U.S. Stocks To Watch Today

Gilead Sciences

Gilead‘s remdesivir showed some success as anti-COVID-19 drug in early studies so the company attracts a lot of attention these days.

Gilead has reported its first-quarter results and held its earnings call on April 30 after the market close. The company reported GAAP earnings of $1.22 per share, missing analyst estimates. Revenue of $5.55 billion was higher than analysts expected.

During the earnings call, the company stated that it decided to donate 1.5 million doses of redesivir and that it was too early too talk about the potential pricing of the drug in case additional studies prove that it is effective against coronavirus.

The company’s shares lost some ground in the after hours trading session, but recent trading in Gilead stock has been so volatile that things may change very quickly.

Amazon

Amazon was the leader of the market rebound from mid-March lows, and the stock has just broken to all-time highs as investors and traders viewed the shares as an ideal safe haven asset during the current crisis.

Expectations were sky-high. Amazon reported its first-quarter results on April 30 after the market close. The company’s earnings of $5.01 per share missed analyst estimates by $1.10, while revenue of $75.5 billion was higher than expected.

Amazon stated that coronavirus-related costs will increase as the company has to spend heavily to ensure worker safety. In addition to safety costs, Amazon also  increased wages for frontline workers which will also put pressure on second-quarter results.

It remains to be seen whether the company’s stock will continue its rally after the release of the report but investors and traders can be sure that Amazon’s share price dynamics will heavily impact the direction of S&P 500 today.

Apple

Apple, which is currently the second biggest company by market capitalization in S&P 500, has also presented its quarterly results on April 30 after the market close.

Apple easily beat analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. In addition, Apple has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.77 per share to $0.82 per share.

However, the company did not present its guidance for the next quarter as the coronavirus pandemic made it hard to estimate demand and shipments.

Apple shares have fully recovered from the downside they experienced during the current crisis so expectations were high. Due to this, the good report has so far failed to provide an additional boost to the company’s shares, and Apple stock was down more than 2% in the after-hours trading session.