Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Tesla — The electric vehicle stock gained nearly 7%, continuing to rally on the heels of Donald Trump winning a second presidential term. The Elon Musk-helmed company saw its market capitalization rise to $1 trillion on Friday. Shares have gained more than 26% this week. Trump Media & Technology — Trump’s social media company advanced 12% after he said he had no plan to sell any of his nearly $3 billion stake . Five Below — The discount retailer slipped more than 4% as the ramifications of Trump’s potential tariffs on Chinese imports continued to weigh on the stock. Upstart — The lending platform surged more than 46% after issuing a better-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter, on top of surpassing analysts’ estimates for both revenue and earnings in the third quarter. Pinterest — Shares of the image-sharing platform pulled back 16% after the company issued a lower-than-expected revenue outlook for the current quarter. Block — The Cash App parent company slumped more than 4.5% after its third-quarter revenue of $5.98 billion missed expectations. Analysts anticipated revenue of $6.24 billion, per LSEG. Airbnb — Shares fell more than 8% after the homestay company posted mixed quarterly results. Airbnb managed to beat revenue estimates, but earnings came just below expectations. DraftKings — Shares of the sports betting company gained 1% even after DraftKings posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings and a disappointing revenue outlook for the current quarter. Toast — The restaurant management company climbed 13% after it forecast adjusted EBITDA of between $90 million and $100 million for the current quarter. Analysts expected guidance around $74.8 million, per LSEG. Arista Networks — Shares of the computer networking company fell 7% despite third-quarter results beating analysts’ estimates. Arista also announced a four-for-one stock split. Lucid Group — The stock fell more than 4% despite the electric carmaker posting better-than-expected third-quarter results . The company posted an adjusted loss per share of 28 cents on revenue of $200 million. Analysts expected a loss of 30 cents per share on $198 million in revenue, according to LSEG. That said, Lucid’s net loss widened in the period, posting $992.5 million versus $630.9 million in the year-ago period. Capri Holdings — The fashion holding company sank more than 10% following a fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue miss. Capri reported an adjusted 65 cents per share on revenue of $1.08 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected 75 cents in earnings per share and $1.18 billion. Monster Beverage — The energy drink company shed 2.1% after reporting worse-than-anticipated results for the third quarter. Monster earned 40 cents per share, excluding items, on $1.88 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by FactSet predicted 43 cents in earnings per share and $1.91 billion in revenue. Affirm Holdings — Shares dipped more than 10% even as the buy now, pay later company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results on the top and bottom lines . BioNTech — The German biotechnology company advanced nearly 5% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral , citing upside from a new cancer treatment. Bath & Body Works — Shares pulled back nearly 6% after Barclays downgraded the retailer to equal weight from overweight, over concern that sales and margin could be squeezed in 2025. — CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Alex Harring and Sean Conlon contributed reporting.
Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB, testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress,” in the Dirksen Building on Nov. 30, 2023.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday issued a finalized version of a rule saying it will soon supervise nonbank firms that offer financial services likes payments and wallet apps.
Tech giants and payments firms that handle at least 50 million transactions annually will fall under the review, which is meant to ensure the newer entrants adhere to the laws that banks and credit unions abide by, the CFPB said in a release. That would include popular services from Apple and Google, as well as payment firms like PayPal and Block.
While the CFPB already had some authority over digital payment companies because of its oversight of electronic fund transfers, the new rule allows it to treat tech companies more like banks. It makes the firms subject to “proactive examinations” to ensure legal compliance, enabling it to demand records and interview employees.
“Digital payments have gone from novelty to necessity and our oversight must reflect this reality,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “The rule will help to protect consumer privacy, guard against fraud, and prevent illegal account closures.”
A year ago, the CFPB said it wanted to extend its oversight to tech and fintech companies that offer financial services but that have sidestepped more scrutiny by partnering with banks. Americans are increasingly using payment apps as de facto bank accounts, storing cash and making everyday purchases through their mobile phones.
The most popular apps covered by the rule collectively process more than 13 billion consumer payments a year, and have gained “particularly strong adoption” among low- and middle-income users, the CFPB said on Thursday.
“What began as a convenient alternative to cash has evolved into a critical financial tool, processing over a trillion dollars in payments between consumers and their friends, families, and businesses,” the regulator said.
