Mid-Afternoon Market Update: DineEquity Rises Following Strong Q4 Results; MiMedx Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.24 percent to 25,158.57 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.74 percent to 7,293.17. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 2,736.01.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the technology shares climbed 1.16 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PAR Technology Corporation PAR, up 9 percent, and Internap Corp INAP, up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 0.87 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Portland General Electric Company POR, down 3 percent, and Artesian Resources Corporation ARTNA down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

The company said it earned $1.33 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $136.3 billion versus expectations of $1.37 per share on revenue of $134.9 billion.

Walmart's online sales climbed 23 percent during the holiday quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Fogo De Chao Inc FOGO shares shot up 25 percent to $15.65 after the company agreed to be acquired by Rhône for $15.75 per share in cash.

Shares of Voyager Therapeutics Inc VYGR got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $23.82 as the company announced plans to collaborate with Abbvie on treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

DineEquity Inc DIN shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $66.90 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results and issued a strong FY 2018 earnings forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

MiMedx Group Inc MDXG shares dropped 36 percent to $9.26 after the company announced the postponement of its quarterly earnings results due to an internal investigation into the company’s finances.

Shares of Ubiquiti Networks Inc UBNT were down 24 percent to $56.30 following earlier 8-K highlighting SEC subpoenas to the company requesting documents related to 'range of topics' including accounting practices, financial info, auditors and international trade practices.
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Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK was down, falling around 15 percent to $10.08 after the company reported Q4 sales and issued a weak FY17 sales forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.86 percent to $62.21 while gold traded down 1.7 percent to $1,333.20.

Silver traded down 1.43 percent Tuesday to $16.555, while copper fell 1.59 percent to $3.2165.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.60 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.91 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.46 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.83 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.64 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.01 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Tuesday, there is no important data due out.