Apple Juices the Market

By George Banko

May 3, 2024

Good Morning Wake-Up Watchlisters! While you’re sipping coffee you’ll see stock futures got a big boost on Friday following Apple’s earnings (more on that below). The three major stock indexes ended Thursday higher, and now investors will be looking at the upcoming April jobs report due Friday morning.

Here’s a look at the top-moving stocks this morning.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)

Apple is up 6.08% in premarket trading after it posted revenue of $90.8 billion, down 4% from a year ago but still slightly above Wall Street’s expectations of $90.5 billion. The iPhone is always key, with the device accounting for more than half of Apple’s total revenue. Sales for the iPhone tumbled 10.5% in the quarter, with results pressured by weaker demand in China.

Post-earnings surges are what our Lead Technical Tactician Nate Bear focuses on in Profit Surge Trader.

Click here to see how he’s playing the latest earnings reports from big companies.

Fortinet (Nasdaq: FTNT)

Fortinet is down 9.33% in premarket after the cybersecurity firm saw a decline in revenue. Product revenue fell 18.3% year over year to $1.35 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.338 billion. Total billings were $1.41 billion for the first quarter, a decrease of 6.4% compared to $1.50 billion for the same quarter.

Yesterday our Head Trading Tactician Bryan Bottarelli got positioned on FTNT in The War Room.

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Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN)

Amgen Inc. is up 13.66% in premarket trading after the biotechnology company voiced positive news regarding interim analysis of a Phase 2 study for a injectable weight-loss drug called Maritide. Amgen, however, provided little additional information on the actual data, and said it plans to start a late-stage study later this year.

Block (Nasdaq: SQ)

Block is up 7.18% in premarket trading after getting a revenue boost in the first quarter from Bitcoin. The Cash App mobile wallet and the Square merchant business said each month it will be investing 10% of its gross profit from Bitcoin products into buying more Bitcoin. Revenue in the period rose 19% to nearly $6 billion.