Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. PVH — Shares of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger parent tanked more than 21% on weak revenue guidance for the first quarter and full year. The retailer surpassed quarterly estimates on the top and bottom lines, but warned of a tougher macroeconomic setup and particular weakness in Europe. Humana , UnitedHealth — Health insurance managed care stocks declined after the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced rates for the 2025 calendar year will increase 3.7%, as previously proposed. Some investors had anticipated a larger hike. Humana shed 9.6%, while CVS Health tanked 5.3%. UnitedHealth Group declined 4%. Estee Lauder — Shares gained more than 2% after a Citi upgrade to buy from neutral. The Wall Street bank said Estee Lauder is approaching a turning point, as channel inventories and its financials normalize. Blackstone — Blackstone slipped 1% after UBS downgraded the alternative asset manager to neutral, saying the stock could come under pressure from a slow recovery in the real estate market. Trump Media and Technology — Shares of the holding company for Truth Social fell more than 2%. That decline extended a drop of more than 21% on Monday, after the company disclosed that it generated less than $5 million of revenue in 2023. Figs — The medical scrubs maker slumped 4.5% after Bank of America downgraded the stock to underperform, as the pandemic-induced demand boom dwindles and health care workers face a tougher macroeconomic environment. GE Aerospace — General Electric shares ticked higher by 0.6% after the company completed spinning off its energy business from its aerospace business. GE Vernova will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange at market open under the ticker GEV, while General Electric — which becomes GE Aerospace — will keep the GE ticker symbol. ChampionX — Shares of the oilfield equipment maker popped 10% on news the company will be bought by SLB for $7.7 billion in an all-stock deal. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2024. — CNBC’s Sarah Min, Hakyung Kim and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading. Netflix — Shares soared more than 13% after the streaming giant surpassed 300 million paid memberships . Netflix also beat fourth-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines, and it raised its revenue expectations for the full year 2025. United Airlines — Shares popped more than 3% after United Airlines’ fourth-quarter results came in better than expected. The airline operator posted adjusted earnings of $3.26 per share on revenues of $14.70 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected per-share earnings of $3.00 on revenues of $14.47 billion. The company also issued a strong forecast for first-quarter earnings. Interactive Brokers Group — Shares jumped about 3% after the brokerage posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Interactive Brokers reported adjusted earnings of $2.03 per share on revenues of $1.42 billion in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected per-share earnings of $1.86 on revenues of $1.37 billion. Seagate Technology — Shares gained 1% after Seagate Technology surpassed second-quarter expectations, with adjusted earnings of $2.03 per share on revenues of $2.33 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected per-share earnings of $1.88 on revenues of $2.32 billion. Capital One Financial — Shares dipped 0.5% after Capital One missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations, reporting $10.19 billion compared to the LSEG consensus estimate of $10.21 billion. On the other hand, adjusted earnings of $3.09 per share topped the anticipated $2.82 earnings per share.
David Einhorn, President at Greenlight Capital, speaking at the 14th CNBC Delivery Alpha Investor Summit in New York City on Nov. 13th, 2024.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn thinks speculative behavior in the current bull market has ascended to a level beyond common sense.
“We have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle,” Einhorn wrote in an investor letter obtained by CNBC. “Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere.”
A crypto token called “fartcoin” exploded in popularity as the re-election of Donald Trump unleashed a storm of animal spirits on Main Street. The meme coin is now edging towards a $2 billion market value, surpassing many U.S.-listed companies.
More meme coins have emerged since the inception of fartcoin. President Donald Trump launched $TRUMP, a meme coin built on the Solana platform. Its market cap over the weekend climbed past $14 billion. The coin at one point was down more than 20% over the past 24 hours, but it has since cut its losses to around 3%. Trump’s wife Melania also unveiled a coin.
“Nothing stops the launch of many more tradable coins,” Einhorn said. “Perhaps we are leaving the Fartcoin stage of the market and entering the Trump (and Melania) memecoin stage. It’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen next, but it feels like it’s going to be wild.”
Einhorn’s letter comes as investors drive equities higher, buoyed by expectations of lower taxes and deregulation from the second Trump administration. On Tuesday, the day after the inauguration, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied more than 400 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.
Shorting leveraged bitcoin ETFs
Greenlight took advantage of the craziness around crypto during the fourth quarter by betting against some popular ETFs linked indirectly to bitcoin.
The two funds the firm focused on were the T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU) and the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF (MSTX). Those funds use derivatives to try to achieve two-times the daily returns of MicroStrategy, a software company that has turned itself into a bitcoin treasury vehicle in recent years.
The funds have at times struggled to achieve that goal due to MicroStrategy’s volatility and little supply of the derivatives most easily used to get the leveraged returns.
The letter said Greenlight took short positions against those funds during the quarter, partially offset by owning MicroStrategy stock in an arbitrage trade that was a “material winner.”