Walmart reports Q4 beat, Salesforce in cloud talks with Microsoft: Morning Buzz

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Walmart (WMT) reported upbeat Q4 earnings and revenue and raised its annual dividend 13%
• Alibaba (BABA) reported Q3 results, with CEO Eddie Wu saying thte results demonstrated “substantial progress” in its “user first, AI-driven” strategies
• Carvana (CVNA) reported better-than-expected FY24 results
• Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook is meeting today with President Trump, Fox Business reports
• Salesforce (CRM) is in talks with Microsoft (MSFT) about a cloud deal, (SEDG) “falling behind,’ downgrades to Underperform, while Morgan Stanley upgrades shares to Equal Weight
• Loop Capital started coverage of “game-changing software play” Palantir (PLTR) at Buy
• Roku (ROKU) upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies
• BTIG upgraded Snowflake (SNOW) to Buy
• Citi upgraded NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) to Buy

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• In ongoing trials of Eli Lilly’s (LLY) obesity drug, several trial participants are losing too much weight, STAT says
• Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Brian Niccol believes the future of the company relies on reviving its “coffeehouse vibe,” WSJ reports
• Delta (DAL) is offering $30,000 to each passenger on Flight 4819, which crashed while landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, WaPo says
• NetEase (NTES) has been directed to divest its overseas holdings, VentureBeat reports
• Amazon’s (AMZN) retail CEO, Doug Herrington, told employees to keep reducing costs so it can fund “big investments in big new businesses,” BI says

4. MOVERS:

• Herbalife (HLF) gains after reporting quarterly results and naming Gratziani as CEO
• Candel Therapeutics (CADL) higher after Citi initiated coverage of the stock with a Buy rating
• Unity (U) increases in New York after reporting quarterly results and providing guidance for Q1
• Jumia (JMIA) lower after reporting Q4 results and providing guidance for FY25
• Talkspace (TALK) and Vimeo (VMEO) fall after reporting quarterly results

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Wayfair (W) reported Q4 results, with EPS lower year-over-year
• Hasbro (HAS) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for FY25
• Imax (IMAX) announced Q4 results, with CEO Rich Gelfond commenting, “IMAX’s record-breaking Chinese New Year demonstrates the unique advantages of our model”
• Shyft Group (SHYF) reported Q4 results, with EPS beating consensus
• Southern Company (SO) provided guidance for Q1 and FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 1.45%, or 646.87, to 43,980.72, the Nasdaq was down 0.90%, or 180.78, to 19,875.48, and the S&P 500 was down 0.87%, or 53.55, to 6,090.60.