Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Catasys Rises After Strong Q4 Results; Ra Medical Systems Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.76 percent to 25,905.70 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.09 percent to 7,714.40. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.69 percent to 2,827.87.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Avid Technology, Inc. AVID up 24 percent, and Broadcom Inc AVGO up 9 percent.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Adobe Inc ADBE reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued weak earnings outlook for the second quarter.

Adobe reported first quarter earnings of $1.71 per share, beating by a dime the Street estimate of $1.61 per share. The company beat revenue estimates for the 11th straight quarter, coming in at $2.6 billion, slightly ahead of the consensus forecast of $2.55 billion.

Adobe said it sees adjusted second quarter earnings of $1.77 and fiscal 2019 adjusted earnings per share of $7.80. Analysts project Q2 earnings of $1.88 per share and FY19 earnings of $7.77 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Achieve Life Sciences Inc ACHV shares got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $3.31 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.

Shares of Catasys, Inc. CATS shot up 30 percent to $14.32 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company issued strong full-year 2019 sales guidance and reported the expansion of its debt financing deal to $15 million.

Soleno Therapeutics Inc SLNO shares were also up, gaining 216 percent to $4.26 after the company received positive feedback from the Data Safety Monitoring Board, and recommended that the company should continue in its Phase 3 trials for Prader-Willi Syndrome patients.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ra Medical Systems, Inc. RMED shares dropped 32 percent to $4.46 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results.

Shares of BioScrip Inc BIOS were down 30 percent to $2.46 after announcing plans to merge with Option Care. The company also reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter.

Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. ENT was down, falling around 30 percent to $1.75 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.17 percent to $58.51 while gold traded up 0.6 percent to $1,302.70.

Silver traded up 1 percent Friday to $15.325, while copper rose 0.64 percent to $2.91.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.68 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.44 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.8 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.85 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.04 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index declined to 3.7 in March, compared to 8.8 in the previous month. Economists were expecting a reading of 10.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.1 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent increase.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 97.8 for March, compared to 98.3 in the previous month. However, economists projected a 95 reading.

U.S. job openings increased to 7.58 million in January, from 7.33 million, the Labor Department reported.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 1 to 833 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

The Treasury International Capital report for January is schedule for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.