- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Thursday, 15 August.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) stock fell 4.0% after Harry Makropolos, a whisteblower famous for exposing the Ponzi scheme of the late Bernie Madoff, accused it of creative accounting that overvalued the company by some 40% of its market value.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) stock fell 8.0% after it forecast sales growth to slow to between 0% and 2% in the current quarter, from 6% in July. It said the slowdown was caused largely by falling orders from China, while Brexit also depressed sales in the U.K.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) stock surged 6.5% after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the three months to July and raised its full-year forecast. Same-store sales rose 2.8% on the year thanks to price increases, while U.S. online sales rose 37%, underlining its rapid progress in that segment.
- Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose 3.1% after it too reported a stronger-than-expected second quarter. Sales rose 42%, profit doubled and the company announced a $6 billion buyback over two years as founder Jack Ma prepares to step down as chairman.
Pivotal Software (NYSE:PVTL) rose 73% on reports that VMware (NYSE:VMW) is in talks to buy it. Both companies are controlled by Michael Dell. VMWare was down some 3.2%
Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) fell 10.4% after disappointing quarterly earnings marked by high expansion costs in Canada and Europe.
