Stocks took a breather today from recent record-setting highs, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.69%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.20%) posting losses.
Today's stock market
| Index | Percentage Change | Point Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow | (0.23%) | (54.67) |
| S&P 500 | (0.40%) | (10.23) |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
After a strong performance last week, industrials retreated today, with the Industrial Select SPDR ETF (XLI 1.39%) dropping 0.6%. Consumer stocks were also weak; the Consumer Discretionary Select SPDR ETF (XLY 1.19%) fell 0.7%.
As for individual stocks, Seagate Technology (STX) and Hasbro (HAS 4.01%) both announced quarterly results that beat expectations, but each company's shares moved in opposite directions.
Image source: Getty Images.
Seagate's quarter wasn't as bad as feared
Shares of computer storage vendor Seagate Technology soared 12.6% after the company announced revenue and earnings that beat analyst expectations. Revenue fell 5.9% from the year before to $2.6 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.96, down from $0.99 last year. Wall Street had been expecting non-GAAP EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $2.52 billion. On a GAAP basis, fully diluted EPS actually rose 12.7% from $0.55 to $0.62.
"The results of our performance this quarter reflect solid execution and market demand for our storage product portfolio," said CEO Dave Mosley in the press release. "Seagate delivered record levels of exabyte shipments and generated sequential growth in revenue and profit. As the demand for storage continues to benefit from the proliferation of data, Seagate is in a strong position to grow its businesses, improve profitability and continue with its shareholder–return objectives."
Seagate is seeing growing demand from enterprises building up cloud computing capabilities and from consumers buying gaming computers with large storage needs. But that demand hasn't translated into top-line growth for the company, and free cash flow this quarter was only about one-fourth of what it was in the period a year ago. Still, the results were not as bad as what observers had feared, and the company talked up its participation in a consortium to buy Toshiba's memory chip unit, assuring a supply of critically important NAND memory in the future.
Hasbro takes the fun out of nice results
Toymaker Hasbro reported third-quarter results that beat expectations for both revenue and profit, but gave guidance for the next quarter that was significantly below what analysts had projected, and the stock got punished, dropping 8.6%. Revenue was up 7% from last year to $1.79 billion, compared to expectations of $1.78 billion, and net income increased 3% to $265.6 million, or $2.09 per share, where analysts were looking for $1.94 per share. Guidance for Q4 revenue was for an increase of between 4% and 7%, compared with expectations of 11.7% and last year's gain of 11%.
Hasbro saw the strongest growth in its gaming segment, up 22%, and its emerging brands business, which grew 9% in the quarter. But the company cited the bankruptcy of Toy R Us and "challenging economic environment" in the U.K. and Brazil for headwinds this quarter and next.
"As a result of the Toys"R"Us bankruptcy filing in the U.S. and Canada, there was a negative impact on our quarterly revenues and operating profit," said CEO Brian Goldner in the press release. "However, our multi-platform content strategy, combined with an industry leading investment in innovation and an omni-channel commercial approach, is driving strong consumer takeaway heading into the holiday season as consumers engage with Hasbro brands across a multitude of experiences."
No doubt the retailer's bankruptcy is going to present some challenges for the company for several quarters. But given today's decent results and Hasbro's consistent performance over the long term, the market's reaction seems a little short-sighted.
