The stock market is trading flat midday before Nvidia’s big earnings day. The S&P 500 is up 0.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.05%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.11%. The Russell 2000 Index dropped 0.9%.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence index rose to 103.3 in August, surpassing both the forecast of 100.9 and the previous reading of 101.9 in July.
Trending stocks:
Apple stock slightly increased by 0.4% after the company announced that Kevan Parekh would replace Luca Maestri as CFO. Nvidia added 1.4% before tomorrow’s earnings report. All other Mag 7 tech stocks are down midday.
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Cruise lines are up - Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean Cruises all added more than 3% midday, leading the S&P 500 index.
Key financial results this week also include Salesforce (Wednesday), Best Buy (Thursday), and Ulta Beauty (Thursday).
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S&P 500 big stock movers today
Five S&P 500 stocks making big midday moves are:
- Insulet Corp (PODD) +6.4%
- Resmed Inc (RMD) +4.8%
- Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) +4%
- Carnival Corp (CCL) +3.9%
- Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) +3.5%
The worst-performing five S&P 500 stocks with the largest midday drop are:
- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA) -7%
- Paramount Global (PARA) -6.3%
- Vulcan Materials Co (VMC) -4.7%
- Martin Marietta Materials Inc (MLM) -4.5%
- Moderna Inc (MRNA) -3.7%
Stocks also worth noting include:
- Nvidia (NVDA) +1.4%
- Apple (AAPL) +0.4%
- Netflix (NFLX) +2.4%
- CAVA Group (CAVA) -5.4%
- Tesla (TSLA) -1.7%
Netflix ticks higher following analyst update
Netflix stock added 2.4% and traded around $705 after Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney raised its price target to $750 from $710 and kept an outperform rating.
The analyst believes that Netflix's earnings per share for the fiscal year 2025 could be higher than current market expectations by a mid-single-digit percentage, with further upside if Netflix returns to its historical price increase cadence.
Related: Analysts say buy the dip in Netflix stock, here’s why
Last month, Netflix reported second-quarter earnings per share of $4.88 on $9.56 billion in revenue, surpassing analysts' expectations. However, the company projects third-quarter revenue of $9.73 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $9.83 billion.
Oppenheimer analyst recommended buying Netflix shares following its financial results. The firm has an outperform rating with a $725 price target on Netflix shares.
The analyst sees continued subscriber growth in the second half of 2024, price increase benefits in 2025, and large-scale ad monetization in 2026.
Paramount Global falls after bid withdrawn
Paramount Global shares lost 6% after Edgar Bronfman Jr. withdrew his offer to acquire the media company.
Bronfman, who served as CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011, announced that his bidding group had notified Paramount's special committee of their decision to back out.
"We continue to believe that Paramount Global is an extraordinary company, with an unrivaled collection of marquee brands, assets and people," Bronfman said.
Related: Paramount makes a harsh decision amid declining sales
Earlier this month, Bronfman raised his bid to $6 billion for the Paramount takeover, according to Reuters. He had previously offered $4.3 billion.
Paramount Global’s subsidiary, Paramount Pictures, has successful movies like The Godfather and Interstellar.
Skydance Media will become the new owner of Paramount Global after Bronfman’s withdrawal. Its $8 billion offer was approved by Paramount’s board last month. Paramount expects the deal with Skydance to close in the first half of 2025.
Paramount announced plans to lay off 15% of its US employees on August 13.
Cava dips on insider stock sale
Cava stock lost 5.4% after the CEO and other company insiders disclosed that they were selling some of their holdings.
Filings with the SEC showed that CEO Brent Schulman sold 210,504 shares, totaling $24.9 million. Ted Xenohristos, co-founder and chief concept officer, sold 98,490 shares for $12.4 million.
CFO Patricia Tolivar sold 5,000 shares for $628,187, while board member James White sold 1,500 shares for $190,770.
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The sales come after Cava reported upbeat earnings last week. The company earned 17 cents for the quarter ended July 14, higher than the 13 cents estimated by analysts. Revenue of $233 million increased by 35% and beat the $220 million forecast.
Cava also upgraded its full-year outlook. It now projects same-store sales growth between 8.5% and 9.5%, up from the earlier guidance of 4.5% to 6.5%.
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