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Stock futures suggested Wall Street’s rally would continue Thursday after an all-time closing high for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
that followed the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady and as most central bank officials indicated rates could be cut as many as three times next year.
These stocks were poised to make moves Thursday:
Adobe,
the maker of Photoshop and other popular media creation tools, reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, but the stock was falling 5.2% after Adobe issued a fiscal 2024 revenue forecast that was short of estimates. The company also said it could incur significant costs or penalties related to a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its cancellation practices for software subscriptions.
Apple
closed at a record high of $197.96 on Wednesday, rising 1.7% in the session. Shares of the iPhone maker have rallied 52% this year, giving the company a market value of $3.08 billion. In premarket trading,
Apple
dipped slightly.
Moderna
jumped 6.9% after it unveiled new data from a continuing early-stage trial of the personalized cancer treatment it has been testing with Merck.
Moderna
said Thursday that updated results after three years show that the combination regimen of the Moderna treatment and Merck’s Keytruda continued to offer improvements in survival rates over Keytruda alone.
Pfizer
was up 0.3% in premarket trading to $26.74, a day after tumbling 6.7% following a cut the drug giant made to 2024 earnings and revenue guidance as it overestimated the use of its Covid-19 vaccine. Analysts at J.P. Morgan reduced their price target on the stock to $30 from $34 and maintained a Neutral rating. BofA analysts lowered their price target to $35 from $38 and also remained Neutral on the shares.
Occidental Petroleum
rose 2.1% to $58.40.
Berkshire Hathaway
was a big buyer of the stock in recent days, purchasing 10.5 million shares for about $590 million. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire now holds a stake of 238.5 million shares in Occidental for a 27% interest. The purchases amount to a vote of confidence by Buffett in the energy company and its CEO Vicki Hollub after
Occidental
announced Monday it was buying privately held energy producer CrownRock for $12 billion.
Vir Biotechnology
said it would be eliminating 12% of its workforce, or about 75 positions, and plans to close two research facilities next year. The immunology company said it anticipates annual savings of at least $40 million from the cost-cutting measures. CEO Marianne De Backer said the company was making “purpose-led changes to align Vir with our goals to deliver sustainable growth and ensure we are well-positioned for the future.”
Illumina
was up 3.1% to $130.55 after shares of the gene-sequencing company were initiated with Buy recommendations by analysts at Guggenheim and Stephens.
Industrial automation company
Nordson
reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and guided for revenue growth in the first quarter. Nordson said it expects first-quarter sales of $615 million to $640 million, up from $610.5 million a year earlier. Analysts had been forecasting sales in the period of $651.9 million.
Earnings reports are expected Thursday from
Costco Wholesale,
Lennar,
and
Jabil.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
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