Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Intel – The stock jumped 10% after the company said it had appointed Lip-Bu Tan – who was previously the chief executive of software company Cadence Design Systems – as its new CEO. Tan is replacing interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and MJ Holthaus. UiPath – Shares fell 18% following the software company’s fourth-quarter revenue and first-quarter sales guidance missing Wall Street estimates. For the fourth quarter, UiPath posted revenue of $424 million, below the $425 million that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. The company also expects revenue for the current quarter to come in between $330 million and $335 million, while analysts were looking for $368 million. Adobe – Shares dropped 6% on the heels of Adobe issuing lackluster fiscal second-quarter guidance. The company sees earnings of $4.95 per share to $5 per share on revenue of $5.77 billion to $5.82 billion in the period. Analysts had penciled in earnings of $5 per share on $5.8 billion in revenue. SentinelOne – The cybersecurity stock pulled back more than 13% after the company issued weak first-quarter revenue guidance. SentinelOne anticipates revenue for the current quarter to come in at $228 million, lower than the $235 million that analysts were expecting, according to FactSet. Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue came in better than expected, however. Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle-maker slid 1.3%, reversing course from some of the gains seen in the previous sessions. The stock is down more than 5% on the week. American Eagle Outfitters – The retailer fell 9% after issuing disappointing guidance . American Eagle Outfitters anticipates a mid-single-digit drop in sales for its first quarter, while analysts expected a 1.3% revenue increase, according to LSEG. For the full year, it expects a low-single-digit decline in sales, versus expectations of 3% growth. However, it reported an earnings beat for the fourth quarter, and revenue in line with estimates. iRobot – Shares slid 5% after iRobot that it’s started a review of strategic alternatives including refinancing the company’s debt, as well as exploring a potential sale. Separately, the maker of the Roomba and other consumer robots reported a wider-than-expected loss in its fourth-quarter earnings results, an adjusted loss of $2.06 per share compared to the FactSet consensus estimate of a $1.73 loss. However, revenue of $172 million topped the expected $171 million. Dollar General – The discount retailer’s stock climbed 6.9% after its fourth-quarter revenue beat analysts’ expectations. Dollar General posted revenue of $10.30 billion, above the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion, per LSEG. Iren – Shares gained around 1% on the back of an upgrade to overweight from neutral by JPMorgan. The firm said the bitcoin miner has been “overly punished” this year and now trades at a good entry point for investors Wells Fargo – The bank stock rose slightly after an upgrade to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital Markets. Wells Fargo is well positioned to take advantage of a lighter regulatory regime going forward, and the stock looks attractive after a recent pullback, according to an RBC analyst. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
Chinese videostreaming company iQiyi announced March 13, 2025, it will open a theme park later in the year in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province.
iQIYI
BEIJING — Chinese videostreaming platform iQiyi announced Thursday it plans later this year to open its first full-fledged theme park in China based on characters from its own shows.
The forthcoming “iQiyi Land” is set to open in the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, just over two hours from Shanghai by high-speed train. The company said the theme park will include seven types of attractions — including immersive theater, interactive film sets and experiences that use virtual reality — largely based on characters from iQiyi’s films and television dramas.
It’s the latest company to bet that local consumers will spend more on experiences, despite tepid retail sales.
Legoland is opening its first China resort in Shanghai this summer, while Warner Bros. Discovery last month announced it is opening a “Harry Potter Studio Tour” in 2027 in the same city. Chinese toy company Pop Mart opened a themed “Pop Land” in Beijing in late 2023, which has become the most popular attraction in the city’s business district, according to rankings from Dianping.
IQiyi’s planned theme park builds on the company’s recent success with VR-specific attractions.
The company has developed technology that combines VR headsets with moving platforms — giving visitors the impression that they are walking, riding on boats or sitting in a flying carriage. That means a theme park-like experience can be compressed into a space as small as a square just 57 feet long.
Since iQiyi’s first dedicated VR experience opened in Shanghai two years ago, the company has worked with business partners to open more than 40 locations in at least 20 Chinese cities. One VR experience based on iQiyi’s “Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty: Journey to the West” gained more than 100,000 visitors in its first year of opening, according to the company.
VR, gaming and artificial intelligence have enabled the emergence of “distributed” theme parks that are more compact, interactive and able to iterate content more quickly, Hang Zhang, senior vice president at iQiyi, said in a Chinese statement translated by CNBC.
He said some of the VR-based experiences will first be released in iQiyi Land before they’re launched in other venues.
IQiyi shares closed nearly 3% higher in U.S. trading Thursday and are up 14% for the year so far.
