The Stocks Movers Today: Disney, Alibaba and more
Stocks in the market have been undergoing substantial fluctuations, with several major companies experiencing noteworthy changes in their stock prices. Here’s a roundup of some of the most significant movements.
Key Players in the Market Make Notable Moves Midday
Disney
The media conglomerate’s shares saw a remarkable jump of 5.3%. In a recent announcement, Disney revealed its plan to increase the price of its ad-free streaming tier in October, along with stricter measures against password sharing. Despite this, Disney reported a 7.4% decline in subscriber count during the last quarter. The company also faced one-time charges and impairments amounting to $2.65 billion, leading to an unusual quarterly net loss. However, Disney still remains one of the the best stocks to invest in for those looking to invest in US stocks.
AppLovin
Shares of the game developer surged by over 24.1% on Thursday. AppLovin’s strong second-quarter results and optimistic revenue guidance for the current period contributed to this rise. The company anticipates revenue to fall between $780 million and $800 million, surpassing the analysts’ expectations of $741 million. Earnings for the recent quarter came in at 22 cents, significantly higher than the projected 7 cents.
Alibaba
U.S.-traded shares of the Chinese giant increased by 4.3% on Thursday following the company’s impressive revenue growth, marking its most substantial year-over-year increase since 2021. In the June quarter, Alibaba reported revenue of 234.16 billion yuan, surpassing the expected 224.92 billion yuan.
Capri and Tapestry
Capri’s shares surged by an impressive 55.4%, while luxury brand Tapestry witnessed a slide of 16% during Thursday’s trading session. The market saw these shifts after the announcement that Tapestry, the parent company of Coach and Kate Spade, is set to acquire Capri Holdings in a deal worth approximately $8.5 billion. Capri Holdings is the owner of prestigious brands like Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors.
Wynn Resorts
Shares of the hotel and casino company saw a 3% climb as the company exceeded analysts’ estimates in its second-quarter results. With adjusted earnings per share of 91 cents on $1.6 billion of revenue, Wynn outperformed Refinitiv’s expectations of 59 cents per share on $1.54 billion of revenue.
Global Payments
The financial technology stock saw a nearly 3% increase after Jefferies upgraded the company from hold to buy. Jefferies cited expectations of long-term margin expansion and revenue growth driven by increasing consumer spending. The analyst also set a price target of $145, implying a potential gain of 16.9% from the previous close.
Penn Entertainment
The company’s shares experienced a drop of approximately 3.9% on Thursday. Truist downgraded the shares from buy to hold in light of uncertainties surrounding Penn Entertainment’s partnership with Disney’s ESPN for the relaunch of its sports betting app.
Roblox
Shares of the gaming company witnessed a rise of 3.2% after receiving an upgrade from Wedbush. Despite missing analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines in the second quarter, analyst Nick McKay remains optimistic about Roblox’s long-term growth trajectory.
Fleetcor Technologies
Shares of the global business payments company surged by 4.5%. Following the company’s robust second-quarter performance, multiple Wall Street firms raised their price targets for Fleetcor. The company’s adjusted earnings of $4.19 per share on revenue of $948.2 million exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Inflation and Interest Rates in Focus
“When will the stock market recover?” remains a question as stocks opened lower on Friday as investors weighed the impact of both rising inflation and signs of disinflation present in the July reports. Defensive stocks, which are less sensitive to market fluctuations, have gained attention amidst the uncertainty.
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slipped by 0.3%, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) experienced a decline of around 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also shed nearly 0.8%. Despite these fluctuations, the market’s gauges closed slightly higher, retracing some of the earlier gains seen during Thursday’s session.
The release of fresh producer price data offered more insight into the inflation narrative and its potential impact on interest rates. July’s producer prices showed an increase of 0.3%, surpassing expectations. However, the overall levels of inflation remained notably lower than the recent peaks.
As the market grapples with interpreting these inflation dynamics, there’s a division of opinions about the trajectory of interest rates. While the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from Thursday indicated an uptick in inflation after 13 months, certain indicators suggest that price pressures could be easing. This perception has led to speculation that the Federal Reserve may not hike interest rates in its upcoming meeting.
However, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly expressed that the Fed still has more work to do in addressing price pressures. Her comments have added a layer of complexity to the ongoing discussions about inflation and its implications for the market.
Overall, the market remains finely balanced between these inflation-related factors and their potential impacts on interest rate decisions.
