Futures tied to the S&P 500 Index advanced 0.19% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the index touched a record high on Tuesday on hopes of a stimulus deal. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.27%, while Nasdaq 100 futures trended lower.
On the COVID-19 front, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, was found to be safe and effective, according to the latest analysis by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As per the FDA staff analysis, the COVID-19 vaccine data showed a “favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an emergency use authorization.”
Coming to earnings, GameStop shares plunged 16% pre-market as the electronics retailer posted disappointing 3Q sales. Revenue fell 30.2% to $1 billion, missing analysts’ forecast of $1.09 billion. Also, adjusted loss per share widened to $0.53 from $0.49 in the year-ago period but surpassed analysts’ estimate of a loss per share of $0.85. The company cited “last few months of a seven-year console cycle and a global pandemic” as the reasons for dismal results. Additionally, GameStop announced that it has entered into an open market sale agreement with Jefferies LLC to sell up to $100 million of its Class A common stock.
Shares of online pet goods retailer Chewy were in the red even as the company reported a lower-than-anticipated 3Q loss. Chewy posted a loss of $0.08 per share, smaller than analysts’ projection of a loss of $0.13 and the year-ago loss of $0.20. The company’s 3Q revenue rose 45% to $1.78 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Further, the company raised its full-year revenue guidance to the range of $7.04 billion-$7.06 billion to reflect accelerated demand and increased spending by customers.
Meanwhile, G-III Apparel Group shares advanced over 2% pre-market as the company reported better-than-expected 3Q results, thanks to its casual and comfortable product lines that bode well for consumer demand. The company’s 3Q revenue of $826.6 million came in ahead of analysts’ expectation of $768.2 million, and EPS of $1.29 beat the Street’s estimate of $0.77.
Shares of MongoDB trended lower as the software company posted a larger 3Q loss compared to the prior year. The company’s third-quarter loss of $0.31 per share came in better than analysts’ expectations of a loss of $0.44 per share, but widened from the year-ago quarterly loss of $0.26 per share. Meanwhile, 3Q revenue jumped 38% to $150.8 million, beating the consensus estimate of $138.7 million. CEO Dev Ittycheria stated, “COVID-19 has further elevated the importance enterprises are placing on moving quickly to the cloud. With the recent announcement of multi-cloud clusters, MongoDB Atlas is the first cloud database to enable an application to run simultaneously across multiple cloud providers.”
In dividend news, off-price retailer TJX Companies declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, reflecting a 13% increase from the previous dividend paid in March 2020. The retailer had suspended its dividends earlier this year due to the pandemic. The new dividend is payable March 4, 2021, to shareholders of record on February 11, 2021.
On the deal front, ride-sharing firm Uber Technologies is selling its air taxi unit, Uber Elevate, to Joby Aviation for an undisclosed sum. Under the terms of the transaction, Uber will invest another $75 million in Joby, in addition to a previously undisclosed $50 million investment made as part of Joby’s Series C financing round in January 2020. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory and customary closing conditions.
