Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Rise as Tesla Surges
Boeing Slips as Revenue Misses Estimates Amid Safety Investigations
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The Boeing Company’s (BA) stock fell on Wednesday after the aircraft manufacturer reported first-quarter results that fell short of revenue estimates, but also included a smaller loss than analysts expected.
Boeing posted $16.57 billion in revenue for the quarter, below the $16.79 billion analysts expected, per estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. However, the company also reported an adjusted net loss of $1.13 per share that was much smaller than the anticipated $1.70-per-share loss.
The airplane maker had a rough first quarter, kicked off by a January incident in which a door plug detached from a Boeing plane being flown by Alaska Airlines, leading to the grounding of the 737 Max fleet and a significant slowdown in Boeing’s production so far this year. Earlier this month, the company reported its lowest number of deliveries since 2021.
Following the January incident, the company suspended its 2024 guidance as it became the subject of a number of investigations from regulators and law enforcement amid a number of other incidents involving Boeing planes.
Boeing shares were down 3.4% with about an hour left in the session on Wednesday. They have lost about 37% of their value this year amid the safety issues and investigations.
Old Dominion Freight Sinks as Lower Volumes Weigh on Growth
1 hour ago
Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Wednesday after the trucking company reported lower-than-expected revenue for the first quarter as economic weakness crimped growth.
Old Dominion reported diluted earnings per share of $1.34, in line with analysts’ expectations and a 4% increase from the prior year. Less-than-truckload (LTL) revenue, the bulk of Old Dominion’s business, increased 1.6% to $1.45 billion, slightly less than the $1.46 billion analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were expecting.
Volume, however, declined from the prior year as softness in the economy continued to weigh on shipping. LTL tons per day decreased 3.2%, the result of a 2.7% decrease in LTL weight per shipment and a 0.5% decrease in shipments per day.
Slowing economic activity in the face of high interest rates has weighed on Old Dominion’s shipping business. However, management was cautiously optimistic about a turnaround.
“While challenges from the domestic economy have persisted for longer than we originally expected, there have been some recent developments to suggest that overall demand for our service may be improving,” said CEO Marty Freeman in the company’s earnings release.
Shares of Old Dominion were down 9.8% Wednesday afternoon, plunging them into negative territory for the year.
Humana Tumbles After Pulling 2025 Guidance
1 hr 29 min ago
Humana (HUM) shares fell more than 4% in intraday trading Wednesday after it pulled its 2025 adjusted earnings guidance due to slower government healthcare spending.
The cancelled profit guidance offset better-than-expected results for the first quarter and a bullish outlook on costs and membership.
Humana shares are down by about a third this year, as healthcare insurers grapple with rising costs and payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for Medicare Advantage plans that are below what the industry had hoped for.
Humana said Wednesday that looking to 2025, it expects benefit levels, plan stability and choice for seniors to be negatively impacted as a result of the final Medicare Advantage rate notice from Washington, which it said “is not sufficient to address the current medical cost trend environment.”
Because of that, the company explained that it no longer believes that “$6 to $10 of Adjusted EPS growth is the appropriate target range for 2025,” and is “evaluating plan level pricing decisions.”
Enphase Stock Slumps After Q1 Earnings Disappoint Amid Soft US Solar Demand
2 hr 21 min ago
Enphase Energy (ENPH) released quarterly earnings and sales that missed analysts’ forecasts and issued a downbeat current-quarter sales outlook amid ongoing softness in the U.S. solar energy market, sending its shares tumbling more than 5% Wednesday.
For the three-month period ending March 31, the maker of microinverter-based solar energy solutions reported adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $263 million, missing estimates of 41 cents a share in earnings on sales of $276 million.
The Fremont, California-based company said softening demand in the U.S. solar market, along with seasonality factors and a reduction in shipping, pressured the top line during the quarter. Geographically, the company’s U.S. revenue fell 34% in the period on a sequential basis, while sales in its European business grew 70%.
Turning attention to the current quarter, Enphase guided sales of between $290 million and $330 million, with the upper end of that forecast falling well short of $347 million Street view.
With Wednesday’s decline, Enphase shares have lost more than 50% of their value in the last 12 months.
