Tesla Upgrade, Boeing Pops On 737 Max Flight News
IBD leaderboard stock Tesla (TSLA) topped the Nasdaq 100, up 4% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy, from neutral and hoisted its price target from 455 to 780.
International Paper (IP) climbed 5% to lead the S&P 500, after the company announced a restructuring aimed at cutting $300 million in annual costs and launching its printing papers unit as an independent, separately traded company.
Vaccine optimism plays — airlines, cruise line operators and hospitality stocks — traded high on the S&P 500. Vaccine makers Moderna (MRNA) and BioNTech (BNTX) backed off about 2% each in early trade. Pfizer (PFE) added 0.4%.
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Boeing, Salesforce Lead Dow Industrials
Boeing (BA) and a rebounding Salesforce.com (CRM) ran ahead of the Dow industrials. Boeing rallied 1.7% after Bloomberg reported late Wednesday that Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL) plans to resume 737 Max flights Dec. 10. In addition, Boeing was preparing to resume deliveries of the jet, with United Airlines Holdings (UAL) and American Airlines Group (AAL) the first likely recipients, in a move that would restart the company's grounded flow of cash.
Salesforce staged a modest 1% bounce, after confirmation of the software leader's acquisition of Slack Technologies (WORK) triggered an 8.5% dive on Wednesday. The loss broke below support at the stock's 100-day moving average, leaving the stock with work to do in order to repair its three-month basing effort.
Breakout Watch: CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Okta
CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) vaulted 13% in early trade, positioning shares for a potential starting bell breakout past what IBD MarketSmith chart analysis plots as a buy point at 154. The cybersecurity outfit reported a third quarter of accelerating earnings growth. If the stock opens above the buy range, which runs to 161.70, it would set up a breakaway gap buying opportunity.
An earnings report from Zscaler (ZS) also set up the stock for a potential early breakout. The cloud-based web security innovator turned around from an earnings decline in fiscal Q4, to a 250% EPS jump in its Q1. Revenue soared 52% — a third quarter of acceleration. Zscaler shares rocketed 11% in premarket trade. That pointed to a sharp move above a double-bottom-base buy point at 158.84. The buy range runs to 166.78.
Okta (OKTA) reported a second straight profitable quarter, with earnings up 233% while revenue increased 42%. Shares leapt 7.3% in early action, a move that would place shares within 2% of a 251.28 buy point in a seven-week cup base.
Not all the early software news was positive. Leaderboard stock Snowflake (SNOW) slipped 2.3% following a revenue miss in its first quarterly report as a public company. Database software developer Splunk (SPLK) dived more than 20%, after reporting a big third-quarter earnings and revenue miss.
Retail Earnings: Michael's Steers Toward Breakout
Despite the early dives by Krogers and Dollar General, a number of retail stocks also showed early strength on earnings news. Signet Jewelers (SIG) jetted 6.6% higher. Guess (GES) rallied 6% after a big earnings beat. And Five Below (FIVE) clocked in with a 2.8% advance, after reporting its biggest earnings gain in 10 quarters. All three stocks are extended.
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