Stock futures dipped Friday as earnings season was ready to kick into high gear with reports from some of the largest U.S. banks.
These stocks were poised to make moves Friday:
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) is expected on Friday to report third-quarter earnings of $3.95, up from profit of $3.12 a share a year earlier. Much of the anticipated profit gains are expected to come from a 27% increase in net interest income to $22.3 billion, according to analysts.
JPMorgan
shares fell 0.5% ahead of the report.
Wall Street expects
Wells Fargo
(WFC) to post quarterly earnings of $1.24 a share on revenue of $20.09 billion. Investors will be keeping close watch on how interest rates and rising Treasury yields have impacted the San Francisco bank. The stock declined 0.5%.
Citigroup
(C) also is scheduled to release third-quarter numbers on Friday. Earnings are forecast at $1.23 a share, down from $1.63 a year earlier. The report from
Citigroup
is an opportunity for the bank to show that its yearslong turnaround efforts have been bearing fruit. Shares of the bank were up 0.2%.
Earnings reports also are expected from
BlackRock
(BLK) and
PNC Financial
(PNC).
UnitedHealth
(UNH), the managed care company, earned an adjusted $6.56 a share in the third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $6.32.
UnitedHealth
on Friday also raised its full-year outlook. Shares rose 0.6%.
Microsoft
‘s (MSFT) $75 billion acquisition of
Activision Blizzard
(ATVI) has been approved by regulators in the U.K., clearing a path for completion of the deal. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that its concerns over the threat to competition posed by the deal were resolved by Microsoft’s transfer of cloud-streaming rights for
Activision’s
videogames to France’s
Ubisoft.
Dollar General
(DG) said its former chief executive, Todd Vasos, will be coming out of retirement to lead the discount retailer. He previously led the company from June 2015 through November 2022, when he handed over the reins to Jeff Owen, who has stepped down.
Dollar General
also narrowed its fiscal-year sales growth forecast to a range of 1.5% to 2.5%, compared with a previous range of 1.3% to 3.3%. The stock was up 7.2%.
Smart Global Holdings
(SGH), the computing and memory company, said fiscal fourth-quarter sales declined 12.6% to $316.7 million, missing analysts’ forecast of $375 million. The company said it expects sales from continuing operations in its fiscal first quarter of $275 million plus or minus $25 million. Shares of Smart Global sank 26% in premarket trading.
Fortinet
(FTNT) was cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at
Barclays
and the price target was reduced to $63 from $71. The cybersecurity company is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Nov. 2. The stock was down 2.7% to $56.45 in premarket trading.
Cassava Sciences
(SAVA) dropped 29% in premarket trading after publication Science reported that an investigation by the City University of New York has accused neuroscientist Hoau-Yan Wang, a faculty member and longtime Cassava collaborator, of scientific misconduct involving 20 research papers. Many of the papers provided key support for experimental Alzheimer’s drug simufilam, according to Science. Cassava said it remains “confident in the underlying science for simufilam, our lead drug candidate,” and that it was continuing with its Phase 3 clinical program.
LendingClub
(LC) will be reducing its workforce by around 14%, or 172 employees, taking the measures as the online lending and financial services platform continues to “navigate the persistent and ongoing macroeconomic headwinds and the resulting pressure in our marketplace, primarily driven by higher interest rates.” Shares rose 0.2% in premarket trading.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
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