The initial proposal would’ve subjected companies that process at least 5 million transactions annually to some of the same examinations that the CFPB conducts on banks and credit unions. That threshold got raised to 50 million transactions in the final rule, the agency said Thursday.
Payment apps that only work at a particular retailer, like Starbucks, are excluded from the rule.
The new CFPB rule is one of the rare instances where the U.S. banking industry publicly supported the regulator’s actions; banks have long felt that tech firms making inroads in financial services ought to be more scrutinized.
The CFPB said the rule will take effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Snowflake – Shares surged more than 21% following the company’s better-than-expected third-quarter results and strong guidance. Snowflake posted adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share on revenue of $942 million. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for 15 cents in earnings per share on revenue of $897 million. Palo Alto Networks – The cybersecurity stock fell 2% after the company issued fiscal second-quarter guidance largely in-line with expectations. Palo Alto Networks guided for adjusted earnings of $1.54 to $1.56 per share on revenue of $2.22 billion to $2.25 billion. That was roughly in line with the Street’s forecast of $1.55 per share in earnings and $2.23 billion in revenue, per FactSet. Palo Alto also announced a 2-for-1 stock split. Nvidia – Shares of the chipmaker fell around 1% despite its third-quarter earnings results topping Wall Street’s expectations . The company posted 81 cents in adjusted earnings per share on revenue of $35.08 billion, while analysts had penciled in 75 cents in earnings per share on revenue of $33.16 billion, according to LSEG. Crypto-related stocks – Stocks tied to bitcoin moved higher after the price of the cryptocurrency hit $98,000 for the first time . MicroStrategy soared about 11%, while Coinbase jumped nearly 4%. Others linked to the cryptocurrency like miner Mara Holdings and financial services platform Robinhood also saw gains, rising almost 10% and more than 3%, respectively. Baidu – U.S. shares of the Chinese search engine fell more than 1% after the company’s third-quarter revenue declined by 3% compared to the year-ago period . That said, Baidu posted a 12% increase in its non-online marketing revenue, which was mainly driven by its artificial intelligence cloud business. BJ’s Wholesale Club – The stock popped nearly 8% after the warehouse club reported a third-quarter earnings beat and raised its full-year guidance. BJ’s also announced a plan to repurchase $1 billion shares and said it will raise its membership fee. Merus – Shares gained 2.5% after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the cancer therapeutics company with a buy rating, saying it sees big gains ahead on the back of Merus’ cancer treatment. — CNBC’s Sarah Min, Hakyung Kim and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
Baidu on Nov. 12, 2024, unveiled a pair of glasses with a built-in AI assistant, putting up a Chinese rival to the Meta Ray-Bans that have proven a rare success in AI-powered hardware.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese tech giant Baidu on Thursday posted a 3% annual drop in third-quarter revenue, nevertheless beating market expectations amid AI cloud growth.
The revenue print came in at $4.78 billion for the quarter ending on Sept. 30. Net income for the period rose by 14% to $1.09 billion.
Baidu noted a 12% surge in its non-online marketing revenue to the equivalent of $1.1 billion, mainly driven by its artificial intelligence cloud business.
Here’s what analysts expected the company to report for the quarter, according to LSEG estimates:
Revenue: $4.63 billion
Net income: $857.17 million
Baidu had reported revenue of 34.45 billion yuan ($4.75 billion) and net income of 6.68 billion yuan for the third quarter of 2023.
Beijing-based Baidu operates one of the major web browser search engines in China, along with a frequently used maps app. The company also sells cloud computing services. Online marketing drives a significant portion of the firm’s revenue.
In artificial intelligence, Baidu has promoted its Ernie chatbot as a local alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which isn’t available in China. Ernie bot now has 430 million users, Baidu said last week.
The company this month also announced that its Xiaodu AI Glasses will begin sales in the first half of next year. The wearable has at least one camera and uses Ernie’s AI capabilities and Baidu’s maps and search functions. While Baidu hasn’t revealed a price, the product is widely expected to be a Chinese alternative to Meta’s popular Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Baidu announced a management rotation last month, with Junjie He, formerly head of the mobile ecosystem group, becoming the company’s interim Chief Financial Officer, while former CFO Rong Luo assumed leadership of the mobile division.