By Geoffrey Smith
- Stocks in focus on Thursday, 6th February. Please refresh for updates.
9:01 AM ET: Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) stock was down 4.5% after missing consensus forecasts for same-store sales in the three months through December.
The continued weak performance of Pizza Hut in the U.S., up against increasing competition from the likes of Domino’s Pizza, offset better results from KFC and Taco Bell.
- Petrobras ADRs (NYSE:PBR) were up 1.2% after Brazilian bank BNDES completed a monster $5 billion stock placement on Wednesday.
- 8:43 AM ET: Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) stock rose 8.5% to its highest level since October after cracking through the $1 billion level in quarterly revenue for the first time. Earnings were down by over half on last year, however, due largely to higher costs. That development is likely to continue this year, the company said. Its forecast for first-quarter revenue were also below expectations.
- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock was down 3.6% as the spike of earlier in the week continued to unwind. The battle between short-sellers on the one hand and true believers on the other is, however, far from over, with short interest in the stock still accounting for nearly 20% of the company.
- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) still has some way to go to catch up Toyota , the world’s most valuable auto stock. Toyota ADRs (NYSE:TM) will be in focus later after its domestic stock rose 2.6% in response to an operating profit of just under $6 billion in its fiscal third quarter. Company officials said it still isn’t clear when its factories in China will reopen, but that didn’t stop it raising its profit guidance slightly for the year ending in March.
Shares in Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) were down 7.7% premarket despite late Wednesday reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings ahead of expectations. The company was floated in September last year, and its shares have climbed above its IPO price of $29 after an initial rocky start. That said, the stock is one of the most heavily shorted in the market.
