PepsiCo, Under Armour, General Motors, JP Morgan Chase and more - PRE-MARKET

US stocks are seen opening lower, breaking from its two-day winning streak.

Stocks of interest in premarket trade include food and drink giant PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP) which saw its fourth-quarter earnings topping topped Wall Street forecasts.

Excluding a one-off US$2.5bn charge related to new US tax laws, the Gatorade and Lays chips owner reported adjusted earnings per share of US$1.31 in the three months through to December 31 – slightly ahead of the US$1.30 analysts had expected.

PepsiCo hiked its annual dividend by 15% to US$3.71 from US$3.22 a year earlier, while it also unveiled a US$15bn stock buy-back program.

PepsiCo’s stock was down 0.3% to US$111.90 in pre-market trade on Tuesday.

UnderArmour Inc (NYSE:UA) shares jumped in pre-market trading the sportswear retailer beat expectations with its fourth-quarter earnings.

In the three months through to December 31, UA reported a net loss of US$87.9mln, or 20 cents a share, compared to earnings of US$103.2mln, or 23 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

The big beat was with revenues though, which came in at US$1.4bn for the quarter. That was 5% higher than what UA posted this time last year and ahead of consensus estimates of US$1.3bn.

The company expects to book another US$110-130mln in restructuring charges this year but said this should all pay off next year, with Under Armour forecasting “a minimum” of US$75mln in annual savings as a result from 2019 onwards.

General Motors Co shares were down after announcing plans to shut down one of its four plants in South Korea and take a US$850mln charge as part of its move to scale back on unprofitable operations in the peninsular. It will decide on the future of the remaining three plants in the next few weeks.

JP Morgan Chase & Co was given a boost after Keefe Bruyette & Woods upgraded its stock to outperform from market perform, seeing a favourable risk/reward profile at its current price level.

Novartis was slightly down after it won the US Food and Drug Administration approval for a larger dose of its multiple sclerosis drug Glatopa.
Health products retailer GNC Holdings saw its quarterly profits come in line with market expectations but its revenue fell short of Wall Street consensus.

Story by ProactiveInvestors