Post-Covid growth
Mainland China’s theme park revenue is forecast to exceed 480 billion yuan ($67 billion) this year, with more than 500 million visitors, according to data shared by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. That would be up exponentially from 30.39 billion yuan recorded across 86 major theme parks in mainland China in 2023, just after Covid-19 pandemic controls ended, the data showed.
Parks are increasingly using a mix of virtual reality to engage guests, while using AI tools to manage crowds, the association said. It added that parks are also combining global intellectual property franchises with domestic narratives in China.
Comcast, whose Universal Studios Beijing opened in 2021, said higher revenue at its international theme parks offset lower guest attendance at its U.S. parks in the fourth quarter.
A tough environment
Tourism has been a rare bright spot in China’s otherwise lackluster consumer market. The consumer price index, an indicator of domestic demand, rose by just 0.2% last year while the tourism component increased by 3.5%.
However, competition in content remains fierce. IQiyi reported an 8% drop in 2024 revenue to 29.23 billion yuan, reversing a 10% increase the prior year.
Theme park projects can also face delays.
A Legoland in western China’s Sichuan province was originally scheduled to open by 2023. When CNBC contacted operator Merlin Entertainments about the project, the company only emphasized the summer opening of Legoland in Shanghai this summer.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC.
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading. Ulta Beauty — Shares of the beauty retailer popped 7% after the company exceeded expectations for the fourth quarter. Ulta earned $8.46 per share on revenue of $3.49 billion, while analysts anticipated $7.12 per share and $3.46 billion in revenue. Guidance for the full year was weak, however. Docusign — The electronic signature service rose 8% on the back of stronger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. Docusign posted adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share, beating the consensus forecast of analysts polled by LSEG by 1 cent. Revenue came in at $776 million, while analysts had penciled in $761 million. Rubrik — The data management stock rallied 15% following a better fourth-quarter report than Wall Street expected. Rubrik posted an adjusted loss of 18 cents per share, narrower than the 39-cent loss forecasted by analysts, per LSEG. The company saw $258 million in revenue, above the consensus estimate of $233 million. PagerDuty — The data stock surged 9% following strong earnings and the announcement of a share repurchase program. PagerDuty recorded 22 cents, excluding items, on $121.4 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, while analysts polled by LSEG anticipated 16 cents per share in earnings and $120 million in revenue. Semtech — The semiconductor company jumped nearly 12% on the heels of better-than-anticipated earnings and strong current-quarter guidance. Semtech posted fourth-quarter earnings of 40 cents, excluding items, on $251 million in revenue. Analysts had expected 32 cents earned per share and revenue of $249 million, according to LSEG.
NY Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference at the offices of the Attorney General on January 08, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced a bill to protect the state’s consumers and small businesses from scams and deceptive practices from lenders, debt collectors and health care firms.
James said in a release that the legislation would bolster the state’s existing consumer protection law —which dates from 1970 and is more limited in scope — at a time when the Trump administration has hobbled the federal agency charged with that task.
The new bill, called the Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable Business Act, is supported by state lawmakers Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, according to James.
“In New York right now, companies can make canceling a subscription so hard it seems impossible; nursing homeowners can sue relatives of deceased former residents; and debt collectors can steal social security benefits,” James said. “The FAIR Business Practices Act will close loopholes that make it too easy for New Yorkers to be scammed and will allow my office to go after anyone who violates the law.”
The New York bill is one of the first examples of state officials attempting to fill the vacuum left by the hobbling of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Since taking over as Acting Director of the CFPB last month, Russell Vought has fired about 200 employees and told the rest to stop nearly all work. Vought and Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency planned to fire nearly all the agency’s workers, according to testimony from current employees, but was stopped by a federal judge.
It’s unclear what will ultimately happen to the agency. But so long as the CFPB is frozen, consumers will have to rely on their state AGs and regulators when they have complaints.
James said the law will stop auto lenders as well as mortgage and student loan servicers from steering consumers into high-cost loans, will reduce so-called junk fees, tamp down on shady practices at car dealerships, and prevent firms from taking advantage of those who don’t speak English.
The effort drew support from two key regulators from former President Joe Biden’s administration, ex-CFPB director Rohit Chopra and former FTC Chair Lina Khan.
“We need stronger state laws to combat abuses that harm families and honest businesses,” Chopra said in a statement.
“By passing a strong consumer protection bill, New York lawmakers can empower Attorney General James to fully defend New Yorkers’ pocketbooks, privacy, and economic freedoms,” Khan said.