It was a positive day for U.S. equities, with financials gaining 0.6% while telecoms fell 0.6%. The S&P 500 Index gained a fraction of a percentage, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped a fraction. These are Friday’s stocks to watch.
Thursday was a busy earnings day as American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) and CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) reported, while Sprint Corp’s (NYSE:S) potential merger with T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) may have gained some traction.
Here’s what happened yesterday:
Stocks to Watch: American International Group Inc (AIG)
American International Group shares took a hit on the company’s earnings miss.
AIG posted a loss of $1.74 billion in its third quarter, which disappointed following a profit in the year-ago period. The company posted a loss of $1.91 per share, or $1.22 per share on an adjusted basis.
The figure was wider than Wall Street’s consensus estimate as eight analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had projected a loss of 83 cents per share for the period.
Revenue came in at $11.75 billion, or $12.67 billion on an adjusted basis. Operating expenses did fall by 15.3% compared to the year-ago period to $2.15 billion.
AIG was hit hard by catastrophe costs this year, and the stock declined 3.2% after the bell Thursday.
CBS Corporation (CBS)
CBS had a mixed quarter that as highlighted by higher earnings but lower revenue.
During the network’s third quarter, there was lower viewership overall, but the interest in the Floyd Mayweather boxing match with Connor McGregor on Showtime helped to offset this decline.
On the earnings front, CBS raked in $592 million, or $1.46 per share, a 23% increase from the $478 million, or $1.07 per share in the year-ago period. This includes a non-cash gain of $100 million thanks to the company’s sale of CBS Radio.
Earnings from continuing operations declined to $418 million, or $1.08 per share, compared to $466 million, or $1.04 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue surged 3% to $3.17 billion from $3.08 a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, CBS earned $1.11 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 per share. However, revenue missed Wall Street’s expectations of $3.26 billion.
CBS stock slipped 1.1% after hours.
Sprint Corp (S)
There may still be some life to the Sprint-T-Mobile merger.
Earlier this week, reports suggested that the two companies’ potential merger was dead in the water, but a report emerged late Thursday claiming that the two have resumed negotiations.
Sprint and T-Mobile are both vying to be the company in control following the merger, causing a lot of deliberation that is still ongoing. According to The Wall Street Journal, talks have been renewed with a revised offer from T-Mobile to Sprint.
A deal could be inked as soon as within a few weeks. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure opened up on the matter Wednesday, with Legere saying that T-Mobile doesn’t want the deal to fall through.
Both companies skipped their traditional earnings call press releases in order to avoid having to answer more questions regarding the merger.
S shares gained 5% after Thursday’s market close, while TMUS stock hiked up 2.7%.
