U.S. government bonds and gold rose Wednesday, signaling tepid demand, for one day at least, for riskier assets such as commodities and equities.
The S&P 500 lost 0.29% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4%.
Stocks slumped Wednesday, but solid earnings reports lifted JD.com Inc(ADR) (NASDAQ:JD), Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) and Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP).
JD.com Inc(ADR) (JD)
Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com rose 4.7% on more than triple the average daily volume after the company reported second-quarter results that beat expectations. For the June quarter, JD said it earned 4 cents per share on sales of $9.8 billion. Analysts expect JD to earn 2 cents per share.
JD forecast third-quarter revenue of $8.9 billion to $9.2 billion, below the $9.23 billion analysts are expecting. JD.com is China’s largest internet company by revenue.
JD’s report boosted shares of rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), which delivers results Thursday before the open of U.S. markets.
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL)
Apparel maker Ralph Lauren Corp jumped 8.4% on more than triple the usual turnover after the company’s second-quarter results topped estimates. On an adjusted basis, RL earned $1.06 per share, beating the average estimate of 89 cents a share. However, that was down from the year earlier period when it earned $1.09 a share.
RL said sales fell 4% to $1.55 billion. Ralph Lauren’s international sales rose 11% but that was not enough to offset a decline of 10% in North America. Same-store sales fell 6% on a constant-currency basis.
RL repurchased $100 million of its own shares during the second quarter and has $200 million left on its current buyback program, according to Zacks.
Yelp Inc (YELP)
Shares of online reviews provider Yelp surged 12.8% on more than six times the average daily volume after the company reported a small second-quarter profit when analysts were expecting a loss. YELP earned a penny a share in the June quarter, far better than the loss of 7 cents a share analysts expected.
The company reported revenue of $173.4 million, also ahead of the $169.8 million Wall Street expected. YELP expects full-year revenue of $700 million to $708 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $699.8 million.
The results and revenue forecast encouraged some analysts to upgrade YELP. For example, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney raised his price target on Yelp Inc to $48 from $42.
“Analysts at Raymond James, Axiom Capital and Mizuho Securities USA on Wednesday raised their recommendations to buy from neutral,” reports Bloomberg.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
