Shares of iRobot plunged 34% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the European Commission plans to block Amazon.com's takeover of the Roomba maker. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Amazon was told Thursday in a meeting with European Commission competition officials that the deal was likely to be rejected. Amazon agreed to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion in August 2022. Amazon shares rose 0.7%.
Spirit Airlines rose 18% after the struggling budget carrier said it expects fourth-quarter revenue at the top end of its initial forecast and that bookings were strong during the holiday season. The stock closed down 7.5% on Thursday after a Journal report said Spirit was working with advisers to explore restructuring options following the collapse of its merger with JetBlue Airways. In a statement sent to Barron's after the market closed Thursday, a Spirit spokesman said the company “is not seeking or involved in any statutory restructuring.” Spirit shares fell 47% on Tuesday and 22% on Wednesday.
Super Micro Computer rose 12% after the maker of servers and computer products said it expects adjusted earnings of $5.40 to $5.55 per share for the fiscal second quarter, higher than analysts' estimates of $4 $.51 and better than the company's previous forecast of $4.40 to $4.88. It is expected to post revenue of $3.6 billion to $3.65 billion, also above Wall Street estimates. Super Micro cited “strong market and end-customer demand for our rack-scale, AI and total IT solutions.”
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Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.6% to $165.19 in premarket trading and Nvidia rose 1.7% to $580.75 after shares of both chipmakers closed at all-time highs on Thursday. AMD is up 10% this year, while Nvidia is up 15%. Stocks were buoyed by investor appetite for all things artificial intelligence. On Thursday, AMD and Nvidia got a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor's better-than-expected forecast.
Texas Instruments rose 2% to $170.19. UBS upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its price target on the chipmaker’s shares to $195 from $170.
Travelers rose 6% after the property and casualty insurer reported fourth-quarter core earnings of $7.01 per share, easily beating analysts' estimates of $5.10. The company said the quarter saw higher underwriting profits and lower catastrophe losses.
Schlumberger
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rose 1.3% after the oil services provider's fourth-quarter revenue beat estimates on strong international growth. SLB also increased its quarterly dividend.
Chegg was downgraded from Neutral to Sell at Goldman Sachs and its price target was cut to $8 per share from $10. Shares of the education technology company fell 7.5% to $9.31.
Trucking company JB Hunt Transport Services said fourth-quarter revenue fell 9% to $3.3 billion. It said the decline was due to lower volumes in its truckload and integrated capacity solutions units, as well as a decline in revenue per load in its truckload unit. Analysts expected sales of $3.29 billion. Profit fell to $1.47 from $1.92 a year earlier, missing analysts' forecasts of $1.74. The stock rose 3.6%.
PPG Industries
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reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share, beating estimates by 4 cents. Revenue rose 4% to $4.35 billion in the period. However, the paints and coatings company's first-quarter outlook fell short of forecasts. PPG said it expects economic conditions in the U.S. to “remain subdued in the first half of 2024” but that demand in China will continue to improve. Shares fell 0.7%. Shares fell 3.1%.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]