3 Stocks to Watch on Wednesday: Discover Financial Services (DFS), Intel Corporation (INTC) and VMware, Inc. (VMW)

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A rise in oil prices helped U.S. stocks have another positive day on Wednesday, and commodities like gold and silver had themselves a strong performance as well. On the equity front, though, the S&P 500 closed the day 0.3% higher — a figure matched by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which posted 0.3% gains.

3 Stocks to Watch on Wednesday: Discover Financial Services (DFS), Intel Corporation (INTC) and VMware, Inc. (VMW)The action continued after the bell Tuesday, with several stocks on the move as we hit the meat of earnings season.

A few stocks to watch today include Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and VMWare, Inc. (NYSE:VMW).

Here’s what’s making them move:

Discover Financial Services (DFS)

Discover Financial Services posted its fiscal first-quarter results Tuesday afternoon, and Wall Street seems to like what it sees.

The banking and financial services company earned $1.35 per share in its most recent quarter, topping Zacks estimates of $1.30 per share. Additionally, Discover Financial Services posted quarterly revenue of $2.22 billion, coming in a cool $460 million ahead of expectations.

Higher loan volumes helped the company’s success last quarter, as total loans grew 4% to $70.3 billion and credit card loans increased 4% to $55.6 billion.

DFS shares are set to open some 3% higher, which could help Discover finally make a clean break above its 200-day moving average — a level the stock has been fighting for more than a week.

Intel Corporation (INTC)

Intel shares, however, were not so lucky.

INTC also posted quarterly results after the bell, and excluding certain items, the chipmaker reported earnings of 54 cents per share for Q1, coming in ahead of the analysts’ projection of 48 cents. Past that, a number of things went wrong.

Intel’s revenue was lower than expected at $13.7 billion, compared to the $13.83 billion expected by analysts. Meanwhile, INTC gave a dour second-quarter forecast, seeing revenues of $13.5 billion versus the Wall Street consensus mark of $14.16 billion.

The company also announced that it will cut its global workforce by 11%, amounting to 12,000 employees. The move comes as part of Intel’s efforts to focus on cloud computing and connected devices, shedding its label as a PC company.

INTC shares were set to open Wednesday off 2% or 3%, which would help continue a slow slide of about 3% since mid-March.

VMware, Inc. (VMW)

Expect VMware to be one of the humpday’s biggest winners following its quarterly earnings report.

On Tuesday afternoon, VMWare reported adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share, which edged out EPS expectations of 85 cents. That came on revenues of $1.59 billion for the cloud company, which also beat out expectations for $1.58 billion.

The company also updated its second-quarter revenue to be in the range of $1.66 billion and $1.71 billion, with the low end matching the analyst expectation for $1.66 billion in revenue.

Lastly, VMWare announced a stock buyback plan to acquire $1.2 billion of its Class A stock this year.

VMW stock was up more than 9% in Wednesday’s premarket trading, which would push the stock to year-to-date highs not seen since early January.

As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/04/3-stocks-watch-wednesday-discover-financial-services-dfs-intel-corporation-intc-vmware-inc-vmw/.

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