Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers delivers a keynote address during the RSA Conference April 22, 2009 in San Francisco, California. The Annual RSA conference features keynote speakers and seminars on the topic of cyber security runs through April 24.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Those looking for encouragement after the Dow suffered its longest losing streak since August 2011 received very little of it in extended trading Wednesday.
Despite posting quarterly earnings that slightly exceeded expectations, Cisco Systems Inc. got pummelled in post market trading as the company released disappointing guidance for its fourth quarter. Cisco now sees adjusted earnings per share of 44 cents to 46 cents, versus estimates of 49 cents. Even worse, it forecast revenue growth of 2.5 per cent, far short of the 7 per cent expected by analysts. Shares were last down 8 per cent in extended trading, likely pointing to a day deep in the red on Thursday.
It was a similar story for Priceline . The U.S. online travel agency beat Street forecasts for its first quarter, but spooked investors by forecasting profit of $7.20 to $7.40 in the second quarter. That's below the average $7.43 estimate compiled by Bloomberg, and sent the stock down about 8 per cent in the post market.
One bright spot was News Corp. , which saw its shares rise in the post market by 3.2%. It reported earnings, excluding items, of 37 cents a share, compared to the 31 cents Street forecast.
On this side of the border, uranium miner Denison Mines Corp. said it lost $52-million (U.S.) or 14 cents per share in its latest quarter. That compared with a loss of $7.1 million, or 2 cents per share, a year ago. The Street seems content so far; its U.S.-listed shares are up 0.3 per cent in after-hours trading.
Thursday lookahead
Among companies due out with earnings before the bell Thursday are Bombardier, Brookfield Asset Management and Sun Life Financial. Steel giant Arcelor Mittal is scheduled to release its earnings overnight; its report will be watched for signals on where global demand and economic conditions are heading.
On the economic front, both the U.S. and Canada will release trade data at 830 a.m. (ET) Thursday morning. Analysts are forecasting a surplus of $600-million in Canada, and a trade deficit of $50-billion in the U.S.
Markets will also be closely monitoring initial weekly U.S. jobless claims at 0830 a.m. (ET) for signals on the latest trends in the job market. Claims dipped unexpectedly during the previous week to 365,000, a drop of 27,000, but it's been a question mark as to whether that's the start of a sustainable trend.
Darcy Keith