U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday as investors await the release of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and jobless claims data.
While Dow Futures were slightly higher up 0.03%, S&P Futures and Nasdaq Futures fell 0.2% and 0.36% each.
Companies expected to report before the opening bell include Best Buy (BBY), Dollar General (DG) while Dell Technologies (DELL), Gap, Inc (GPS), HP Inc. (HPQ), and Salesforce (CRM) are expected to report after the market close.
Vertex Energy Inc. (VTNR) was the most actively traded stock and the biggest gainer in pre-market trading as the stock jumped 100% at the time of writing. The specialty refinery company will acquire Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A) refinery in Mobile, Alabama for $75 million.
EyeGate Pharmaceuticals (EYEG) was the biggest laggard as the stock had plunged 19.1% at the time of writing. There was no fundamental news explaining the price fall.
In earnings news, Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) reported mixed Q1 results as the cloud-computing-based data warehousing company posted revenues of $228.91 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 110%. The company’s revenues in Q1 surpassed the Street’s estimate of $212.89 million.
SNOW reported a loss of $0.70 per share, versus a loss of $1.72 per share in the same quarter last year. However, the loss was worse than the Street’s estimated loss of $0.16 per share.
Snowflake’s CEO Frank Slootman said, “Snowflake reported strong Q1 results with triple-digit growth in product revenue, reflecting strength in customer consumption…Remaining performance obligations showed a robust increase year-on-year, indicating strength in sales across the board.”
Meanwhile, gaming and data center company Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) posted strong fiscal Q1 results. The company’s revenues popped 84% year-over-year to $5.66 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $5.41 billion. NVDA reported adjusted earnings of $3.66 per share, a jump of 103% year-over-year, topping Street’s estimates of $3.28 per share.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said, “Mellanox, one year in, has exceeded our expectations and transformed NVIDIA into a data-center-scale computing company.”
Huang continued, “From gaming, cloud computing, AI, robotics, self-driving cars, to genomics and computational biology, NVIDIA continues to do impactful work to invent a better future.”
American lifestyle retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) reported strong Q1 results with net sales of $781.4 million, an increase of 61% year-over-year, surpassing Street estimates of $675.6 million. The company reported earnings of $0.67 per share versus a loss of $3.29 per share in the same quarter last year. Analysts were expecting a loss of $0.38 per share.
Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Fran Horowitz said, “Momentum has continued into the second quarter across brands, and early reaction to our newest member of the A&F Co. family, Social Tourist, has been amazing. Our solid foundation and strong liquidity position enables us to be on the offense. We remain focused on profitable topline growth, our ongoing digital evolution and our growth vehicles, including Gilly Hicks, and are committed to thoughtful expense management and global square footage optimization.”
In other news, EV manufacturer Fisker Inc. (FSR) will partner with Mekonomen group, where Mekonomen will provide after-sales services for Fisker cars across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Mekonomen group is a spare-part chain in the Nordic region.
Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker commented, “From November 17, 2022 we will start production and deliveries of the Fisker Ocean SUV, with Denmark, Norway and Sweden among the first European markets to launch. Supporting a great product must be an equally great ownership experience. Partnering with the recognized leader in service and logistics across Scandinavia will be an important part of delivering excellence to our customers.”
