Inspired by strong job-growth numbers for May and bolstered by better-than-expected sales of automobiles for the same month, traders got on board the bullish train early on Thursday and never looked back. The S&P 500 ended the session at 2,430.06, up 0.76%, and a little further into record high territory.
Not every name took that lead though. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) were all back-pedaling on Thursday, albeit for understandable reasons.
Here’s what traders need to know about each setback.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman may be optimistic about the future of her company, saying on Thursday that by the time her work is done she will have had a hand in the creation of “four industry-leading companies that I think are much better equipped to win in their markets.” In light of the company’s fiscal Q2 numbers released after Wednesday’s close though, HPE investors aren’t quite as convinced. Evidence of that notion comes in the form of the 6.9% loss HPE suffered on Thursday.
For the quarter ending in April, Hewlett Packard Enterprise earned an operating profit of 25 cents per share on sales of $7.45 billion. The top line missed estimates of $9.73 billion, and the bottom line fell short of the profit of 35 cents per share of HPE the pros well calling for.
All-important servers were the sore spot.
Express, Inc. (EXPR)
Although investors have seen a few bright spots from the retailing realm this earnings season, by and large the industry has brutalized its shareholders. Today’s victim: Owners of Express.
Last quarter’s earnings and a lackluster outlook did the deed. For its first fiscal quarter of the year, Express lost 6 cents per share versus an expected loss of only 2 cents per share of EXPR. And, revenue of $467 million came up short of an estimated $467.7 million.
The crux of the 19.2% drubbing EXPR took today, though, stemmed from its full-year outlook. The retailer is now looking for 2017 earnings of between 41 and 48 cents per share versus analyst estimates of 67 cents. That forecasted range is shockingly less than last year’s bottom line of 81 cents per share.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)
Last but not least (and not that it was an unfair profit-taking target after a massive runup over the past year), Advanced Micro Devices investors opted to continue their methodical exit of the stock today, sending it lower to the tune of 2.3%.
There was no specific news that drove AMD lower, though the Motley Fool’s Leo Sun may have planted enough seeds of doubt to tilt the scales in a bearish direction. On Wednesday afternoon he suggested the company’s virtual reality ambitions would fall short of expectations, and on Thursday Sun opined that the only feasible way Advanced Micro Devices could perform as well as hoped would be if its competitors somehow stumbled.
It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
