Investors observed notable movements in the stock market on Monday, with the S&P 500 rising approximately 1.5% as companies released their quarterly earnings reports. Second qualifier, Palantir Technologies, had its shares pushing ahead in excess of 4% after releasing news on its second quarter earnings beating the Street’s expectations. On the other hand, telehealth company Hims & Hers Health experienced a bigger drop, plummeting 12% after a weak earnings guidance.
Palantir’s strong performance was underscored by its second-quarter earnings report, which revealed results that exceeded analysts’ predictions. This surprising yet positive development seemed to provide all of the rocket fuel that the market’s upward momentum needed. That was a powerful indication of ravenous market appetite for anything tech.
Hims & Hers Health’s third-quarter guidance sparked anxiety in investors. The firm had originally estimated adjusted EBITDA of $60 million to $70 million. This estimate came below the StreetAccount consensus, which was looking for EBITDA of $77 million. Consequently, its stock took a violent beating.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals faced similar market turbulence, plummeting 14% even after 2Q earnings were reported well above Wall Street estimates. The rapidly-growing company beat LSEG analyst estimates for adjusted earnings of $4.52 per share, above the expected $4.26 per share. Further sweetening the news, Vertex’s revenue came in at $2.96 billion, beating Wall Street’s expected $2.91 billion.
The larger market was somewhat indicative of these mixed earnings results. Case in point: The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 585 points on the day, nearly wiping out all of its loss from Friday. The Nasdaq Composite raced up almost 2%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 index rose almost 2.5%. Perhaps most impressively, more than four-fifths of the members of the S&P 500 rallied during the session.
Cameron Dawson, a market strategist, commented on the current market momentum, stating, “You have to respect the momentum that the market has had. We’re still in a very powerful uptrend.” She cautioned that “it wouldn’t be surprising to see some chop as we move through August,” suggesting that investors should remain vigilant as the month progresses.