Movers: Accenture, Darden Restaurants, HB Fuller, KB Homes, Occidental, Steelcase, Worthington

Barry Adams
23 Jun, 2022
New York City

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indexes opened higher and advanced in a volatile pattern as investors snapped up beaten down and leading tech stocks. 

The S&P 500 increased 0.8% to 3,789.79 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% to 11,196.28. 

Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms, and Amazon added between 1% and 1.8%.  

Accenture Plc declined 0.6% to $284.71 after the information services provider said revenues in the third quarter ending in May increased 22% to $16.2 billion and net income increased 16% to $1.82 billion from a year ago. 

Diluted earnings per share increased to $2.79 from $2.40 a year ago. 

During the third quarter, Accenture repurchased 3.1 million shares for a total of $972 million, including approximately 2.9 million shares repurchased in the open market. 

The company has repurchased in fiscal year three quarters 10.1 million shares for a total of $3.51 billion, including approximately 7.7 million shares repurchased in the open market.

Darden Restaurants, Inc declined 0.6% to $114.44 and the restaurant chain operator reported sales in the fourth quarter ending in May increased 14.2% to $2.6 billion. 

Earnings in the quarter declined to $281.7 million from $368.5 million a year ago. 

Blended same store sales in the quarter increased 11.7% from a year ago. Same store sales at Olive Garden rose 6.5%, LongHorn Steakhouse gained 10.6%, and the Fine Dining segment which includes Season's 52 stores advanced 34.5%.  

For the fiscal year, total sales increased 33.8% to $9.63 billion and earnings rose about 51% to $952.8 million. 

Diluted earnings per share increased to $7.39 from $4.77 a year ago. 

H.B. Fuller Company declined 5.7% to $57.93 and the industrial products maker said net revenues in the quarter ending in May increased 20% to $993.3 million. 

Net income declined 4% to $47.2 million or 86 cents a share from $49.1 million or 90 cents a year ago. 

The company said raw materials costs are expected to be 20% higher in the current fiscal year compared to prices at the end of the fourth quarter 2021. 

KB Home surged 8.7% to $28.49 and yesterday after the market closed the company reported sales in the second quarter ending in May increased 19% to $1.72 billion and net income soared 47% to $210 million. 

The home builder delivered 3,469 homes, matching the deliveries in the quarter a year ago and average selling price increased 21% to $494,300. 

The home builder guided sales in the fiscal year between $7.3 billion and $7.5 billion and average home selling price of $500,000. 

Occidental Petroleum Corp gained 1.3% to $56.47 after Berkshire Hathaway increased investment by $500 million and lifted its stake to 16.3% in the oil refiner and explorer. 

Berkshire now owns 152.7 million shares worth $8.5 billion in the company after adding a total of 9.5 million shares in the last week. 

Berkshire also controls a large stake in Chevron 

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress to drop federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months. 

Weaker oil prices dragged down stocks in the energy complex. 

Chevron and Marathon Oil dropped more than 1.5%, Exxon Mobil declined 1.6% and Schlumberger NV fell 3.7% after president Biden's administration urged Congress to drop federal tax on gasoline and diesel sales for the next three months.

Federal tax on regular gasoline is 18 cents and diesel 24 cents a gallon. 

Lower tax at the pump could provide relief to consumers but it can also lift the fuel demand worsening tight supply.   

Steelcase Inc was nearly unchanged at $10.47 after the furniture maker said sales in the first quarter ending May 27 increased 33% to $740.7 million and net loss declined to $11.2 million from $28.1 million a year ago. 

Diluted loss per share declined t0 10 cents from 24 cents a year ago. 

The company guided second quarter diluted earnings per share between 6 cents and 10 cents. 

United Airlines dropped 4.6% to $35.06 and the international air carrier trimmed daily domestic 50 flights from Newark Liberty International Airport. 

The airline has delays on capacity constraints and airport construction. 

Worthington Industries increased 6.8% to $43.14 after the steelmaker reported sales in the fourth quarter ending in May increased 50% to $1.52 billion. 

Net income in the quarter declined 29% to $80.0 million and earnings per share fell to $1.61 from $113 million or $2.15 a year ago.

Net debt at the end of the quarter increased $34.0 million from a year ago to $744.6 million.