Dow Leads in Mixed Session on Amgen Earnings: Stock Market Today

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The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell for a second straight day as disappointing earnings from mega-cap chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) sparked a sell-off across the technology sector. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to close in positive territory thanks to well-received results from a high-priced health care stock.

After Tuesday's close, AMD said fourth-quarter earnings rose 40% year over year to $1.53 per share, while revenue was up 34% to $10.3 billion. Both figures were higher than Wall Street expected, thanks to a 39% increase in data center revenue.

But Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson says the majority of this data center growth came from MI308 chip sales to China, "suggesting more muted growth for AI silicon net this one-time benefit." He adds that the sales of these chips also gave a moderate lift to the company's Q1 guidance.

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And while Bryson believes AMD's outlook is strong even without the benefit of these chip sales to China, the company's inability "to extract incremental value" from "growing shortages of CPUs" likely sparked today's post-earnings slide.

AMD ended the day down 17.3%, while many of its fellow semiconductor stocks, including Broadcom (AVGO, -3.8%) and Micron Technology (MU, -9.6%), finished lower as well.

Amgen keeps the Dow above water

These sharp losses caused the tech-heavy Nasdaq to close down 1.5% at 22,904 and the broader S&P 500 to fall 0.5% to 6,882. But the blue-chip Dow added 0.5% to 49,501 after Amgen (AMGN) rallied 8.2% on its better-than-expected Q4 print.

The drugmaker also gave upbeat guidance that William Blair analyst Matt Phipps says "highlights the strong growth" for "key brands such as Repatha, Tezspire, Uplizna, Evenity, and Imdelltra."

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At $366 per share, AMGN is one of the higher-priced members of the 30-stock index. And this helped the price-weighted Dow to a positive close today despite sell-offs in Goldman Sachs (GS, -2.7%), Nvidia (NVDA, -3.4%) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH, -2.9%).

Brookfield pops on dividend hike, new CEO; Enphase soars 39%

Elsewhere on the earnings calendar, Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) jumped 4.9% after the alternative asset management firm reported higher-than-expected Q4 earnings. It also hiked its dividend by 15% and named Connor Teskey as its new CEO.

CFRA Research analysts maintained a Buy rating on the financial stock after earnings. "Looking ahead, BAM is well positioned to capitalize on trends in AI-related infrastructure and renewable energy," including electricity and power, CFRA writes.

Enphase Energy (ENPH), meanwhile, soared 38.6% after the solar and battery supplier reported a fourth-quarter beat. The company also gave strong Q1 guidance.

"Demand in the U.S. reached its highest levels in more than 2 years in Q4, driven partially by a pull-forward in demand before" residential clean energy credits expired on December 31, say Susquehanna analysts Charles Minervino and Eric Clay. "Q1 is expected to mark a low point for shipments, before improving in the second-half as utility rates see upward pressure and prepaid leases gain greater adoption."

The analysts have a Neutral (Hold) rating on ENPH, which is technically a tech stock, and a price target of $46 – a roughly 10% discount to current levels.

Private payrolls come up short

Over on the economic calendar, data from ADP showed the U.S. added 22,000 private payrolls in January, well below the 45,000 economists expected.

"The strongest sector was, once again, the education and health services sector, while the weakest was the professional and business services sector," write Raymond James economists Eugenio Alemán, Ph.D., and Giampiero Fuentes.

The economists add that the ADP data could signal a weak January jobs report, which will be released next Wednesday, February 11, after being delayed due to the now-ended government shutdown.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.