US Markets
U.S. stocks were in the green on Thursday morning, with the Dow advancing strong. The Dow gained more than 200 points to 28,570, the S&P 500 index gained 0.40% to 3,492 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.06% to 11,656.
The Federal Open Market Committee announced today that it has approved changes to its strategy, and in a statement, it said that it has adopted an "average inflation target" of "moderately" above 2% for "some time."
Gainers
• Abbott Laboratories (ABT, Financial)
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH, Financial)
• Carnival Corp (CCL, Financial)
• Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL, Financial)
• Alaska Air Group Inc (ALK, Financial)
Losers
• Becton Dickinson and Co​ (BDX, Financial)
• Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX, Financial)
• Coty Inc (COTY, Financial)
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO, Financial)
• Danaher Corp (DHR, Financial)
Global Markets
The main European stock markets mostly traded in the red. The UK.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.02%, France's CAC 40 retreated 0.23%, Germany's Dax declined 0.24% and Spain's Ibex 35 was down 0.29%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.35%, India's BSE Sensex advanced 0.10%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.83% and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.61%.
NetApp releases earnings report
Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NTAP, Financial) gained more than 7% on Thursday morning after the company announced its fiscal first-quarter 2021 results yesterday. The company posted earnings per share of 73 cents, beating analysts' estimates by 41 cents. Revenue of $1.3 billion grew 5.0% year-over-year and beat expectations of $1.15 billion.
CEO George Kurian had the following to say:
"We executed well in the first quarter. Revenue, operating margin and EPS all exceeded our guidance, despite a challenging environment. Enterprises are increasingly prioritizing transformational and hybrid cloud projects, which drove our momentum as customers turn to NetApp to help them achieve these goals."
Looking at the cash generation, the Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments reached $3.77 billion at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, while the cash provided by operations was $240 million compared to $310 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.
The company expects second quarter revenues in the range of $1.225 to $1.375 billion and adjusted EPS of 66 cents to 74 cents.
Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) cut his investment in the stock by 33% to 120,998 shares during the quarter. Dodge and Cox also trimmed their holdings by 31% to 44,800 shares. John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio) initiated a new position in the stock with 500,041 shares.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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