U.S. markets finished slightly higher on Monday, extending their rally as oil ticked upward. The S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.1% better, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.3%
Heading into Tuesday’s trade, the biggest movers are again dominated by earnings. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) and Workday Inc (NYSE:WDAY) find themselves among today’s stocks to watch.
Here’s what you need to know heading into Tuesday:
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc
VRX shares were off significantly in early Tuesday trade despite reporting fourth-quarter beats on the top and bottom lines.
Valeant earned $1.26 per share on an adjusted basis, easily clearing Wall Street’s bar of $1.19 per share. Revenues of $2.40 billion were enough to beat analyst estimates of $2.33 billion.
However, the company’s overall net loss expanded from $385 million ($1.12 per share) last year to $515 million ($1.47 per share) in the most recent quarter. And those revenues were off by nearly 13%. Valaent blamed higher interest expenses and wider foreign exchange losses for its deficit.
Not even an optimistic revenue forecast for full-year 2017 could help VRX. The midpoint of Valeant’s range of $8.9 billion to $9.1 billion just beat out analyst expectations for $8.96 billion.
VRX shares were off 6% in Tuesday’s premarket trade, cutting considerably into shares’ 15% year-to-date rally.
Priceline Group Inc (PCLN)
PCLN shares were getting a bump amid a positive fourth-quarter earnings report.
Priceline said it earned net income of $674 million ($13.47 per share) for Q4, far better than the year-ago period’s $504 million ($10 per share). Meanwhile, adjusted earnings of $14.21 per share were well better than the consensus estimate for $12.98 per share.
Revenues of $2.35 billion were 17% better year-over-year and got over Wall Street’s mark by about $50 million.
The big driver for the company behind Priceline, Booking.com, Kayak and Opentable was a 31% improvement in hotel reservations to 129.7 million nights. Overall, total bookings improved by 26% to $15.1 billion.
Priceline did come up short in its Q1 adjusted earnings forecast, projecting $8.25 to $8.65 in profits versus Wall Street’s estimate of $10.65 per share. Nonetheless, PCLN was surging by about 4% in Tuesday’s premarket trade.
Workday Inc (WDAY)
WDAY shares were getting clipped on Tuesday following its fourth-quarter results.
Workday earned an adjusted 7 cents per share, easily topping expectations for a 1-cent loss. Revenues of $436.7 million were up 35% year-over-year and also hurdled estimates of $430.2 million.
Guidance also beat the Street, with Workday forecasting full-year fiscal 2018 revenues in a range of $2.005 to $2.025 billion versus expectations of $1.99 billion. Workday’s CFO said that would represent growth of 27%-29% and put the company “n track to be only the second true cloud company to reach this significant milestone.”
Still, Tuesday appeared to be a “sell the news” moment. WDAY stock had climbed some 35% in 2017 prior to the Q4 report, but were down about 6% after the announcement.