Stock Market News Today, Jan. 13: Stocks are slightly defensive today as investors brace for fourth-quarter earnings season, which kicked off Friday with Alcoa's disappointing results.
Today, The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.2% at 16,400 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 is down 0.2% at 1,8139 points. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index is up 0.02% at 4,175 points.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) stock is up about 0.5% today after Friday's 8% plunge. The aluminum industry leader reported lackluster earnings Thursday after the bell. Operating earnings per share (EPS) was $0.04, short of the analyst consensus of $0.06 per share. Its first-quarter guidance was also short of the Street view.
Meanwhile, oil futures are retreating after Iran agreed to a program that would scale back its nuclear efforts. Light, sweet crude oil for February delivery is down 0.7% at $92.03 per barrel, while heating oil for February delivery is down 0.1% at $2.94 per gallon. Natural gas is up a significant 4.8% at $4.25 per million BTUs.
As stocks and oil futures are weighed today, metals futures are trading up. Gold for February delivery is up 0.3% at $1,250 per ounce and silver for March delivery is up 0.1% at $20.25 per ounce.
Several companies today are offering new guidance for the fourth quarter ahead of their investor meetings. These forecast adjustments and preliminary results are triggering significant stock-price movements.
Among the gainers on new guidance, The Wendy's Co. (Nasdaq: WEN) shares are up about 7% after the company reported same-store sales rose 3.1% in the fourth quarter and rose 1.9% in fiscal 2013.
Wendy's expects earnings of $0.10 per share to $0.11 per share in the fourth quarter and $0.29 per share to $0.30 per share in fiscal 2013. That compares to Street estimates of $0.06 per share and $0.24 per share, respectively. Wendy's shares are easing off a day high so far of $9.27, quite close to its 52-week high of $9.51.
In contrast, these stocks are weighed in their new guidance and seeing heavier trading volume than average...
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Nasdaq: LULU) is down more than 15% today, with about 17 million shares already trading hands, versus an average daily volume of 3.75 million.
Lululemon, which also proffered lower earnings estimate range that included the Street view, marked a two-year low today at $49.00.
Lululemon said today it expects fourth-quarter revenue to range from $513 million to $518 million, down from the $535 million to $540 million it previously expected. The new guidance is also below the Street view of $540 million in revenue.
And Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL) shares are down about 2% at $108.26 today after it said same-store sales slid in November and December due to bad weather, which will bode poorly for its second-quarter results. Still, Cracker Barrel maintained its guidance for the second-quarter earnings of $1.50 per share to $1.60 per share.
Finally, several stocks today are moving on analyst upgrades, downgrades, and price target changes.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is up about 3% after its price target was increased to $65 from $46 at Goldman Sachs.
Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) is down 8% after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded it to Hold from Buy, while Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) is up about 2% after UBS upgraded it to Buy from Neutral.
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