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Market Indexes Reap Profits at Close; Zoom, URBN Report Q3

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Stock market indexes had remained relatively buoyant throughout most of the day, but nosedived into the close, finishing at lows for the session across the board. The Dow hung onto a very slight beat on the day, +0.05% as big banks closed higher, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had hit intraday record highs before sliding into the red -0.32% and -1.26%, respectively. The small-cap Russell 2000 also slid into negative territory, -0.50%.

Both Zoom Video (ZM - Free Report) and Urban Outfitters (URBN - Free Report) posted fiscal Q3 earnings results Monday afternoon, and although both posted beats on top and bottom lines for the quarter, both are also trading down in after-hours markets.

Just ahead of this morning’s opening bell, President Biden announced he’d be keeping Jay Powell as head of the Fed, moving also-ran Lael Brainard to second-in-command Vice Chair. Just before the noon hour, indexes took a step lower but retained gains; this didn’t end until the last 35 minutes of regular trading or so. Although the market seems to have hit a softer patch after an excessively strong October, we’re still near all-time record highs (aside from the Dow, which is off by roughly 2%). Thus, consider this late-day move a measure of booking profits.

We also see a resurgence of Covid-19, particularly in North-Central European countries of Austria and Germany, where a lower-than-average rate of vaccination in certain regions have left their populations vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant — similar to what we saw in pockets of the U.S. South over the late summer. Even in the U.S., new cases are +30% to an average of 92K per day. Regional pockets of Northern states are seeing higher rates of infection, and directly ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Zoom Video posted a 2-cent beat on its bottom line to $1.11 per share — more than +10% year over year — on $1.05 billion in revenues, which outpaced the $1.02 billion expected. Further, Q1 earnings guidance was raised to $1.06-1.07 per share from a $1.04 Zacks consensus estimate. Initially, shares popped north of +8% on the release, but have subsequently dwindled down to a -2% drop in late trading. Shares had already traded down more than -32% year to date, -25% in just the past six months.

Urban Outfitters beat its bottom line estimate by 5 cents to 89 cents per share, 11 cents higher than in the year-ago quarter. This was on quarterly sales amounting to $1.13 billion, which were right in-line with Zacks consensus. Yet even though the stock traded up +3% in the regular session, it tumbled -10% in late trading on its earnings news. November comps had accelerated +14%, but mostly in its digital sales; in-store traffic continues to face challenges.

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