Thursday morning brought mixed moves from the stock market, as investors continued to wrestle with different readings on the likelihood of a full economic recovery in 2021. Jobless claims fell to their lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic, and although that remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels, it nevertheless showed support for the idea that more people are getting back to work.
Yet that wasn't enough to move the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) higher. The Dow had fallen 45 points as of 11:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday to 34,095, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.02%) inched higher by 2 points to 4,176 and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.10%) was higher by 43 points to 13,993.
Earnings season is continuing, and a couple of stocks soared on positive news regarding their latest financial results. Teradata (TDC 0.95%) showed that the cloud-computing arena is alive and well, while credit reporting specialist Equifax (EFX 0.56%) also had good things to say about its performance. Both companies showed good prospects for continued growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
Teradata soars into the cloud
Shares of Teradata jumped more than 30% on Thursday morning. The provider of data analytics saw some ongoing headwinds in parts of its business, but investors were pleased to see the progress that it has made pursuing some of its more lucrative prospects.
Teradata's fourth-quarter revenue eased lower by 1% compared to year-earlier levels, although the decline was entirely due to the company's ongoing transition toward a recurring-revenue model. Although revenue from consulting services, hardware sales, and sales of perpetual software licenses was down sharply, recurring revenue was higher by 9% year over year. The numbers for the full year in 2020 showed similar patterns, with a 7% rise in recurring revenue despite a 3% overall top-line decline.
Of particular importance to Teradata was its fast-growing public cloud business, which saw recurring revenue soar 165% compared to the year-ago quarter. With cloud installations getting increasingly complex, Teradata's ability to work with businesses to take full advantage of technological advances differentiates it from many of its peers.
Teradata boosted its guidance for 2021 dramatically, prompting analysts to raise price targets on its stock. With cloud stocks having suffered in the past couple of months, Teradata's report was a strong sign that the industry remains fundamentally attractive.
Equifax gets approved
Shares of Equifax climbed 17% Thursday morning following its own first-quarter financial report. The company best known for its credit reporting services saw record results and pointed toward a brighter future.
Equifax saw its highest-ever quarterly revenue during the period, up 27% to $1.21 billion. The company got its biggest gains from its workforce solutions segment, with a 59% year-over-year jump driven largely by increased use of verification services. Equifax also enjoyed double-digit percentage gains in its U.S. information solutions division as well as in its international segment.
A sizable part of Equifax's growth recently has come from acquisitions. The company has celebrated an impressive five strategic moves so far in 2021, and it has kept making progress on initiatives to provide more functionality through its EFX Cloud offering. With intentions to take full advantage of technological innovation to enhance its cloud data services, Equifax isn't letting itself fall behind.
Equifax has ambitious growth plans, and so far, it's executing well in achieving them. After some turbulence for the stock, the company is regaining traction among shareholders and could see further gains.
