The stock market benefited from surging oil prices on Tuesday, driving the S&P 500 close to a record high. The index rose 0.1% Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average improved by the same amount.
Several companies were moving following quarterly earnings announcements Tuesday evening, including Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY), while LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC) is staring down a number of converging headlines that has the stock whipsawing.
And the stock market as a whole — represented by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) — will be at the center of attention too.
Here’s what to look for today:
LendingClub Corp (LC)
LC stock took a tumble on Tuesday after the company surprised investors by postponing its annual meeting right before it was set to begin.
The explanation in a regulatory filing: “Given the developments of the last few weeks, the Company is not yet in a position to provide its stockholders a complete report on the state of the Company,” likely because of the recent ouster of CEO Renaud Laplanche.
Also on Tuesday, Baillie Gifford & Co., which previously held a roughly 9% stake in LC, filed to say that it had exited its position. The pair of headlines combined to knock LendingClub down by more than 7%.
So why are LC shares up roughly 7% in Wednesday’s premarket?
The likely driver is a Tuesday report that Laplanche has been in talks to try to buy out LendingClub, with sources familiar with the matter saying the former CEO had talked to private equity firms and banks about a takeover.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (PLAY)
PLAY shares look to open Wednesday higher on the strength of its first-quarter earnings report.
Dave & Buster’s topped Wall Street estimates in a period where many fast-casual chains struggled, reporting earnings of 72 cents a share — a sizable beat of the consensus estimate for 59 cents per share. Revenues of $262 million also beat expectations for $251.4 million.
Guidance topped the Street too, with Dave & Buster’s projecting EPS of $1.85 to $1.97, with the low point of that coming in a nickel ahead of expectations. An expected revenue range of $983 million to $995 million also is better than estimates for $982 million.
As a final kicker, the company plans to buy back $100 million in PLAY shares through fiscal 2018.
PLAY stock was up 5% in Wednesday’s premarket trade.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
The SPY looks likely to tack on a little extra weight today based on premarket trading, with shares up about 0.1% about an hour before the bell.
The S&P 500 is sitting less than 19 points (0.87%) off the index’s all-time high of 2,130.82, set a bit more than a year ago on May 2, 2015. The SPY itself would need to eclipse $213.78 — naturally also set in May 2015 — to rewrite the record books.
The index is currently in a bounce off the 50-day moving average that started in mid-May of this year, which followed a golden cross that was triggered in April — though at the time, shares actually started a slow decline from $210 to $204.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
