Trending tickers: Nike, Apple, Tesla, Alibaba and JD Sports
The latest investor updates on stocks that are trending on Wednesday
Nike (NKE)
Shares in Nike slid 5% in after hours trading on Tuesday, on the back of the sportswear brand reporting fiscal first-quarter revenues that missed estimates.
Nike posted revenues of $11.59bn (£8.72bn), which fell short of analyst estimates of $11.65bn and was also 10% lower compared to the same period last year.
While the company reported first-quarter earnings per share of $0.70, which beat Wall Street estimates of $0.52, this was still 26% lower than last year.
Nike also withdrew its full-year guidance and said it was postponing its investor day, amid the transition of CEO, as Elliot Hill is set to replace John Donahoe on 14 October.
"A comeback at this scale takes time, and while there are some early wins, we have yet to turn the corner," Nike CFO Matthew Friend said on the company's earnings call Tuesday night.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “Nike is now paying the price for taking its eyes off the ball. Rivals like On and Hoka have taken market share, partially because their running shoes are now adopted as everyday footwear, but also because Nike hasn’t moved with the times."
He said Nike had "relied too much on its Air Force, Air Jordan and Dunk lines and failed to innovate elsewhere".
"Nike is now purposely scaling back availability of these core product lines, implying it is to make room for new ideas but, in reality, it could also be down to consumer boredom with the brands, at least for now," he added.
Apple (AAPL)
Apple is readying a new low-end phone for release early next year, Bloomberg reported.
The updated iPhone SE model will reportedly become its new entry-level phone, which would be the first update to this model since 2022. In addition to 5G capability, the updated device may no longer include the older home button feature.
Apple is also said to be preparing to launch new iPad Air models, as well as an updated version of its Magic Keyboard.
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The reports come on the back of the recent launch of Apple's iPhone 16 earlier last month.
Apple shares faced pressure on Tuesday after Barclays (BARC.L) analysts said they were seeing indications of softer demand for the iPhone 16. The investment firm has maintained an underweight rating on the stock, with a price target of $186.
Shares fell nearly 3% in Tuesday's session and were still slightly in the red in pre-market trading.
Tesla (TSLA)
Electric carmaker Tesla is set to report third-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, with Wall Street expecting the company to deliver around 461,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in that period.
This would be an improvement on the 444,000 EVs it delivered in the second quarter but would be below the 466,000 it delivered last year.
The stock closed Tuesday's session more than 1% lower but the shares have seen more strength recently, as investors look ahead to Tesla's robotaxi event on 10 October.
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The event is set to take place at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California and will showcase the fully autonomous taxi.
Adam Jonas, managing director and analyst at Morgan Stanley, said in a note published on Thursday evening that he predicted engineers and designers might "show off a few other things," given the robotaxi event had been pushed back from August.
Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK)
Both the New York and Hong Kong-listed shares of e-commerce firm Alibaba continued to climb, amid a broad rally in Chinese stocks following last week's stimulus announcement from the country's central bank.
The US-listed shares of Alibaba closed Tuesday's session 6% higher, while the Hong Kong-listed shares gained nearly 5% in Wednesday's session in Asia. The Hang Seng (^HSI) index ended Wednesday's session 6% higher, though mainland Chinese markets are closed for the weeklong national holiday.
Other stocks on the Hong Kong market that also continued to ride the stimulus-fuelled wave of investor enthusiasm, included JD.com (9618.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK), which gained 11% and 6% respectively.
A report by trading analytics company S3 Partners, published Tuesday, found that short sellers had lost $6.9bn mark-to-market as China's CSI 300 (000300.SS) index rallied on the back of the stimulus announcement.
JD Sports Fashion (JD.L)
Another sportswear retailer in focus was UK firm JD Sports, which reported a sharp fall in profits in the first-half of its fiscal year.
Profits before tax came in at £126m for the six months to 3 August, which represented a 64% drop from the nearly £354m the company reported for the same period last year.
The group, which also owns outdoor brands Millets and Blacks, posted revenues of £5bn for the period, up from nearly £4.8bn last year.
The company said revenues for JD in the UK were down 4.6% in the first half to £1.2bn, "driven by the disposal of non-strategic brands over the previous 12 months". It said like-for-like and organic sales on adjusted basis were down, with these declines reflecting a "challenging, and often volatile, UK market".
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"The earlier Easter falling at the end of March in the current year, combined with unfavourable spring and early summer weather conditions, dampened footfall and full price demand for seasonal apparel lines resulting in a more promotional environment thereafter," the company said.
Shares were down 5% on Tuesday morning following the release of the results and have fallen 14% year-to-date.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said that the shares are "still looking extremely cheap on a historical valuation basis, and with the group increasingly laying out plans to build on its growing global footprint, the market consensus of the shares as a buy is an indication that JD Sports has much further to run."
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