Travel Stocks, Chegg, Shutterstock Drop; Medifast, Western Digital Rise

Barry Adams
03 May, 2022
New York City

Chegg, Inc plunged 32% to $16.99 after the higher education support services provider sharply lowered its annual revenue outlook but reported quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations. 

Clorox Co jumped 2.4% to $146.71 after the consumer products maker reported March quarter sales rose 2% to $1.81 billion and adjusted profit declined to $1.31 from $1.61 a share a year ago. 

The company said it is still estimating full-year ending June sales to decline between 1% and 4% and lowered the earnings outlook to between $3.60 to $3.85 a share. 

Higher material costs are expected to lower gross margins by as much as 8%. 

Expedia Group, Inc declined 13.4% to $151.43 after the online travel services provider reported a March-quarter loss of 48 cents a share compared to $2.02 a year ago. 

Revenues in the first quarter rose 80% to $2.25 billion and gross bookings were $24.4 billion and the company guided a strong summer season and added that the demands for home rentals on Vrbo site are running ahead of the 2019 levels.    

Hyatt Hotels Corp fell 5.6% to $88.89 and Hilton Worldwide Holdings fell 4.8% to $147.91 after Hilton said it expects full-year 2022 earnings to be between $1 billion and $1.07 billion or $3.56 and $3.81 a share. 

2022 Revenue per available rooms to rise between 32% and 38% from 2021 but shy between 5% and 9% of 2019 levels. 

J&J Snack Foods Corp dropped 14% to $126.05 after the maker of snack foods and frozen beverages reported record quarterly sales but fell short of estimates. 

Second quarter, ending in March, sales increased 10% to record $282 million, net income declined 46% to $3.3 million, and diluted earnings per share fell to 17 cents from 32 cents a year ago. 

Medifast, Inc jumped 9.7% to $191.52 after the nutrition and weight loss company reported first quarter sales increased 22.6% to $417.6 million and net income edged up 1.7% to $41.8 million. 

The company lifted its annual revenue guidance to between $1.78 billion and $1.84 billion and earnings per share between $14.60 and $16.05. 

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc jumped 8.9% to $443.45 after the maker of power circuits reported March quarter sales increased 48% and earnings rose 68%. 

The power circuit maker for cloud computing and other automated systems also lifted second quarter revenues guidance to between $420 million and $440 million and adjusted gross margin between 58.7% and 59.3%. 

Shutterstock, Inc fell 12.6% to $67.41 after the online image marketplace operator reported March quarter sales increased 8.6% to $199.10 million and reported $1.00 earnings per share. 

The business services provider also lifted its annual earnings per share range between $3.65 and $3.80 and 2022 revenues between $835 million and $850 million. 

Western Digital Corporation gained 11% to $60.26 after an activist investor Elliott Investment Management asked the company to separate its flash memory and hard disk drive businesses. 

Elliott has about 6% stake in the company and said that the fund is prepared to invest additional $1 billion in its flash business at a $17 billion or $20 billion enterprise valuation.