Microchip Technology Stock Slides
14 minutes ago
Microchip Technology (MCHP) shares fell Thursday as the struggling semiconductor firm said it hired Macquarie Group to help sell its Fab 2 wafer fabrication plant in Arizona, and launched a $1.35 billion convertible stock offering.
Microchip Technology announced last December that it planned to offload the Tempe facility to restructure its manufacturing operations. At that time, newly installed interim CEO Steve Sanghi explained that the decision was made with “inventory levels high and having ample capacity in place.” The site produces installed and operational chip equipment, and its product manufacturing and technologies are being transferred to Fabs 4 and 5 in Oregon and Colorado, respectively.
Michael Finley, senior vice president of fab operations, called the closure and sale “the latest development in our ongoing restructuring, demonstrating our efforts to resize our manufacturing footprint.” The company said in December that it anticipated the shutdown would occur in the September quarter and create annual cash savings of about $90 million.
Microchip Technology has been hurt by falling demand. Last month, it reported that third-quarter fiscal 2025 net sales tumbled 42% year-over-year, with Sanghi noting that the performance reflected “the need for the decisive steps we are taking to realign our business.”
In response to Microchip Technology’s issuing the convertible stock, Moody’s Ratings on Thursday downgraded its senior unsecured rating to “Baa2” from “Baa1.” “The rating downgrade reflects Microchip’s weak financial profile resulting from a sharp erosion in earnings,” Moody’s said.
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Microchip Technology shares were down about 5% Thursday afternoon and have lost more than 40% of their value over the last year.
Wedbush Says Musk Must Balance DOGE and Tesla CEO Duties
1 hr 24 min ago
Long-time Tesla (TSLA) bull Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, says Elon Musk is the only one who can turn the EV maker’s reputation around and the billionaire needs to show he is balancing his role working with the Department of Government Efficiency and the U.S. car maker.
Ives, along with two other Wedbush analysts, stuck with an outperform rating and $550 price target for Tesla. However, the analysts said that the company is suffering a “brand tornado crisis” due to a political backlash from Musk’s work with DOGE—the Trump administration’s cost-cutting agency.
To “change the narrative” around the stock, Musk needs to “formally announce (he) is going to balance DOGE and being Tesla CEO,” the analysts said. A statement like this, the analysts said, could prevent permanent brand damage for the U.S. car maker.
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And another measure Musk needs to take, the analysts said, is provide investors with a “roadmap and timing” for the lower-cost EVs that Tesla is planning this year as well as details on the rollout of unsupervised full self-driving in Austin, set for June.
“Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it…Musk,” the analysts wrote.
Tesla shares have lost about half their value since hitting a record high in December, hammered by the backlash as well as investors’ perception that the DOGE role is distracting Musk from running the EV maker. Tesla has also seen its sales slow in the U.S., China, and in Europe.
Tesla shares were down about 1% in recent trading.
Darden Stock Jumps as CEO Says Consumers Still Spending
2 hr 1 min ago
Darden Restaurants (DRI) shares surged Thursday as its CEO said consumers are still spending at its establishments, outweighing news that fiscal 2025 third-quarter sales came in weaker than expected.
The parent of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.80 on net sales of $3.16 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had projected $2.80 and $3.21 billion, respectively. Darden said same-restaurant sales rose 0.7% overall, including up 0.6% at Oliver Garden and 2.6% at LongHorn.
Darden kept most of its full-year outlook intact, only narrowing its adjusted EPS projection to a range of $9.45 to $9.52 from the previous $9.40 to $9.60.
Despite the downbeat quarter of sales and worsening consumer sentiment, Darden CEO Rick Cardenas said the company continues to see consumers spending.
“People, even if they say they’re feeling less optimistic, we haven’t seen a huge correlation between that and dining out,” Cardenas said on Darden’s earnings call. “So changes in consumer sentiment haven’t necessarily translated to material changes in consumer spending. So I think as long as incomes are going up and outpacing inflation, I think they’re likely to keep spending.”
Also Thursday, the company said it is expanding its partnership with Uber (UBER), launching a pilot program of Uber Eats deliveries from 10 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen locations.
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Darden shares were up about 5% in midday trading and were among the top gainers in the S&P 500. The stock is up 14% over the past 12 months, outpacing the performance of the S&P 500 index over that period.
Five Below Surges on Strong Results, Rosy Outlook
2 hr 48 min ago
Five Below (FIVE) shares surged Thursday, a day after the discount retailer posted better-than-expected results and issued a rosy outlook as its holiday sales strategy paid off and it looked to open more locations.
The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.48, with net sales up 4% year-over-year to $1.39 billion. Both exceeded Visible Alpha forecasts. Same-store sales fell 3%, a smaller decline than expected.
COO Ken Bull said that the company was successful in its plan to go into the holiday season “with the goal of showcasing more newness with key trend-right, value product, while also improving our operational execution and in-store experience.”
The company sees full-year sales from $4.21 billion to $4.33 billion, with a midpoint higher than forecasts. Five Below also looks to add about 150 new stores during the year.
Despite today’s roughly 7% gain, shares of Five Below have sunk more than 60% over the past year.
Accenture Slides Amid Concerns About Future Growth
3 hr 57 min ago
Accenture (ACN) shares fell sharply Thursday after the professional services firm reported higher revenue but lower profit than analysts expected for its fiscal 2025 second quarter.
The stock was down 8% in recent trading, leading S&P 500 decliners, amid concerns about the company’s growth prospects as the economy slows and the U.S. government reins in spending.
Accenture posted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.82 on revenue of $16.66 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had projected $2.85 and $16.61 billion, respectively.
The company lifted the bottom of its full-year revenue range projection to 5% growth from 4% previously. It also raised the lower end of its EPS forecast to $12.55 from $12.43.
Ahead of Thursday’s report, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies analysts cut their price targets for the stock, citing an uncertain environment among the firm’s clients. Jefferies said they see Accenture’s clients as having “become a bit more cautious in the past month.”
Morgan Stanley analysts called the post-earnings environment for Accenture “challenging” given the Trump administration’s focus on government spending cuts, along with a “discretionary spending pullback in response to restrictive trade measures” across the economy.
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Accenture shares have lost more than 20% over the past 12 months.
Boeing Stock Price Levels to Watch After Yesterday’s Surge
4 hr 53 min ago
Boeing (BA) shares turned in their best one-day performance in nearly two years on Wednesday following bullish remarks from the plane maker’s chief financial officer, news of a new aircraft order and a favorable deliveries outlook from analysts.
The stock gained nearly 7% yesterday, leading advancers on both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. With the surge, Boeing shares narrowed their year-to-date decline to 2.5%, roughly in line with the performance of the S&P 500 over the stretch.
After a bullish engulfing pattern marked the end of a three-week pullback in Boeing shares earlier this month, the stock has continued to trend higher, closing above both the 50- and 200-day moving averages in Wednesday’s trading session. It’s also worth pointing out the moving averages formed a golden cross early last month, a chart pattern that signals the start of a new uptrend.
Importantly, Wednesday’s move was backed by the highest volume in more than two weeks, indicating buying activity by larger market participants, such as institutional investors and hedge funds. Moreover, the relative strength index (RSI) has climbed back above the 50 threshold to confirm bullish price momentum.
Investors should monitor major support levels on Boeing’s chart around $165 and $146, while also watching key resistance levels near $192 and $217.
Boeing shares were down slightly in premarket trading Thursday at around $172.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Major Stock Index Futures Point to Lower Open
5 hr 36 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4% in recent trading.
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S&P 500 futures slipped 0.5%.
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Nasdaq 100 future were off 0.6%.
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