US stock futures were slightly lower on Thursday after Wednesday’s bounce as investors await weekly unemployment data and COVID-19 cases continue to rise in countries like India and Japan.
Dow and S&P futures were approximately 0.04% and 0.1% lower, respectively, while Nasdaq futures had dropped 0.12% at the time of writing.
Skillz Platform (SKLZ) was the most actively traded stock, though there was no specific fundamental news explaining the rise in volumes. The mobile games platform looked set to open around 10% higher than its close on Wednesday.
Teradata Corp. (TDC) was the biggest gainer in pre-market trading rising 28.8% at the time of writing as the company said that it expects to report better-than-expected first-quarter results. The company expects adjusted EPS of between $0.67 and $0.69 per share in 1Q and anticipates revenues to be “comparable to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, rather than lower on a sequential basis but higher than the prior year period per the previous guidance.”
Evolus (EOLS) was the biggest laggard dropping 14.7% at the time of writing as the biotech and pharma company announced the pricing of its nine million common share offering at $9.50 per share, and expects the gross proceeds from the public offering to be $85.5 million.
Today, another round of earnings are set to be reported before the opening bell, including AT&T (T), American Airlines (AAL), Biogen (BIIB), D.R Horton (DHI), Danaher (DHR), Dow (DOW), Freeport-McMoran (FCX), Nucor (NUE), Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Southwest Airlines (LUV).
Companies including Intel (INTC), Mattel (MAT), Seagate Technology (STX), Snap (SNAP) are expected to report after the closing bell.
In M&A news, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Discord, a free online platform for chatting by text, audio and video is no longer looking at being snapped up by Microsoft (MSFT) in a deal that was believed to be worth $10 billion. Instead, Discord is now more interested in carrying out an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Meanwhile, according to a TechCrunch report, Facebook’s (FB) new initiative, Project Boombox, will enable its users to listen to songs and playlists without being externally linked to the music and podcast giant, Spotify (SPOT).
Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said, “We think that audio is going to be a first-class medium and that there are all these different products to be built across this whole spectrum.” He further added, “Of course, it includes some areas that, that have been, you know, popular recently like podcasting and kind of live audio rooms like this, but I also think that there’s some interesting things that are under-explored in the area overall.”
Amazon (AMZN) has entered into an agreement with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to supply nine Atlas V launch vehicles. The launch vehicles should help support Amazon’s ambitions of offering affordable broadband services to customers and communities worldwide as part of Project Kuiper.
Amazon’s CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos said, “We’re determined to make affordable broadband a reality for customers and communities around the world. ULA is a fantastic partner that’s successfully launched dozens of missions for commercial and government customers, and we’re grateful for their support of Kuiper.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) reported mixed results on Wednesday as the company posted revenues of $1.7 billion, up by 23.4% year-on-year, but missed consensus estimates of $1.75 billion. The company reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $5.36, beating analysts’ estimates of $4.92 per share.
CMG’s Chairman and CEO, Brian Niccol said, “As vaccines roll out and we get closer to moving past this pandemic, I believe Chipotle is well positioned for growth. I’m excited about our future as we remain focused on innovating in culinary, leading in food with integrity, and providing convenient access inside our restaurants and through our expanding digital ecosystem.”
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) delivered strong 1Q results with revenues of $1.29 billion, up by 18% year-on-year, and beating analysts’ estimates of $1.1 billion. The robotics products and surgical equipment provider reported non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $3.52, topping consensus estimates of $2.64 per share.
