The U.S. stock market opened lower after President Trump resumed his protectionist discourse after the first round of U.S., Mexican and Canadian contracts for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Among today´s gainers, shares of Express Inc.(EXPR, Financial) are up about 22.5% in morning trading on the back of the company reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue for its second quarter. EPS of one cent beats expectations by two cents and revenue of $478.54 million beat estimates by $4.44 million.
Net sales, however, declined 5% to $478.5 million from $504.8 million in the comparable quarter of 2016. Comparable sales (including e-commerce sales) also decreased 4%, but less than the 8% decrease in the prior-year quarter. On the other hand, e-commerce sales increased 28% to $90 million year over year.
Net loss for the period reached $11.8 million, or 15 cents per diluted share. The figure included a net negative 16 cents per diluted share due to the exit of Canada. Adjusted EPS of one cent was down from the 13 cents per diluted share in the second quarter of 2016.
“Comparable sales and earnings were at the top end of our guidance, as our key initiatives gained further traction," President and CEO David Kornberg said. "Our e-commerce performance was outstanding, increasing 28% over last year, and store comps showed further sequential improvement.”
Guidance for the third quarter includes same-store sales growth in the low single digits while the company expects EPS between six cents and 10 cents.
Gainers
Foot Locker Inc. (FL, Financial), CenturyLink Inc. (CTL, Financial), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial), Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO), Garmin Ltd. (GRMN), Western Digital Corp. (WDC), Mosaic Co. (MOS, Financial) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).
Losers
Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW, Financial), Coty Inc. (COTY), Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC, Financial), Seagate Technology PLC”‹ (STX, Financial), Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG, Financial) and American Airlines Group Inc”‹. (AAL).
Global Markets
The main European stock markets traded lower. The FTSE 100, German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the IBEX 35 closed down about 0.5%.
In Asia, markets closed mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei, India’s BSE Sensex and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were in green territory, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed down.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
