Stocks – Nike, Shell, Carmax All Fall in Premarket

Investing.com — Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, 20th December. Please refresh for updates.

• 7::55 AM ET: Nike (NYSE:) shares fell 1.2% after the company posted a 32% increase in profit in its fiscal second quarter, thanks to a 20% rise in sales in China and a 5% rise in revenue from North America. The increases were achieved in the face of a sales dispute with Amazon (NASDAQ:) and a major doping scandal at a track and field program sponsored by Nike.
• Flat apparel sales in North America were a minor disappointment, while the strength of the Chinese business is to some extent a double-edged sword, illustrating how much it depends on a country that still has unfinished business with the U.S. on trade.
• The figures are the last to be presented by CEO Mark Parker, who is stepping down next month to be succeeded by John Donahoe.
• • Royal Dutch Shell’s ADRs (NYSE:) fell 0.9% after Europe’s oil and gas major warned it may write down up to $2.3 billion in assets in the fourth quarter due to well write-offs, decommissioning costs and other factors.
• In a trading update, the company also indicated gas output would be lower than forecast for the current quarter, but oil production would be around 2.8 million barrels a day, at the top end of its guided range.
• Shell (LON:) said that chemicals and gasoline marketing margins would be weaker due to seasonality and crude price fluctuations.
• The company added that capital expenditure for the full year will be at the bottom end of the guided range of $24-$29 billion.
• • 8 AM ET: CarMax (NYSE:) stock fell 5.6% after the used car dealership network reported earnings per share 10% below market consensus at $1.04.
  • That was despite a modest beat on revenue in the three months through November, which came in at $4.79 billion, rather than the $4.65 billion expected.
  • CEO Bill Nash put the drop in earnings down “a significantly higher stock-based compensation expense reflecting an increasing share price during the quarter and a planned increase in third quarter advertising expense related to the company’s omni-channel rollout and the launch of a new national advertising campaign.”

  8:10 AM ET: Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) stock was set to be at the center of another twist in U.S.-EU trade relations after France handed down another 150 million euro ($166 million) fine to the company, saying Google (NASDAQ:) abused its dominant position in the market for online ads.

  The company, which suspended the accounts of some advertisers after saying they posted misleading ads, said it will appeal.

  Europe’s treatment of U.S. digital giants has become an increasingly sensitive topic in U.S.-EU trade relations, with President Trump having threatened sanctions in response to a new tax levied by France on digital services, which chiefly hits U.S. companies.

  • 8:20 AM ET: Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE:) stock fell 2.5% to a four-month low after the company said it would stop production of bodies for the Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX in January. The move follows Boeing’s decision to halt assembly of the planes at the start of the new year, given its failure to secure regulatory approval for the resumption of flights.
• Spirit, which was originally spun off from Boeing (NYSE:), is still highly dependent on the planemaker for its business.
• The shares have fallen nearly 6% this week.
• • 8:26 AM ET: BlackBerry (NYSE:) stock rose 7.8% to a three-month high after the company posted quarterly results suggesting that a turnaround under CEO John Chen is slowly taking hold.
  • “BlackBerry achieved sequential growth in revenue across all of our software businesses while generating healthy non-GAAP profitability and free cash flow as we continue to invest in our future,” Chen said.
• 8:40 AM ET: U.S. Steel (NYSE:) stock fell 8.7% after the company slashed its dividend and suspended stock buybacks, saying that its fourth-quarter loss would be almost twice market expectations of 62c a share.
• The company will also lay off up to 1,545 workers and will idle most operations at a plant near Detroit.
• In order to conserve cash, U.S. Steel has also cut its planned capital spending for 2020 by $75 million to $875 million.

• 8:56 AM ET: The Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:) stock fell 4.5% after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) downgraded the arts and crafts retailer to ‘underweight’.

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