In the red: Futures tied to the S&P 500 are falling by 0.99% this morning, with Dow futures down 0.94%, and Nasdaq futures sinking 1.33%. That isn’t surprising given the sell-off on both Tuesday and Wednesday, sparked by the prospect of new lockdown restrictions in Europe and waning stimulus hopes in the US. What’s more both Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson have been forced to halt their late-stage Covid-19 trials, further weighing on sentiment.
Shares of Fastly are plunging 29% right now after the cloud computing company revealed lower-than-expected usage by its largest customer TikTok. Fastly withdrew full year guidance and now expects 3Q revenues of $70M -$71M, down from $73.5M to $75.5M. Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan reiterated his FSLY Hold rating, saying: “Instagram’s launch of Reels and political uncertainty likely drove eyeball time away from TikTok’s social media platform in 3Q20. FSLY also saw lower usage than expected from other customers toward the end of 3Q20. The company needed to have a perfect quarter to justify its current valuation.”
Despite reporting better-than-expected 3Q results Taiwan Semiconductor is trading down 1.4% in Thursday’s pre-market session. The beat was driven mainly by solid demand for its chips used in smartphones, high-performance computing (HPC) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. For the fourth quarter, TSM now forecasts revenue of $12.4B -$12.7B vs the Street’s predicted $11.71B.
United Airlines posted disappointing results for the third quarter as the pandemic ruined travel demand. The carrier posted 3Q adjusted loss per share of $8.16 compared to EPS of $4.07 in the third quarter of 2019. It lagged analysts’ estimate of a loss per share of $7.53.
However, Organogenesis is surging higher this morning (by 38%) after reporting impressive preliminary numbers for 3Q. The regenerative medicine company now expects revenue to grow 54%- 56% Y/Y to $99M- $100M. BTIG analyst Ryan Zimmerman says he expected a 3Q beat but is “admittedly stunned at the magnitude.” He continues to believe that the stock is “meaningfully undervalued.”
Plus Sleep Number shares are jumping 7% in pre-market trading after the smart bed company provided a strong full-year outlook backed by better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Are you ready? Morgan Stanley is also set to report its earning results before market open. Other large-cap companies revealing their earnings today include Honeywell, Intuitive Surgical and Walgreens Boots Alliance.
In healthcare news, Vertex Pharma is sinking 12% right now after stopping the development of its VX-814 treatment for patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), a genetic disorder increasing the risk for lung and liver disease. “Based on the liver enzyme elevations observed, along with the determination that we would not be able to safely achieve targeted exposure levels with VX-814, we are discontinuing further development of this molecule,” said Vertex Chief Medical Officer Carmen Bozic.
Meanwhile Regeneron has announced that the US FDA has approved its Inmazeb anti-viral antibody as a first-of-its-kind treatment for Ebola virus infection in adult and pediatric patients.