Boston Scientific Beats Forecasts, Boosts Outlook on Booming Heart Device Sales
3 hr 2 min ago
Shares of Boston Scientific (BSX) hit an all-time high Wednesday as the maker of medical equipment reported better-than-anticipated quarterly results and boosted its guidance on demand for its cardiovascular devices, including a newly approved product to treat irregular heartbeats.
The company posted first-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.56, with revenue up 13.8% year-over-year to $3.86 billion. Both were above estimates.
Boston Scientific’s Cardiovascular unit sales jumped 15.9% to $2.45 billion. The results got a lift from the January Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and the subsequent launch of the Farapulse pulse field ablation system.
The company sees full-year adjusted EPS in a range of $2.29 to $2.34, up from its earlier outlook of $2.23 to $2.27. It lifted revenue growth to 11% to 13%, compared to the previous prediction of a gain of 8.5% to 9.5%.
Boston Scientific shares were up 6.3% to $73.34 at midday Wednesday after earlier hitting an all-time high of $74.39. They are up about 27% this year.
Texas Instruments Stock Jumps on Strong Q1 Results, Guidance Amid Demand Recovery
4 hr 30 min ago
Shares in Texas Instruments (TXN) jumped 6% to more than $175 on Wednesday morning after the analog chipmaker surpassed quarterly estimates and issued second-quarter sales guidance that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations amid a rebound in demand.
For the quarter ending March 31, the Dallas-based company posted earnings of $1.20 per share, handily above analysts’ forecast of $1.07 a share. Although revenue in the quarter of $3.66 billion contracted 16% from a year earlier and 10% on a sequential basis, the figure came in ahead of estimates modeled at $3.6 billion.
Looking ahead, the calculator maker projects current-quarter revenue of between $3.65 billion and $3.95 billion, with the $3.8 billion midpoint of that range surpassing the $3.77 billion expected by analysts. Earnings guidance in the period of $1.05 to $1.25 per share sits roughly in line with estimates.
Texas Instruments’s share price broke down below the lower trendline of an ascending triangle and the 200-day moving average last week but closed in the green in the two sessions leading up to the company’s quarterly financial results.
Following the stock’s earnings pop, investors should monitor if the price can close above the triangle’s top trendline around $176, which would confirm a bear trap and potentially act as a catalyst for a move up to a key horizontal trendline positioned around $185.50.
Tesla Stock Jumps on Accelerated Production Plans Despite Earnings Miss
5 hr 11 min ago
Tesla (TSLA) shares surged more than 12% in early trading Wednesday despite an earnings miss as the electric vehicle maker said it would accelerate production of new models, including a lower-cost vehicle.
Tesla said it would “accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025,” including “more affordable models.” The new and more affordable models are set to use aspects of Tesla’s next-generation platform and will be produced on the same production sites as Tesla’s current offerings.
The company’s revenue for the first quarter of 2024 was $21.3 billion, below analyst expectations and a 9% drop from the year-ago period. Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) were also below analysts’ estimates and showed 48% and 47% declines, respectively, from a year earlier.
Tesla was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 in the first three months of the year. Even with Wednesday’s gains, shares have lost about 34% of their value since year-to-date.
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket
5 hr 53 min ago
Gains:
- Tesla (TSLA): Shares of the electric vehicle maker surged more than 11% after Elon Musk said the company had accelerated its timeline to produce new models, including a long-promised low-cost car.
- Texas Instruments (TXN): Shares of the analog chipmaker rose 7% after it topped estimates with its quarterly earnings and forecast a rebound in chip demand in the coming quarters.
- AT&T (T): The telecom’s shares rose more than 4% after it reported slightly better-than-expected first-quarter earnings despite missing on revenue.
Losses:
- Enphase Energy (ENPH): Shares of the solar energy company fell nearly 7% after it missed first-quarter earnings estimates and offered a downbeat sales outlook amid a prolonged slump in U.S. demand for solar solutions.
- Bunge Global (BG): Shares of the agricultural commodities company fell 4% after reporting revenue fell 12% in the first quarter, more than analysts were expecting.
- Global Dynamics (GD): Shares of the defense and aerospace company slipped 1% after its first-quarter earnings fell short of estimates.
Stock Futures Rise as Tech Rally Continues
6 hr 39 min ago
Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed in premarket trading on Wednesday.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.
Nasdaq 100 futures traded 0.6% about an hour before markets opened.