U.S. markets
U.S. markets were mixed on Friday morning, with stocks recovering from some losses from yesterday's session. The Dow fell 0.38% to 32,734, the S&P 500 index rose 0.25% to 3,925 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.89% to 13,232.
Gainers
- Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY, Financial) +6.1%
- Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY, Financial) +5.3%
- Dollar General Corp. (DG, Financial) +5.4%
- Target Corp. (TGT, Financial) +4.3%
- Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO, Financial) +2.5%
- Hess Corp. (HES, Financial) +2.4%
Losers
- Visa Inc. (V, Financial) -5%
- Chubb Ltd. (CB, Financial) -4.8%
- Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV, Financial) -3.7%
- Nike Inc. (NKE, Financial) -3.2%
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM, Financial) -2.8%
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded in the red. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 1.05%, Germany's Dax dipped 1.05%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.07%, and Spain's Ibex 35 was down 1.53%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.41%, India's BSE Sensex rose 1.30%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1.41% and China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 1.69%.
FedEx releases earnings report
Shares of FedEx Corp. (FDX, Financial) gained more than 6% on Friday morning, to change hands at $279.29, after the company posted its fiscal third-quarter results.
Revenue rose 22.9% year over year to $21.5 billion, beating analysts' estimates by $1.56 billion. The company posted a gain of $3.47 per share, topping expectations by 23 cents.
CEO Frederick Smith had the following to say:
"I'm exceedingly proud of our FedEx team members, who are moving the world forward through the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines — the most important work in the history of FedEx … As reflected in this quarter's results, continued execution of our strategies is producing strong earnings growth and margin improvement across our company. We expect demand for our unmatched e-commerce and international express solutions to remain very high for the foreseeable future."
Moreover, the operating income was up to $1.06 billion, versus $483 million in the prior-year quarter. The operating margin rose to 4.9% from 2.8%.
Looking forward the fiscal 2021, the company expects earnings to be between $16.80 and $17.40 per diluted share.
FedEx shares have advanced 10.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 7.3%.
During the fourth quarter of 2020, the Parnassus Endeavor Fund (Trades, Portfolio) reduced its holding by 7% to 650,000 shares. Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) cut his position by 31% to 184,719 shares. Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) added 35% to his portfolio, bringing the total to 1,567 shares.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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