U.S. stocks advanced on Wednesday morning on positive data from the Institute for Supply Management, which reported a nonmanufacturing composite of 61.6% in September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.54% to 26,919, the S&P 500 index rose 0.42% to 2,935 and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.58% to 8,046.
Shares of RPM International Inc. (RPM, Financial) fell more than 3% on Wednesday morning after the company posted first-quarter 2019 earnings of 76 cents per share on $1.46 billion in revenue, reflecting 8.1% year-over-year growth. The company fell 12 cents short of earnings estimates but beat revenue expectations by $40 million.
Earnings before interest and taxes were $71.5 million, down from $91.5 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBIT increased 2.5% to $93.8 million.
Sales in RPM’s consumer segment grew 13.6% to $485.2 million. Organic sales increased 12.4%, while acquisition growth contributed 1.7%. EBIT was $51.5 million, compared to $72.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EBIT was $52.9 million.
RPM’s specialty segment reported sales growth of 2.3% to $192.8 million. EBIT was $27.7 million. Adjusted EBIT was $30.5 million.
Gainers
- Xilinx Inc. (XLNX, Financial)
- Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN, Financial)
- United Rentals Inc. (URI, Financial)
- Valero Energy Corp. (VLO, Financial)
- Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC, Financial)
Losers
- Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW, Financial)
- International Paper Co. (IP, Financial)
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial)
- D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI, Financial)
Markets
The main European stock markets traded mostly higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.48%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.43%, Germany's Dax slid 0.42% and Spain's IBEX 35 swelled 0.60%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.66%, India’s BSE Sensex lost 1.51%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 0.13% and China's Shanghai Composite gained 1.06%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
