- Major equity indexes in the US post modest gains following a flat start.
- Quanta Services Inc (PWR) shares soar on upbeat earnings figures.
- Western Digital Corp (WDC) shares suffer heavy losses on Thursday.
Following a quiet start to the day, Wall Street’s main indexes moved into the positive territory on heightened hopes of US lawmakers reaching an agreement on the next coronavirus relief bill. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.1% on the day at 3,330.
S&P 500 top movers
Earlier in the day, Quanta Services Inc (PWR) reported quarterly adjusted earnings of 74 cents per share for the quarter ended in June. This figures came in better than the mean expectation of 13 analysts of 48 cents per share, per Reuters. Additionally, the company’s revenue declined by 2.6% to $2.76 but surpassed the market forecast of $2.51 billion. Fueled by these upbeat readings, PWR rallied on Thursday and was last seen gaining 9.1% on the day at $46.50 as the top gainer.
Meanwhile, Centurylink Inc (CTL) and Sealed Air Corp (SEE) shares are gaining more than 8% on a daily basis.
On the other hand, Western Digital Corp (WDC) said after the closing bell on Wednesday that it expects its revenue to be $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter. With this data falling short of analysts’ estimate of $4.3 billion, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, UBS and RBS all announced cuts to their WDC target prices. As of writing, WDC was down 16.5% on the day at $37.13 as the worst performer.