Southwest Airlines saw its shares take a nosedive, plummeting by 14.86% in response to the company’s announcement that it would be reassessing all prior full-year 2024 guidance, including capital spending expectations. The airline attributed this move to delivery delays from Boeing.
Southwest disclosed that its first-quarter leisure bookings fell below anticipated levels. Additionally, the airline revised its forecast for unit revenue, anticipating either a flat outcome or a maximum increase of 2% compared to the previous year. This projection was notably lower than its initial estimate in January, which had suggested a potential rise of up to 4.5%.
Oracle, on the other hand, experienced a significant surge in its stock price, rising by 11.75%, marking its most favorable day since December 2021. This surge followed the announcement of fiscal third-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Oracle reported a 12% boost in revenue within its cloud services and license support segment, partly driven by increased demand for AI servers.
Shares of 3M saw a 4.97% increase after the revelation that William Brown, the former CEO of L3Harris Technologies, would assume the role of CEO at 3M effective May 1.
However, Asana’s stock faced a setback, dropping by 12.72%, after the work management platform provided a less-than-optimistic full-year revenue forecast. Asana projected revenue between $716 million and $722 million, falling short of analysts’ forecast of $725 million.
Microstrategy, the bitcoin developer, witnessed a 7.35% increase following bullish commentary from Wall Street analysts. Canaccord Genuity raised its price target to $1,810, emphasizing Microstrategy’s proactive stance amid the Bitcoin rally. Similarly, TD Cowen raised its price target to $1,560 and reiterated an outperform rating.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s shares declined by 4.29% following a report from The New York Times indicating that the aircraft manufacturer had failed 33 out of 89 audits on its 737 Max jet, with 97 instances of alleged noncompliance. This investigation was prompted by an incident where a door panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Acadia Pharmaceuticals witnessed a significant drop of 17.2% after announcing the halt of trials for its antipsychotic drug, pimavanserin, due to its failure to demonstrate improvement in schizophrenia symptoms.
American Airlines suffered a 4.71% decline after issuing first-quarter guidance at the lower end of its previous range. The airline anticipates an adjusted loss of 15 cents to 35 cents per share, compared to the 22-cent loss expected by analysts. Management attributed this to increased fuel costs.
Conversely, Advance Auto Parts saw its shares rise by 3.58% following the announcement that Dan Loeb’s Third Point and activist Saddle Point had settled with the company, securing seats on the board of directors.
Shares of On Holding tumbled by 8.86% as the athletic shoemaker’s fourth-quarter earnings failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations. On reported a loss of 0.05 Swiss franc per share, while analysts had anticipated earnings of 0.10. Revenue also fell short of the consensus forecast.
Archer-Daniels-Midland experienced a 3.93% increase after unveiling a plan to address accounting issues that necessitated corrections in certain transactions spanning six years of financial results. The company assured that these adjustments would not impact its financial statements or cash flows. Additionally, Archer-Daniels Midland authorized a $2 billion share buyback.
Lastly, New York Community Bancorp’s shares surged by 5.85% following the announcement of a more than $1 billion equity investment transaction, which bolstered its balance sheet.
