Richard Drury
Stock futures edged higher on Friday following mixed earnings reports from major technology companies and the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, which showed the March core PCE price index in line with the consensus expectation.
Here are some of Friday's biggest stock movers:
Biggest stock gainers
- Google parent Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock soared 11% following an upbeat Q1 performance driven by YouTube ads revenue, which soared 21% Y/Y. Subscriptions, platforms, and devices revenue jumped 18% while the momentum in the Cloud segment continued, with 28% revenue growth. Operating margin also expanded, to 32% from a year ago's 25%. Additionally, the company also authorized the buyback of up to an additional $70B worth of shares and declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share.
- Shares of tech giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) also surged about 5% following better than expected FQ3 earnings results, with total sales rising 17%, driven by 31% Y/Y growth in Azure, signaling strong AI demand. The company expects Q4 sales to be between $63.5B and $64.5B, slightly below the consensus of $64.57B. Included in that is $28.4B to $28.7B from Intelligent Cloud, with Azure growing between 30% and 31% in constant currency.
- Snap's (NYSE:SNAP) shares jumped 24% after reporting an upbeat Q1 earnings report and Q2 outlook. The company sees Q2 revenue of $1.225B to $1.255B, implying a Y/Y growth of 15% to 18% and above the consensus of $1.21B. "Our Q2 guidance is built on the assumption that DAU will be approximately 431M in Q2. Given the revenue range above and our investment plans for the quarter ahead, we estimate that adjusted EBITDA will be between $15M and $45M in Q2," the company stated.
Biggest stock losers
- Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shares plunged as much as 7% after the chip giant reported mixed Q1 results, missing the top line despite 9% Y/Y growth. The company also provided a disappointing outlook, seeing revenue between $12.5B and $13.5B, well below the consensus of $13.61B, and an adjusted EPS of $0.10 per share, significantly below the consensus of $0.25 per share. Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said in a statement. "Our new foundry operating model, which provides greater transparency and accountability, is already driving better decision-making across the business. Looking ahead, we expect to deliver year-over-year revenue and non-GAAP EPS growth in fiscal year 2024, including roughly 200 basis points of full-year gross margin improvement.”
- Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) shares fell 4% after reporting mixed Q1 results, with a bottom line that missed consensus by 28% compared to the same period last year, driven by lower oil refining margins and natural gas prices. Upstream fell 12.3% Y/Y to $5.66B, while energy products plunged 67% to $1.37B, chemical products more than doubled to $785M, and specialty products fell 1% to $761M.
- Roku (ROKU US) shares plummeted 9% as the streaming-video platform company announced that it expects adjusted EBITDA to moderate in the second half of the year, despite reporting first-quarter results that beat expectations and providing an upbeat Q2 revenue outlook. The company also cautioned that competition from streaming rivals moving towards ad-supported offerings could impact its growth this year, dampening the positive impact of its strong quarterly performance. Roku executives highlighted challenges in achieving year-over-year growth rates in streaming service distribution activities, attributing this headwind to past price increases and a higher mix shift toward ad-supported offerings.
More on related stocks:
- Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
- Intel Corporation (INTC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
- Alphabet in charts: Google search revenues rise 14%
- Microsoft in charts: Intelligent cloud revenue climbs 21% from last year
- Snap in charts: Daily active users reach 422M, revenue per user rises 10% in Q1
- Intel in charts: Desktop, notebook revenues rise from last year