US Markets
U.S. stocks were in the green on Wednesday morning. A positive labor market report showed more private payrolls added back in September, totalling 749,000 more than expected. The Dow advanced 0.80% to 27,673, the S&P 500 index gained 0.47% to 3,351 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.28% to 11,117.
Gainers
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH, Financial) +6.7%
• Carnival Corporation (CCL, Financial) +3.9%
• Ralph Lauren Corp​ (RL, Financial) +1.9%
• Boeing Co (BA, Financial) +2.5%
Losers
• Devon (DVN, Financial) -1.3%
• Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO, Financial) -1.3%
• Western Digital Corporation (WDC, Financial) -5.4%
Global Markets
The main European stock markets traded in the green. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.12%, France's CAC 40 jumped 0.05%, Germany's Dax was down 0.06% and Spain's Ibex 35 advanced 0.27%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.50%, India's BSE Sensex advanced 0.25%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.79% and China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.20%.
Micron releases earnings report
Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (MU, Financial) fell 4.5% on Wednesday morning after the company announced the financial results for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. The company posted earnings per share of $1.08, beating analysts' estimates by 11 cents. Revenue of $6.06 billion grew 24.4% year-over-year and beat expectations by $170 million.
President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra had the following to say:
"Micron delivered solid fiscal fourth quarter revenue and EPS resulting from strong DRAM sales in cloud, PC and gaming consoles and an extraordinary increase in QLC NAND shipments… We look forward to improving market conditions throughout calendar 2021, driven by 5G, cloud and automotive growth, and we are excited by the continued momentum in our product portfolio."
The operating cash flow reached $2.27 billion versus $2.02 billion for the prior quarter and $2.23 billion for the same quarter of last year.
Looking ahead the first quarter of fiscal 2021, the company expects revenue to be between $5 and $5.4 billion. It also projects a gross margin in the range of 25.5% to 27.5% and diluted earnings per share ranging from 32 to 46 cents.
Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio) cut his investment in the stock by 11% to 1,672,164 shares in its most recently reported quarter. Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) boosted his stake by 300% to 30,316 shares. Monish Pabrai added almost 1% to his holdings for1,820,248 shares and Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) increased his stake by 26% to 457,300 shares.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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