**Salesforce and Snowflake stocks rise, Discover Financial explores student loan portfolio sale**
In midday trading on Thursday, several companies experienced significant movement in their stock prices. Here’s a breakdown of some of the notable headlines from the day.
**Salesforce Surges After Reporting Strong Earnings**
Cloud software vendor Salesforce saw its stock price jump by over 7% after reporting fiscal third-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ estimates. The company’s revenue also increased by 11% compared to the previous year, reaching $7.84 billion. Despite the positive results, Salesforce’s growth rate has slowed down as businesses seek ways to reduce costs.
**Snowflake Shares Rally on Strong Quarterly Results**
Cloud company Snowflake also saw a rise in its stock price, with shares rallying more than 4% after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results and provided an optimistic fourth-quarter product revenue forecast. Snowflake reported adjusted earnings of 25 cents per share on $734 million in revenue, surpassing analysts’ expectations.
**Discover Financial Explores Sale of Student Loan Portfolio**
Digital banking company Discover Financial experienced a 4.7% increase in its stock price after announcing that it was considering the sale of its student loan portfolio. Additionally, the company revealed that it would stop accepting new student loan applications starting in February.
**Victoria’s Secret and Pure Storage Experience Fluctuations**
Women’s clothing retailer Victoria’s Secret surged by 15.9% after providing current-quarter guidance that aligned with analysts’ expectations, despite posting a wider loss per share than anticipated. On the other hand, data storage stock Pure Storage tumbled by 14.5% following a weak revenue outlook, with the company’s revenue estimates falling below Wall Street’s expectations.
**Other Movements in the Market**
Oil refiner Phillips 66 saw its stock climb 2.8% to a 52-week high after confirming talks with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. Technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise and cloud stock Nutanix both saw stock price increases of 2.7% and 3%, respectively, after announcing positive financial results.
Social media stocks Snap and Pinterest also experienced a boost, with both companies seeing their stock prices rise after receiving upgrades to buy from Jefferies. However, software stock Synopsys witnessed a 3.1% drop in its stock price, despite posting better-than-expected earnings and offering strong guidance for the current quarter and full year.
Finally, pet retailer Petco’s stock rose by nearly 8% during Thursday’s trading session, following a 29% decline the previous day after reporting disappointing third-quarter results.
Overall, it was a day of significant movements and developments for various companies in the midday trading session. Investors will continue to keep a close watch on these companies to see how they evolve in the coming days.
