After-Hours Recap: Big Banks, Liquidity Services's DoD Deal, Haemonetics' CFO & More

Even though oil and gold prices fell on Wednesday – by 0.65 percent and 1.72 percent respectively, markets were pretty much flat, after two days of robust gains.

The S&P 500 Index closed up 0.02 percent, with Baker Hughes Incorporated BHI having posted the largest increase (4.6 percent), and Seagate Technology PLC STX, the biggest decline – 20.1 percent- after the company announced selected preliminary financial information for its fiscal third quarter of 2016 on Wednesday afternoon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 percent. Among the largest gainerswere JPMorgan Chase & Co., up 1.28 percent, and Merck & Co., Inc. MRK, up 0.88 percent. There were no big decliners in the index, but Intel Corporation INTC tumbled 1.03 percent.

On the other hand, the Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.03 percent, driven by losses at Seagate and Western Digital Corp WDC, which lost 6.65 percent on Seagate’s announcement. Also declining on Thursday was Micron Technology, Inc. MU, which lost 4.41 percent on Seagate’s preliminary results and the announcement of a proposed $1 billion offering of senior secured notes.

A stock that saw increased activity on Thursday was Alcoa Inc AA, which gained 2.3 percent on higher-than-usual volume, probably helped by news about the elimination of some controversial export subsidies in China, which should benefit aluminum producers in the U.S.

Earnings

Thursday’s afternoon was not characterized by popular earnings calls. However, the morning did see some very big companies report their financial results. Before the bell rang this morning, both Bank of America Corp BAC and Wells Fargo & Co WFC reported their first quarter earnings.

Bank of America posted EPS of $0.21, in line with consensus estimates. However, revenue of $19.727 billion fell some $600 million short of expectations.

Wells Fargo delivered EPS of $0.99, $0.01 above consensus, on revenue of $22.195 billion, which also beat estimates by roughly $590 million.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL also announced its first quarter financial results before the market opened. While EPS of $1.32 came in $0.02 ahead of consensus, revenue of $9.251 billion fell $20 million short of it.

After-Hours News

After the market closed on Thursday, Haemonetics Corporation HAE announced that its CFO and Executive Vice President, Christopher Lindop, would retire, effective May 27. The company said it would immediately start looking for a successor.

For its part, Liquidity Services, Inc. LQDT just struck a new Scrap Contract with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Under the agreement, the company will “manage and sell scrap assets generated by DoD installations throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam” starting September 1.

Among the stocks registering the largest moves in after-hours trading was Ixia XXIA, which lost almost 15 percent since the bell rang, after the company reported selected preliminary financial results for the first quarter, ended March 31. Management said it now expects revenue between $108 million and $111 million, down from its previous projection of $121 million to $126 million. The company currently also cut its GAAP loss estimate from $0.00-$(0.04) per share to $(0.03)-$(0.05) per share. Finally, non-GAAP earnings are expected to come in between $0.05 and $0.08 per share, down from a previous guidance of $0.10 to $0.14 per share.

Another big decliner was Calgon Carbon Corporation CCC, which lost 7.7 percent in after-hours, in what seemed like a correction of the 10.12 percent surge seen during the day. On early Thursday, the company announced it was acquiring  acarbon and filters business from France’s Arkema SA for $163 million.

Other stocks posting big moves in after-hours included:

• Bio Blast Pharma Ltd ORPN, up 7.5 percent
• Vivint Solar Inc VSLR, up 7.5 percent
• Baxalta Inc BXLT, down 5.7 percent
• Cherokee Inc CHKE, up 5.5 percent
• Lattice Semiconductor LSCC, up 3 percent
• FireEye Inc FEYE, down 1.4 percent

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.