Before the Open (Dec 20)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and little changed. Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia posted gains while China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Indonesia posted losses. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently split. Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Austria and the Czech Republic are up; Germany, Spain and Italy are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
FedEx (FDX +0.26%) climbed over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $3.18, higher than consensus of $2.88, and then raised guidance on full-year adjusted EPS to $12.70 to $13.30 from a prior view of $12.00 to $12.80, better than consensus of $12.47.
Red Hat (RHT -0.45%) dropped 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted gross margin of 86.2%, below consensus of 86.5%.
United Continental Holdings (UAL -0.20%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after it was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Buckingham Research Group with a price target of $81.
Micron Technology (MU +0.62%) rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $2.45, better than consensus of $2.21, and said it sees Q2 adjusted EPS of $2.51 to $2.65, well above consensus of $2.04.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS -2.60%) gained 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a collaboration with Biogen to identify new antisense oligonucleotide drug candidates for spinal muscular atrophy.
REV Group (REVG -0.24%) dropped over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $683.9 million, weaker than consensus of $705.6 million.
Aramark (ARMK +0.96%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Stifel with a 12-month target price of $50.
Steelcase (SCS -0.69%) slid 7% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 adjusted EPS of 14 cents to 18 cents, below consensus of 22 cents.
Metropolitan Bank Holding (MCB -6.30%) rose 1% in after-hours trading after Piper Jaffray boosted its EPS estimate for MCB by 6% due to its exposure to a cryptocurrency exchange.
Stitch Fix (SFIX +3.82%) tumbled over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it expects Q2 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization will be $11.5 million to $15.5 million, the mid-point below consensus of $15.5 million, as it spends more for advertising and customer growth.
Catalyst Biosciences (CBIO -5.77%) fell 7% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed public offering of common stock, although no size was given.
TherapeuticsMD (TXMD -6.37%) dropped nearly 8% in after-hours trading after the FDA set a 6-month timeline to review TXMD’s resubmission of its TX-004HR application, longer than the 2-months analysts had anticipated.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
FedEx (NYSE:FDX) +2.6% AH lifted by a strong outlook.
Micron (NASDAQ:MU) +6.4% AH after topping estimates.
Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) -3.5% AH despite a Q3 beat, upside guidance.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar
this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY