The S&P 500 Index (^GSPC 1.20%) had one of its calmest days in weeks on Aug. 4, closing up 12 points, or 0.36%, in the middle of one of the busiest earnings weeks for the quarter. On the whole, it was a good day for investors, with about 300 of the 505 stocks in the index moving higher today.
Today's biggest S&P 500 movers were fertilizer giant Mosaic (MOS -0.78%), up 13.6% following blowout earnings, and semiconductor giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.74%), with shares gaining 9.5% following an analyst upgrade.
Other big news for major index components include the announcement from Ford (F 0.47%) that CEO Jim Hackett will retire at the end of September, with CFO Jim Farley tapped to take the head job at the Blue Oval. Walt Disney (DIS 1.80%) released its fiscal third-quarter results after the bell today, reporting a massive 42% revenue decline and a $4.7 billion loss.
Image source: Getty Images.
AMD gets an upgrade
Wall Street is paying more attention to the semiconductor company, particularly its big lead over Intel (INTC -0.13%) in microprocessors. Today's share price surge came after Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis upgraded his price target, citing its huge lead in 7nm CPUs and its partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor that could allow it to take significant market share from Intel over the next several years.
Lipacis moved his target price from $86 to $95 and thinks AMD could get to 50% market share within five years as Intel struggles to make up lost ground.
Fertile ground for Mosaic
The fertilizer giant reported second-quarter earnings, sending shares up sharply after reporting a profit of $0.11 per share when analysts were expecting a small loss. It wasn't just a profitable second quarter that has investors excited today: Mosaic management set expectations that the rest of the year would be strong, citing food security as being a major priority in every geography where it does business.
Simply put, food is not a discretionary expense, and Mosaic management expects its business to prove resilient and necessary even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on the global economy.
Ford getting third CEO in four years
When Jim Hackett replaced Mark Fields in 2017, investors were hopeful he would be able to successfully accelerate Ford's shift to the future of transportation and return to the days of profitable growth that have evaded the company since Alan Mulally retired in 2014. After just over three years in the driver's seat, Hackett's run as CEO is set to end on Oct. 1, with, at best, mixed results.
Hackett came in with the explicit goal of accelerating Ford's development of electric and autonomous vehicles and making the company more nimble and profitable. He's achieved the former, but the latter has, so far, evaded the company. Longtime Ford and former Toyota executive Jim Farley has been tapped as Hackett's replacement. Farley has been at Ford since 2007 and was named CFO earlier this year in a move that was expected to be at least partly an audition for the top job down the road.
Disney loses billions; stock goes up after hours
In the "quarterly earnings, low expectations" edition, Disney managed to beat expectations in its fiscal third quarter. On the top and bottom lines, investors expected revenues to fall sharply, so the 42% decline wasn't a shock. Theme park revenue fell 85%, while studio entertainment -- mainly movie theater ticket sales -- fell 55%.
As to the massive $4.7 billion GAAP loss Disney reported, $5 billion in restructuring and impairment charges made the actual operating results look much worse than they actually were. The company still managed to generate $1.2 billion in operating cash and $454 million in free cash flow in the quarter.
As a result of these better-than-expected results (expectations, remember?) along with the announcement that it now has over 100 million subscribers to over-the-top streaming services, shares were up about 4% in after-hours trading.
Earnings upcoming
In addition to Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY 0.08%) and T-Mobile US (TMUS 0.70%), which are set to report on Aug. 6, CVS Health (CVS -0.26%) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN 0.72%) report quarterly results tomorrow, Aug. 5, making this a pretty busy week on the healthcare front.
Global travel giant Booking Holdings (BKNG 1.87%) also reports this week. The company is scheduled to announce its second-quarter results after the market closes on Aug. 6. Check back here for a closer look at each company's earnings from our experts, soon after they report.
