Stock Market Futures Edge Higher Following Relief Rally From Positive Retail Earnings.
U.S. stock futures are edging higher ahead of Friday’s opening bell this week. As stocks look to snap a 7-week losing streak, investors are likely focusing on the latest batch of retail earnings. Most of which were above consensus analyst estimates on Wall Street. This is apparent as firms like Macy’s (NYSE: M), Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR), and Dollar General (NYSE: DG) all posted double-digit gains yesterday. Providing some insight into this is Charley Ripley, a senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management. He suggests, “Today’s relief rally is a signal to investors that despite the inflation headwinds that many companies are facing, consumers still have the wherewithal to spend.“
Moreover, Ripley continues, “The overall economy is still underpinned by a very strong labor market and while challenges to margins have emerged for some big-box retailers, there are other signals in the economy that show consumers still have the ability to spend. Overall, markets were hovering near oversold territory and today’s rally was a result of walking back some of the recent recession fears.” Following all of that, here is how the major U.S. stock index futures are doing now. As of 4:28 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.10%, 0.24%, and 0.36% respectively.
Marvell Beats Top And Bottom Line Estimates; Posts Record First-Quarter Revenue
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is making waves in the stock market news cycle today. In general, this is likely a result of the company reporting overall solid figures in its latest quarterly financial update. Before going into the details, a brief introduction to Marvell. The company primarily develops and produces semiconductors alongside other related tech. Through its portfolio, Marvell caters to the booming enterprise, cloud, automotive, and carrier IT infrastructure spaces. As Marvell continues to cater to these upcoming industries, it continues to gain momentum on the operational end.
According to the company’s first fiscal quarter earnings report, Marvell’s earnings per share for the quarter is $0.52. To compare, the consensus on Wall Street is earnings of $0.51 per share. Furthermore, the company’s total revenue for the quarter is $1.45 billion, a record high. Notably, this adds up to a sizable year-over-year jump of 74.2%. Because of this, investors could be turning their radars towards MRVL stock in the stock market today.
Commenting on the company’s bump in revenue for the quarter is Marvell CEO Matt Murphy. He highlights, “Revenue exceeded the midpoint of guidance, driven by higher-than-forecasted results from the datacenter end market. Our new product ramps and growth in content have been instrumental in driving strong revenue growth.” Looking forward, Murphy adds that Marvell is anticipating continuous growth at this pace for the current quarter. The CEO cites its core end markets as secular growth drivers that will help Marvell do so. With all this in mind, MRVL stock could be worth checking out today.
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Ulta Beauty Gains Following Substantial Earnings Beat And Upbeat Guidance
Another company turning heads after reporting earnings now would be Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA). In essence, the beauty store chain operator posted commendable figures in its latest financial release. According to the report, Ulta’s quarterly earnings per share is $6.30. Additionally, the company’s total revenue for the quarter is $2.34 billion. For reference, consensus figures on Wall Street are an earnings per share of $4.46 on revenue of $2.12 billion. Following the notable beats across its top and bottom lines, ULTA stock would be gaining attention at today’s opening bell.
Speaking on all this in further detail is Ulta CEO, Dave Kimbell. He notes that “The Ulta Beauty team delivered exceptional first-quarter results, with better-than-expected sales and earnings growth, supported by double-digit comparable sales growth across all major categories.” All of which Kimbell says is thanks to solid strategy execution alongside strong consumer demand throughout the quarter.
While all this is great, Ulta does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Also in the press release, the company is raising its guidance for the fiscal year. Now, Ulta is anticipating revenue of between $9.35 billion to $9.55 billion. This would be in comparison to its prior guidance range of $9.05 billion and $9.15 billion. At the same time, the current consensus on Wall Street is $9.16 billion. Similarly, the company is also increasing its earnings per share estimate to a range of $19.20 to $20.10. This would be noticeably up from Ulta’s previous guidance of $18.20 to $18.70. All in all, it seems that Ulta is firing on cylinders and ULTA stock could be in focus because of that today.
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Chevron Stock Hits Record High After Company Reveals Corporate Streamlining Plans
In other news, shares of Chevron (NYSE: CVX) are trading at record levels in the stock market now. For the most part, this would be thanks to a generally upbeat start to the current year. This would be the case with surging energy demand and dwindling oil supplies worldwide. As the Ukraine-Russia war persists, countries across the globe would be turning to oil giants such as Chevron amidst the energy crisis. Broader industry tailwinds aside, Chevron also remains hard at work refining its core operations now. Evidently, the company revealed plans to further simplify its organizational structure yesterday.
According to the announcement, Chevron is consolidating its Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream business segments under a new executive. The executive in question will be the VP of Oil, Products & Gas; and will be responsible for the full value chain. Also, Chevron is planning to reorganize its Strategy & Sustainability, Corporate Affairs, and Business Development sections as well. These functions will be under the care of a new executive VP of Strategy, Policy & Development. In the words of CEO Mike Wirth, “these changes position us to further enhance execution across all aspects of our business as the energy system evolves.” After considering all this, I can understand why investors continue to flock to CVX stock now.
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Costco Tops Analyst Estimates In Latest Quarterly Report; Losses Steam As Margins Slip
Meanwhile, Costco (NASDAQ: COST) appears to be experiencing some turbulence. Namely, the company’s shares are on the decline despite Costco having posted positive figures. Getting straight to it, the company posted an earnings per share of $3.17 alongside revenue of $52.60 billion for the quarter. This would be according to its latest quarterly financial report. To put things into perspective, this is against consensus figures of $3.03 and $51.71 billion respectively on Wall Street. Despite topping both of these marks, COST stock appears to be trading lower now.
To highlight, investors are likely focusing on the company’s decrease in gross margins for the quarter. According to Costco, rising freight labor costs continue to weigh in on its U.S. operations. Costco would join a growing group of major U.S. businesses experiencing headwinds from growing supply chain disruptions, COVID-19 lockdowns in China, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. To help mitigate these pressures, Costco notes that it is increasing prices for certain food items. While the company weathers the currently choppy operating environment, long-term investors may be considering COST stock today.
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