Thursday’s Pre-Market: Here’s What You Need To Know Before The Market Opens

All the way up: Futures tied to the S&P 500 are rocketing 1.8% higher Thursday morning, with Dow futures and Nasdaq futures also up 1.3% and 2.6% respectively. “Markets are reacting very positively to the fact that a great deal of the election uncertainty has passed. Not all of it, but at least the worst outcomes seem to have been avoided. Markets hate uncertainty, and this is likely to be a tailwind for a while,” Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network told CNBC.

Shares of GoDaddy are up 4% in Thursday’s pre-market trading after the internet domain and web hosting company announced upbeat 4Q revenue guidance and added 1M net new customers in 2020. GoDaddy expects 4Q revenues to grow about 11% to about $865M year-on-year, which is above the Street estimate of $855.7M. The company said that revenue growth is set to come from “double-digit growth in domains, mid-single-digit growth in Hosting and Presence, and high-teens growth in Business Applications.” GoDaddy also anticipates unlevered free cash flow of approximately $820M for 2020.

Qualcomm shares are surging 14% as the chipmaker exceeded analysts’ expectations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and issued a strong outlook for next quarter. Revenue for 4Q FY21 increased 73.4% Y/Y to $8.35B on a reported basis and 35% on an adjusted basis to $6.5B vs the Street forecast of $5.93B. Also, 4Q adjusted EPS surged 86% Y/Y to $1.45, vs consensus of $1.17. Following the print, Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated a QCOM Buy rating and increased his PT to $154 from $145, arguing that: “QCOM drives a global multi-year 5G transition ahead with Snapdragon leadership, RF, Automotive telematics and a QTL [Qualcomm Technology Licensing] licensing rebound, with all major handset OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturer] licensed.”

And Upwork is soaring 26% after the freelancing platform’s 3Q results surpassed Street expectations fueled by its new and existing client base. Upwork’s earnings of $0.04 per share jumped from $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter and came ahead of the analysts’ estimates of a loss of $0.06 per share. 3Q revenues grew 24% year-over-year to $96.7M million and beat analysts’ expectations of $90.4M. CEO Hayden Brown stated: “Our third-quarter performance was fueled by strength from both existing and new clients, who adopted Upwork in record numbers.”

Also on the earnings front, Match Group is rising 3% after the online dating service company’s 3Q subscriber base topped analyst expectations. Match’s 3Q subscriber numbers rose to 10.8M from 10.1M in 2Q and 9.6M in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected 10.5M subscribers in 3Q. Match commented: “Western market businesses have performed extremely well despite the COVID challenges, while some developing markets, several of which have been hard hit by the pandemic, are recovering more slowly.”

Meanwhile Expedia has reported a third consecutive quarterly loss as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hurt travel demand. The online travel company posted an adjusted loss of $0.22 per share compared with adjusted EPS of $3.38 reported in the year-ago quarter. However, its bottom line fared better than analysts’ expectations of a loss of $0.92 per share sending its shares 6% higher in Thursday’s pre-market session.

However, shares of e.l.f Beauty are down 9% in early morning trading today despite the company posting better-than-expected results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Investors were disappointed with the company’s earnings outlook which missed analyst guidance. Mobile game developer Zygna is also dropping 5% after posting a 3Q loss even as mobile gaming demand increased during the pandemic.

Finally, Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is struggling with a shortage of vital chips that manage power consumption in iPhones and other devices, raising concerns over its ability to meet peak holiday demand. According to the report, it is unclear to what extent the shortfall may constrain iPhone availability during the iPhone’s crucial launch quarter, which is Apple’s busiest period. Increasing demand for silicon across a range of products and Covid-19 supply-chain disruptions are the main reasons for the shortage.