U.S. markets took a step back from yesterday’s gains after re-assessing the Greek debt stalemate, and after the Chinese market fell more than 6% overnight. The Dow transports, after a small bounce higher, were once again losing altitude, down about 1% today.
European creditors disagreed with claims made by Greece on Wednesday that they had crafted a “staff-level agreement” on Athens’ debt, and that had markets on edge.
In other news, the Labor Department reported that weekly initial jobless claims were at 282,000, above expectations for 271,000 and up about 8,000 from last week. The National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales rose 3.4% in April, the biggest gain in nine years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were off 0.2%, while the S&P 500 was down by 0.1%. Once again, most major sectors were in the red, with healthcare showing a bit more relative strength.
The last few weeks have seen mixed earnings delivered from several large retailers. Today, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) and Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) continued that trend, while GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) unveiled some new product lines. All three companies qualified as three of today’s best stocks.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF)
Sometimes even bad is good on Wall Street. Such was the case with ANF stock, which rose 13.5% today even after posting a first-quarter adjusted loss of 53 cents a share in earnings, far worse than the loss of 17 cents a share in the year ago period. Sales were down 14%. And ANF missed the Street’s estimates for a loss of 34 cents per share.
Wait, it gets worse. Revenue was 14% lower year-over-year to $709 million, also below analysts’ estimates for $731 million.
Nevertheless, traders cheered the company’s comments that it was seeing “sequential improvements” with its Hollister brand and other aspects of the business. Hollister had better same-store sales compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.
Perhaps it was the fact that ANF stock hit a six-year closing low of $19.65 on Wednesday, and that ANF was down about 33% so far in 2015. Traders are betting that there’s no place to go but up from here, and short covering may also have accounted for today’s price spike. Now it remains to be seen if today’s rally will have any legs to it.
Express, Inc. (EXPR)
Shares of EXPR stock were lifted by more than 4.7% after posting first-quarter adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share, which beat analysts’ expectations of 14 cents a share. Revenue of $502.4 million was also ahead of the Street’s estimates for $487.8 million.
EXPR also guided its full-year earnings of $1.11 to $1.22 a share, well beyond the $1.06 that analysts were expecting. Sometimes good is good too, on Wall Street.
GoPro Inc (GPRO)
GPRO stock blistered 6.6% higher today following an announcement by CEO Nick Woodman that the company plans to expand its manufacturing line to include drones, 360-degree video cameras or rigs, and a type of drone called a quadcopter to its inventory.
These new products are expected to sell for $1,500 to $2,500 apiece. The video cameras will offer virtual reality capabilities.
GPRO stock has been on a tear recently, rising nearly 50% since mid-March.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
