Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Disney — Shares rose 7.8% after the entertainment giant increased its dividend by 50% and reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings of $1.22 per share. By comparison, the consensus estimate for LSEG was 99 cents. Also boosting the stock was positive guidance from Disney, which said it expects fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings to increase 20% to $4.60 per share. Ralph Lauren — Shares soared 5.3% after the apparel maker posted strong gains in profits and sales. Regarding the third quarter of the fiscal year, the company concluded the year-end sales season with healthy inventory levels. Ralph Lauren reported earnings per share of $4.17, excluding items, compared to the expected earnings of $3.57 per share by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue for the period was $1.93 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion, according to FactSet. Ally Financial — Shares rose 1.9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the financial institution from equal weight to overweight, saying Ally is a strong hedge against expected low interest rates. Mattel — Shares rose 2.6% after the Barbie toy maker on Wednesday announced fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share, up from $0.18 a year earlier. . However, analysts surveyed by LSEG expected Mattel’s net income and sales to be $1.62 billion, with earnings of 31 cents per share expected in the same period on revenue of $1.66 billion. , and remained below consensus expectations. The company, which expects modest sales growth this year, also announced a $1 billion share buyback program. PayPal — Despite the company’s better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and sales, the online payments leader gave a somewhat disappointing outlook for the full year and first quarter. It fell by 9.4%. PayPal expected first-quarter earnings per share growth to slow to mid-single digits from a year ago, compared with the LSEG consensus forecast of 8.7% growth. On January 30, the company announced that it would lay off about 2,500 people, or 9% of its workforce. New York Community Bancorp — Shares continued to decline pre-market, down about 4.7%. Shares fell sharply on Tuesday after Moody’s downgraded its long-term debt rating to “junk” due to concerns about risk management challenges, which comes after the bank’s Jan. 31 quarterly loss and dividend cut. The selling only increased further. New York CB also took a hit. The stock price further deteriorated on Wednesday as the company sought to reassure investors in the wake of a shareholder lawsuit. Arm Holdings — The company’s stock soared more than 28% after announcing third-quarter earnings. Arm reported adjusted earnings of 29 cents per share on revenue of $824 million, which beat analysts surveyed by LSEG for earnings of 25 cents and $761 million. The company also released guidance for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations. Apollo Global Management — Shares rose nearly 3% after the asset management company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits. The company had adjusted earnings of $1.91 per share, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73, according to FactSet Street Account. The company reported $32 billion in inflows during the quarter, bringing total assets under management to $651 billion. American Express — Shares fell 1.6% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from overweight to equal weight. The bank said it believes American Express’ discount revenue is slowing and that the positive momentum from earnings and dividend growth is reflected in prices. Maersk — Shares fall after the Danish shipping giant says there is “high uncertainty” in its 2024 earnings outlook as disruptions in the Red Sea and an oversupply of shipping vessels hit its profits. fell nearly 13%. Maersk also announced that it would suspend share buybacks. —CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Tanaya Machel, Lisa Kailai Han and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
Stocks with the biggest moves pre-market: DIS, PYPL, ARM, etc.
