Following through on Monday and Tuesday’s gains, the S&P 500 logged a third bullish day in a row on Wednesday … though just barely. The S&P 500’s close of 2102.4 was only 0.08% better than Tuesday’s close, and puts the index within reach of November’s peak at 2116.
It wasn’t a winning day for every name out there, however.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP), The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP) each sold off, but for understandable reasons.
Here’s the deal.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP)
Check Point Software Technologies shares fell 3% today after topping its first quarter profit expectations, but coming up short on its Q2 revenue guidance.
The good news: Last quarter, cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies earned $1.06 per share on revenue of $404.3 million. The pros were only expecting a profit of $1.03 per share of CHKP and sales of $404 million.
The bad news: The company anticipates a profit of between $1.02 and $1.09 per share of CHKP for the current quarter, on sales of between $405 million and $435 million. That guidance puts a lot of pressure on current analyst estimates for a gain of $1.09 per share and revenue of $427.7 million.
The Coca-Cola Co (KO)
Despite Coca-Cola managing to top last quarter’s earnings estimates, KO shares fell more than 4% on Wednesday as the reality of declining revenue started to sink in.
Last quarter, Coca-Cola earned 45 cents per share on revenue of $10.28 billion. The pros were only calling for a bottom line of 44 cents per share of KO, and a top line of $10.24 billion. Nevertheless, sales fell from the revenue tally of $10.71 billion achieved a year earlier … the fourth consecutive quarter the beverage maker reported lower year-over-year sales.
While Coke’s product mix includes bottled water at a point in time when health-conscious consumers are steering clear of sugary sodas, the company isn’t as competitive in that market as it is in the shrinking sparking beverage arena.
Office Depot Inc (ODP)
Last but not least, the proposed merger of office supply retailer giants Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) and Office Depot was never on a solid footing, but the union may have been outright up-ended yesterday afternoon.
The Federal Trade Commission played its antitrust card late Tuesday, asking a U.S. District Court for an injunction that would prevent the pairing of Office Depot and Staples. FTC attorney Tara Reinhart’s argument was pretty strong too, citing some documents from both companies acknowledging there were only two serious players in the space.
Attorneys for Staples as well as Office Depot attempted to discredit the Federal Trade Commission’s conclusions, leading to some snarky exchanges that likely didn’t help the corporations’ case.
ODP finished the session more than 6% lower, and is now down more than 11% since the FTC revealed its intent in a courtroom on Tuesday.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
