U.S. futures were set to bounce back on Wednesday after all three major indices ended the day in the red on March 2.
Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were each trading around 0.75% higher at the time of writing.
Companies reporting earnings today include Okta (OKTA), Marvell (MRVL) and Splunk (SPLK), while Mosaic (MOS), Nielsen (NLSN) and Qualcomm (QCOM) each go ex-dividend.
Rocket (RKT) was among the most actively traded stocks in the pre-market trading session after closing up 71% on March 2. Speculation is rife that RKT could be the next target of Reddit day traders, who pushed shares like GameStop and AMC to incredible valuations a few weeks ago. RKT was up another 7% at the time of writing.
Pre-market top gainers include KMPH (+90%), GENE (+27%) and HTBX (+23%), while the biggest losers before the bell were CLWT (-38%), SND (-15%) and MGY (-11%)
In corporate earnings news, Ambarella (AMBA) gained 10% before the open after reporting better-than-expected Q4 results. Adjusted earnings of $0.14 per share beat analysts’ estimates of $0.08, while revenues increased 9% to $62.1 million and exceeded consensus estimates of $57.7 million. The company forecasted Q1 revenues of between $67 million and $70 million, much higher than analysts’ expectations of $56.2 million.
AutoZone (AZO) delivered better-than-expected Q2 results reflecting strong domestic same-store sales growth of 15.2%. Total sales of $2.91 billion rose 15.8% year-over-year and topped analysts’ estimates of $2.76 billion. AutoZone CEO Bill Rhodes said, “While our strong (DIY) sales have been aided by government stimulus and changes to consumer behavior as a result of the pandemic, our growth initiatives continue to deliver strong share gains with both DIY and Commercial customers.”
B&G Foods’ (BGS) fell almost 7% pre-market after the food company reported lower-than-expected Q4 results. Adjusted earnings of $0.35 per share missed Street estimates by $0.10, while revenues of $510.2 million also came in lower than consensus estimates of $533.5 million. The company did however manage to achieve top and bottom-line year-on-year growth of 8.5% and 25% respectively.
Shares of Urban Outfitters (URBN) declined almost 3% in pre-market trading as sales in Q4 fell 6.9% year-on-year to $1.09 billion due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparable net sales for the retail segment also fell 7% year-on-year due to reduced traffic at its stores. Meanwhile, adjusted EPS of $0.30 came in ahead of analysts’ expectations of $0.28.
Shares of discount store operator, Target (TGT), fell almost 7% on March 2 despite reporting better-than-expected Q4 results. Revenues of $28.3 billion grew 21% year-on-year and topped consensus estimates of $27.5 billion. Earnings of $2.67 per share surged 58% year-over-year and beat analysts’ expectations of $2.54. The company did not, however, provide any forward looking guidance as the impact of the coronavirus remains uncertain.
