Sachs and Jefferies.
If EXAS’ premarket figures hold, shares will trade around the $11 mark — a figure last seen in October, when shares plunged amid a medical report deeming Cologuard an alternative test rather than a primary screening test.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
