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Alaska Air drops after Q3 profit missed expectations and an IT outage grounded its flights across the US

A bad news twofer is driving Alaska Airlines lower in premarket trading Friday, following the airline’s Q3 earnings report after the close on Thursday.

Alaska Air posted adjusted diluted earnings of $1.05 per share, below Wall Street’s expectation of $1.09.

Last month, ALK warned that elevated fuel costs and factors like weather and air traffic control issues would put its results toward the lower end of its EPS guidance. At the time, analysts had been expecting the carrier to post earnings of $1.35 per share. In its report, Alaska Air posted $3.62 billion in operating expenses, up 32% from last year.

The airline did beat on revenue, reporting $3.77 billion in sales in the quarter, representing a 23% jump from the same period last year.

Adding to negative sentiment around the stock was a tech outage that grounded Alaska’s flights across the US for several hours on Thursday, leading to 229 cancellations. The outage forced the airline to postpone its earnings call.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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