Mid-Afternoon Market Update: SemiLEDs Drops After Q1 Results; Tilray Shares Jump

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.26 percent to 23,939.09 while the NASDAQ declined 0.33 percent to 6,962.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.15 percent to 2,592.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pyxus International Inc PYX up 17 percent, and Youngevity International Inc YGYI up 15 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 0.9 percent.

Top Headline

SYNNEX Corporation SNX reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued strong outlook for the first quarter.

SYNNEX posted quarterly earnings of $3.65 per share on sales of $5.6 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $3.09 per share on sales of $5.43 billion.

Synnex expects Q1 adjusted earnings of $2.70 to $2.80 per share, on sales of $5.23 billion to $5.43 billion. Analysts project earnings of $2.51 per share on sales of $5.08 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Flotek Industries Inc FTK shares got a boost, shooting up 81 percent to $2.56 after the company reported the sale of its Florida Chemical Co. to Archer Daniels Midland for $175 million in cash.

Shares of Tilray Inc TLRY shot up 25 percent to $100.67 after Privateer Holdings announced it does not plan to register, sell, or distribute its Tilray shares during the first half of 2019.

SYNNEX Corporation SNX shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $98.48 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued strong outlook for the first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aratana Therapeutics Inc PETX shares dropped 28 percent to $4.30 after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $8 to $5.

Shares of Aehr Test Systems AEHR were down 20 percent to $1.49. Aehr Test Systems reported a Q2 loss of $0.02 per share on sales of $5.9 million. The company also lowered its FY19 sales guidance.

SemiLEDs Corporation LEDS was down, falling around 14 percent to $2.73. SemiLEDs reported a Q1 loss of $0.27 per share, down from a loss of $0.11 per share year-over-year. Sales came in at $972,000, down from $2.003 million at the same time last year.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6 percent to $51.75 while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,291.20.

Silver traded up 0.33 percent Friday to $15.695, while copper rose 0.89 percent to $2.661.

 

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.31 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.51 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.36 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index fell 0.1 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent drop.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 4 to 873 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.