Amazon Slips On Wider-Than-Expected Loss; Acacia Research Shares Gain

Related BZSUM Amazon Rating And Price Target Cut; Pandora Reports Slow Growth Markets Open Lower; Xerox Profit Beats Estimates

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.80 percent to 16,947.71 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.70 percent to 4,440.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.52 percent to 1,977.69.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares gained 0.10 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included DRDGOLD (NYSE: DRD), up 7.4 percent, and LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE: LYB), up 4.5 percent.

In trading on Friday, technology shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.80 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB), down 13.7 percent, and Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA), off 13.4 percent.

Top Headline

Xerox (NYSE: XRX) reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and raised the lower end of its full-year earnings forecast.

The Norwalk, Connecticut-based company reported a quarterly profit of $266 million, versus a year-ago profit of $271 million. Its per-share earnings climbed to $0.22 from $0.21 per share. The year-ago quarter results included a loss of $0.02 per share related to discontinued operations. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.27 per share in the recent quarter.

Its revenue declined 1.8% to $5.29 billion from $5.39 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.26 per share on revenue of $5.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Acacia Research (NASDAQ: ACTG) shares shot up 14.82 percent to $17.20 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and approved a $0.125 per share quarterly dividend.

Shares of Qlik Technologies (NASDAQ: QLIK) got a boost, shooting up 12.48 percent to $26.31 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE: RBS) shares were also up, gaining 10.38 percent to $12.34 on strong earnings report.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Pandora Media (NYSE: P) were down 13.51 percent to $24.84 after the company announced slower than expected growth metrics. Pandora’s earnings beat the official analyst estimate by $0.01 per share at $0.04 per share. The company also raised its full-year forecast.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares tumbled 11.09 percent to $318.84 after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter. For the third quarter, Amazon projected sales of $19.7 billion to $21.5 billion. Analysts at B Riley downgraded Amazon from Buy to Neutral and lowered the target price from $425 to $350.

Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA) was down, falling 13.53 percent to $30.21 after the company reported quarterly results and lowered its FY14 earnings forecast. Baird downgraded Informatica from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $45.00 to $36.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.09 percent to $102.16, while gold traded up 0.63 percent to $1,300.90.

Silver traded up 0.73 percent Friday to $20.57, while copper fell 0.69 percent to $3.24.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.83 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.05 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.06 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 1.41 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 1.90 percent while UK shares fell 0.43 percent.

Economics

Orders for durable goods increased 0.7% in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5% gain.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Downgrades Eurozone Futures Price Target Commodities

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