Investing

Premarket Movers Headed Higher: Western Digital (WDC), Charter Communications (CHTR), Arista Networks (ANET) Global Payments (GPN)

Paul Ausick

Published: October 31, 2023 10:50 am

There are many reasons that a stock could see a big price move on any given day. Here’s a look at a few S&P 500 stocks that got a solid boost late Monday or in Tuesday’s premarket trading session.

Western Digital

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Disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) reported fiscal first-quarter results before markets opened Monday, and the stock made a big move of more than 7% for the day. The company’s per-share loss was smaller than expected, and revenue was higher than expected, but neither was enough to move the price that much.

The catalyst for the price jump was the company’s announcement that it plans to spin off its flash drive segment into a separate business. In a separate announcement, Western Digital said it will separate its hard drive and flash businesses in a tax-free transaction expected to be completed in the second half of next year.

Western Digital had been discussing a possible merger with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings until SK Hynix, a major Kioxia shareholder, said Chinese approval of the deal was a concern. SK Hynix is a partner in a consortium led by Bain Capital that owns 56% of Kioxia, formerly known as Toshiba Memory Holdings.

Tax-free separations are always popular with shareholders, and Western Digital’s proposed deal was no exception. Some investors, however, appear to have decided that taking the big 7% move now is better than waiting for the flash memory spinoff. Shares traded down more than 5% in Tuesday’s premarket session.

Charter Communications

Source: Mr. Satterly / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Cable TV and broadband provider Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) saw a jump of almost 5% on Monday. The share price increase follows three days of decline, due largely to its biggest ever drop in customers following a carriage dispute with the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

During the two-week fracas, Charter said it lost 320,000 cable customers, roughly 200,000 more than it lost in the third quarter of last year. In the previous two quarters of the 2023 fiscal year, the company dropped a total of around 200,000 subscribers.

The deal it struck with Disney included a bundling deal for Disney+ in Charter’s core video offering to customers. Charter will also discontinue its offering of other Disney channels, including Freeform, Disney Junior, and Disney XD.

Charter had no specific news that accounts for Monday’s stock price increase. Investors must have done the math, though, and decided that the 18% drop since mid-October was too much. After the stock opened lower again Monday morning, the $370 share price must have looked like a good entry point. Shares traded down about 1% in premarket trading Tuesday.

Arista Networks

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Cloud networking equipment provider Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET) reported third-quarter results after markets closed Monday. The company beat earnings per share expectations by nearly 16% and revenue expectations by 2%. Year-over-year revenue was up more than 28%.

The stock took some lumps after Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) said it planned to cut capital spending next year. Meta and Microsft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) are Arista’s largest customers.

The good news is that Arista has increased its sales to Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL), and now gets an estimated 5% of its revenue from Oracle.

Arista also hiked its outlook for fourth-quarter revenue to $140 to $1.55 billion, above the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. Adjusted gross margin rose from 60.6% sequentially and from 61.2% year over year to 63.1%. Arista expects adjusted gross margin of 63% in the fourth quarter and adjusted operating margin of 42%.

The outlook sent shares up by more than 10% in Tuesday’s premarket session to around $191.50. The stock’s 52-week range is $108.91 to $198.70.

Global Payments

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Payment processor Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) reported third fiscal quarter results Tuesday morning that topped consensus estimates for EPS and revenue. Sales rose 8.3% year over year and adjusted operating margin rose to 45.7%.

Last year, the company paid $4 billion for EVO Payments, expanding its Global Payments reach into additional European and Latin American markets. The company closed the acquisition in late March. CEO Cameron Bready said he expects the acquisition to yield about $135 million in run-rate synergies.

Global Payments issued in-line guidance for the 2023 fiscal year, raising both ends of its previous guidance range. Revenue guidance in a range of $8.66 to $8.74 billion was also in line with the consensus estimate.

The stock traded up more than 5% in Tuesday’s premarket session at $109.10, in a 52-week range of $92.27 to $129.70. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock is almost $147.00.