Movers: GameStop, Kura Sushi, Levi Strauss, Occidental. Spirit Air, Twitter, Upstart, WD-40

Barry Adams
08 Jul, 2022
New York City

U.S. stocks turned lower in choppy trading after a stronger-than-expected jobs report lifted the prospects of faster and higher interest rates hikes from the Federal Reserve. 

The S&P 500 index declined 0.2% to 3,895.06 and the Nasdaq index fell 0.4% to 11,569.99. 

Futures of crude oil increased $1.86 to $104.80 a barrel and natural gas fell 10 cents to $6.19 a unit. 

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes increased to 3.05% after the release of the jobs report. 

GameStop Corp fell 4.8% to $128.60 and the company fired its chief finance officer Michael Recupero and promoted its chief accounting officer Diane Saadeh-Jajeh to the post. 

Earlier in the the week,  videogame retailer announced a 4-for-1 stock split.  

Kura Sushi USA soared 26.5% to $67.82 after the restaurant chain reported unexpected quarterly profit. 

Kura said revenues in the third quarter ending in May more than doubled to $38 million from $18.5 million a year ago on a comparable sales increase of 65%. 

Net income was $0.5 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared to $0.8 million or $0.09 a share a year ago. 

The company guided full-year 2022 total sales between $137 million and $142 million from the previous estimate between $130 million and $140 million. 

Levi Strauss gained 38 cents to $16.73 after the apparel maker and retailer said quarterly sales rose 15% and earnings dropped 23% on charges linked to closure of Russian operations. 

The strong dollar also impacted international sales growth. 

Revenues in the second quarter ending in May increased 15% to $1.5 billion and rose 20% on a constant currency basis. 

Net income in the quarter declined 23% to $50 million from $65 million a year ago and earnings per share dropped to 12 cents from 16 cents.

Nu Skin Enterprises dropped 5.4% to $41.23 after the multi-level marketer of personal products lowered its estimate for second quarter sales between $557 million and $562 million. 

Occidental Petroleum declined 0.8% to $60.93 and Warren Buffett-controlled Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in the oil explorer to 18.7%. 

Berkshire is likely to increase its stake to 20%, the maximum limit for a passive investor. 

Spirit Airlines Inc increased 3.4% to $24.76 after the company postponed its special shareholder meeting to vote on its merger deal with Frontier till July 15.  

Twitter Inc declined 4.4% to $37.01 after an article in Washington Post suggested that the Elon Musk led $44 billion bid for the company may be in peril citing anonymous sources. 

A month ago, Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Inc held up the deal asking for more information on the extent of bots and spams on the microblogging platform.  

Twitter in a meeting with reporters expressed confidence in its figures on spam and bots and the company officials said that the company's security system prevents daily spam attacks exceeding 100,000.  

Upstart Holdings plunged 21.5% to $26.51 after the company said its quarterly revenues are going to fall below its lowered estimate. 

The revised revenues in the second quarter is expected to be close to $228 million, lower than the previous estimate between $295 million and $305 million. 

Net loss is now estimated between $27 million and $31 million from the previous guidance between breakeven and a loss of $4 million. 

WD-40 Company plunged 11.4% to $180.10 after the chemical maker reported sharply lower earnings and lowered its annual outlook. 

WD-40 said sales in the third quarter ending in May declined 9% to $123.7 million and sales were affected after translating foreign sales to the strong U.S. dollar. 

Net income in the quarter declined 31% to $14.5 million or $1.07 a diluted share from $21.0 million or $1.52 a share.