Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Vivint Solar Dips After Wider-Than-Expected Q3 Loss; Rackspace Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.04 percent to 17,606.17 while the NASDAQ gained 0.02 percent to 4,652.36. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,037.63.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares jumped by 0.44 percent on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included AcelRx Pharmaceuticals ACRX, up 15.4 percent, and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings PTX, up 15.3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.29 percent. Top losers in the sector included Ormat Technologies ORA, down 7.8 percent, and Pure Cycle PCYO, off 4.7 percent.

Top Headline

D.R. Horton DHI reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based company posted a quarterly profit of $166.3 million, or $0.45 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $139.5 million, or $0.40 per share.

Its homebuilding revenue climbed 33% to $2.4 billion from $1.8 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $2.38 billion. Homes closed in the fiscal fourth quarter rose 25% to 8,612, up from 6,866 homes in the year-earlier quarter.

Equities Trading UP

ICU Medical ICUI shares shot up 12.80 percent to $81.00 after the company reported upbeat results for the third quarter and raised its FY14 forecast. Analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded ICU Medical from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $60.00 to $86.00.

Shares of Thompson Creek Metals Company TC got a boost, shooting up 11.22 percent to $2.18 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Rackspace Hosting RAX shares were also up, gaining 13.05 percent to $42.19 after the company reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter and announced a $500 million stock buyback program. Multiple analysts also lifted the price target on the stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Vivint Solar VSLR were down 23.88 percent to $11.22 after the company reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

Wayfair W shares tumbled 12.90 percent to $24.48 after the company reported a Q3 loss of $0.29 per share on revenue of $336.20 million.

Halcon Resources HK was down, falling 6.92 percent to $3.03 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results and issued a full-year forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.06 percent to $77.35, while gold traded up 0.28 percent to $1,163.00.

Silver traded up 0.25 percent Tuesday to $15.71, while copper rose 0.35 percent to $3.03.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.64 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.36 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.18 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.50 percent while UK shares gained 0.24 percent.

Economics

The NFIB small-business optimism index gained 0.8 points to 96.1 in October.