US Markets
U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday morning with no clear direction. The Dow fell 0.03% to 28,355, the S&P 500 index rose 0.15% to 3,458 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.18% to 11,484.
Gainers
• HollyFrontier Corp (HFC, Financial) +3.9%
• Valero Energy Corp (VLO, Financial) +3.3%
• Halliburton Co (HAL, Financial) +3.5%
• Unum Group (UNM, Financial) +2.8%
• Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC) +1.9%
Losers
• Robert Half International Inc (RHI, Financial) -7.9%
• Tapestry Inc (TPR, Financial) -1.9
• Carmax Inc (KMX, Financial) -1.0%
• Under Armour Inc (UA, Financial) -0.8%
Global Markets
The main European stock markets traded in the green. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.29%, France's CAC 40 advanced 1.14%, Germany's Dax was up 0.75% and Spain's Ibex 35 rose 0.95%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.18%, India's BSE Sensex advanced 0.31%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.54% and China's Shanghai Composite was down 1.04%.
VeriSign releases earnings report
Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN, Financial) fell almost 4% on Friday morning after the company announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 2020. It posted earnings of $1.28 per share, falling short of analysts' estimates by 7 cents, on revenue of $317.8 million, which grew 3.0% year-over-year and beat expectations by $1.73 million.
Executive Chairman and CEO Jim Bidzos had the following to say:
"Our third quarter results reflect our ongoing discipline in execution of our mission. We are acutely aware of the extent to which people rely on our critical internet infrastructure as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and we remain focused on our mission to help keep the world connected online, reliably and securely"
In the quarter, the company reported net income of $171 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.49 for the third quarter of 2020 compared to net income of $154 million and diluted EPS of $1.30 for the same quarter in 2019.
The operating margin was 65.0%, down from 66.7% for the same quarter in 2019.
The cash flows from operating activities were $140 million, down from $208 million for the same quarter in 2019. The company repurchased 800,000 shares of its common stock for a total of $170 million.
At the end of June, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) boosted his investment in the stock by 10% to 2,889 shares and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) increased his holding by 245% to 17,558 shares.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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