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Trending tickers: Dell, HP, CrowdStrike, EasyJet and Just Eat
Shares in Dell slid 11% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after the computer and software manufacturer posted third quarter results that missed revenue estimates.
Revenue came in at $24.37bn (£19.32bn), which was below consensus expectations of $24.59bn. However, Dell reported record third-quarter revenue from its infrastructure solutions group business, rising 34% to $11.4bn.
Server and networking revenue was up 58% to $7.4bn, noting demand growth across AI and traditional servers. Dell's AI-optimised servers are powered by Nvidia's (NVDA) chips.
Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer at Dell, said: "AI is a robust opportunity for us with no signs of slowing down."
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share of $2.15 topped estimates of $2.05.
Dell executives said in a post-earnings conference call that its enterprise customers were being mindful on their PC and IT spending in the near-term, Reuters reported. In addition, they said that its consumer business was also softer than expected.
Revenue forecasts for the fourth quarter of between $24bn and $25bn also appeared to disappoint against average estimates of $25.57bn, according to Reuters.
Fellow computer maker HP also tumbled into the red in after hours trading, after the company reported fiscal fourth quarter results in line with analyst estimates.
HP posted net revenue of $14.1bn for the fourth quarter, up 1.7% year-on-year, giving it a total of $53.6bn for the year, which was flat versus 2023.
Diluted net earnings per share based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were down 4% in the final fiscal quarter to $0.93, and were down 14% for the year to $2.81.
For the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, HP estimated GAAP diluted net earnings per share to be in the range of $0.57 to $0.63.
HP shares were down nearly 9% pre-market open on Wednesday.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike was another company with shares falling in extended trading, after it posted weaker-than-expected earnings guidance.
The stock was down nearly 6% after CrowdStrike guided to adjusted per share of $0.84 to $0.86 for the fourth quarter, which was below Bloomberg-compiled estimates of $0.87 per share.
CrowdStrike's third quarter result beat expectations, with revenue topping $1bn and adjusted earnings per share of $0.93.
The company reported that during the third quarter, it surpassed $4bn in its annual run rate based on customer subscriptions. George Kurtz, founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, said this was the "fastest and only pure play cybersecurity software company to reach this reported milestone — as our single platform approach and trailblazing innovation continue to resonate at-scale".
Budget airline EasyJet posted a 34% increase in annual headline profit before tax to £610m ($769m), in results released on Wednesday.
The low-cost carrier reported record profit before tax for its easyJet holidays business, up 56% year-on-year, to £190m.
As a result, EasyJet said it was hiking its dividend to 12.1p per share for the year, which is more than double the 4.5p it paid out for the 2023 fiscal year.
Looking ahead to its 2025 fiscal year, easyJet said capacity was expected to grow by 3% to around 103 million seats.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The tailwinds of a successful summer period have left EasyJet in a commanding position, and the group seems set fair for further expansion and profitability."
Nevertheless, Hunter said that there is still a "host of external factors outside of the industry’s control, which have made the airline industry a difficult investment destination. These have ranged over the years from the possibility of strike actions to conflicts and volcanic ash clouds, let alone the major shock which the pandemic brought."
"Indeed, the EasyJet share price remains some 52% shy of pre-pandemic levels, indicating how much damage can be done by exogenous events and how difficult the recovery path can be," he said.
However, Hunter added: "The general view towards the company is also undiminished, with the market consensus of the shares as a buy on optimism for the longer term still firmly intact."
EasyJet shares were up nearly 2% on Wednesday morning, with the stock up 7.5% year-to-date.
Just Eat said it made the decision in order to "reduce the administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with the disclosure and regulatory requirements of maintaining the LSE listing".
Following the delisting in London, the company said it would maintain its primary listing of its shares on the Euronext Amsterdam market.
Just Eat's London-listed shares were down 1.4%, while its Amsterdam-listed shares were less than 1% in the red.
In July, the UK's financial regulator unveiled new listing rules to help boost growth after a slowdown in initial public offerings (IPOs). The changes, which came into effect later in July, included the elimination of the "premium" and "standard" listing segments, replaced by a single category called commercial companies.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: "The changes are more beneficial to companies that are only listed in London and which previously didn’t qualify for the FTSE indices under the old rules because they had chosen a tier-two category for various reasons such as looser regulation."
“If anything, we’re likely to see more companies in Just Eat’s situation think hard about the need to have secondary listings in London if their primary listing on another exchange is functioning well and they are looking for ways to cut costs," he added. "If trading is thin in London, it’s hard to justify the costs of retaining the listing."
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Other companies in the news on Wednesday 27 November:
