Major benchmarks eked out another gain on Friday despite starting the session in negative territory after President Trump insisted the U.S. has not agreed to phase out existing tariffs on imported goods from China. The news came despite confirmations yesterday from both Chinese and American negotiators stating otherwise as the two countries work toward striking a trade deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) edged just into positive territory at the close, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) rose roughly 0.3%.
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But some individual stocks enjoyed much more pronounced gains on positive earnings news, including Disney (NYSE:DIS) and GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO).
Disney’s magical quarter
Shares of Disney climbed more than 5% in early trading, then settled to close up 3.8% after the entertainment conglomerate announced better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter 2019 results.
Disney’s quarterly revenue climbed 34% year over year to $19.1 billion, translating into adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share. Both its top and bottom lines arrived well above Wall Street’s consensus models, which called for earnings of $0.95 per share on revenue closer to $19.04 billion.
“Our solid results in the fourth quarter reflect the ongoing strength of our brands and businesses,” stated Chairman and CEO Bob Iger. “We’ve spent the last few years completely transforming The Walt Disney Company to focus the resources and immense creativity across the entire company on delivering an extraordinary direct-to-consumer experience, and we’re excited for the launch of Disney+ on November 12.”
During the subsequent conference call, executives declined to offer specifics on pre-launch subscriber numbers for its Disney+ streaming platform. But Iger did tease that they’re “enthusiastic about what we saw the consumer reaction to be,” adding that “demographics were far broader than a lot of people expected them to be” during a “very, very positive” early trial launch of the service in the Netherlands.
GoPro steps over a low bar
Meanwhile, shares of GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO) soared as much as 13% before paring their gains to finish up 6% after the action-camera specialist released encouraging third-quarter results.
GoPro’s performance didn’t look good at first glance; quarterly revenue declined a whopping 54.1% year over year to $131.2 million, largely due to a previously disclosed “late-stage production delay that shifted sales of” its HERO8 Black camera from Q3 to Q4. But those sales technically arrived above GoPro’s latest guidance, provided early last month, for a range of $123 million to $127 million.
On the bottom line, that translated into an adjusted (non-GAAP) net loss of $61.3 million, or $0.42 per share — again comfortably ahead of GoPro’s outlook for an even wider net loss of $75 million to $65 million.
“HERO8 Black and MAX are generating the highest positive social sentiment metrics of any new GoPro and are setting record unit sales for new cameras at GoPro.com,” founder and CEO Nick Woodman said in a statement. “Both products appear to be unquestionable hits with consumers and we’re optimistic about their impact on our business going forward.”
