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Despair over the PC market slams Dell and HP

The companies’ forecasts show that demand just isn’t taking off.

Shares of Dell and HP dove on Wednesday after both companies offered less than rosy outlooks for their key PC markets in earnings results on Tuesday.

The two stocks were the worst-performing among the S&P 500 early in the day, and both were recently down more than 12%.

Overall, the numbers weren’t awful, as both companies posted better-than-expected profits. Executives talked up growth in the red-hot market for servers needed for the boom in AI data centers.

But PC revenue fell short of expectations for HP, as it did for Dell’s client-solutions group, which includes PCs. And forecasts from both companies suggest that the PC market — which surged during the Covid crisis due to work and school at home — will require some more time before it bounces back.

“The PC market recovery is shaping up to be more gradual than expected,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.

Judging from the stock price move on Wednesday, the market seems impatient.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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