Movers: Block, Carvana, Chewy, Coinbase Global, Darden Restaurants, KB Home, Worthington Industries

Scott Peters
23 Mar, 2023
New York City

Block Inc dropped 14.9% to $61.75 after the short seller Hindenburg Research said that the company's stock is its latest short position. 

The short seller said that the company's cash app lacks basic compliance controls and facilitates "crime" and takes advantage of the "unbanked" customers it claims to serve and inflates the number of transacting users, a key metric used by investors.   

Block responded to allegations from Hindenburg Research and said it plans to work with the SEC and regulators and explore its legal options against the short seller. 

"Hindenburg is known for these types of attacks, which are designed solely to allow short sellers to profit from a declined stock price. 

We have reviewed the full report in the context of our own data and believe it’s designed to deceive and confuse investors.    

We are a highly regulated public company with regular disclosures, and are confident in our products, reporting, compliance programs, and controls," Block said in its response.  

Carvana Co increased 10.5% to $9.32 on top of 15% increase in the previous session after the company offered to exchange secured notes to unsecured note holders of as much as $1 billion at a 2% premium to the prevailing market price. 

Coinbase Global Inc dropped 11.9% to $67.95 after the cryptocurrency trading app operator received Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The potential charges are related to Coinbase spot trading, Coinbase Wallet and Coinbase Prime, according to a company's filing with the regulatory agency. 

Chewy Inc declined 9.1% to $34.29 after the online pet food store  posted better-than-quarterly sales and earnings in the fourth quarter. 

The company also reported a slight decline in active users to 20.4 million in the fourth quarter from 20.5 million in the previous quarter. 

Net sales in the fourth quarter increased 13.4% to $2.71 billion and swung to a net income of $56.1 million from a loss of $63.6 million and diluted earnings per share was 1 cent compared to a loss of 15 cents a year ago. 

Darden Restaurants, Inc decreased 0.9% to $149.78 after the company lifted its fiscal year sales outlook as same store sales jumped 11.7%. 

Sales in the fiscal third quarter ending in February increased 13.8% to $2.8 billion from $2.4 billion and net income increased to $288.6 million from $247.0 million and diluted earnings per share rose to $2.36 from $1.94 a year ago. 

The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.21 a share, payable on May 1 to shareholders on record April 10. 

Darden repurchased approximately 870,000 shares for $124 million and $687 million were still available under the current $1 billion repurchase authorization. 

KB Home increased 8.7% to $39.99 after the company reported fiscal first quarter sales near the upper end of its guidance range.  

Total revenue in the quarter ending in February decreased to $1.38 billion from $1.39 billion and net income declined to $125.5 million from $134.3 million and diluted earnings per share edged lower to $1.45 from $1.47 a year ago. 

The Los Angeles, California based home builder said homes delivered fell 3% to 2,788 and the average selling price increased 2% to $495,500.

Higher home prices and mortgage rates cut into new order flows and home backlog.   

Net new orders declined 49% to 2,142 and net new order value dropped 53% to $1.0 billion.   

The homebuilder's ending backlog value dropped to $3.31 billion from $5.71 billion and unit backlog plunged to 7,016 from 11,886 a year ago.  

Worthington Industries, Inc jumped 15.9% to $61.59 after the steel processor reported a smaller-than-expected decline in sales and earnings. 

Revenue in the fiscal third quarter ending in February declined 20% to $1.1 billion from $1.4 billion and net income dropped to $46.3 million from $56.3 million and diluted earnings per share decreased to 94 cents from $1.11 a year ago. 

The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of 31 cents per common share payable on June 29 to shareholders on record June 15.