Entertainment and media stocks posted strong gains in morning trading Tuesday, rising faster than the broader markets amid of a wave of third-quarter results.
YouTube parent Alphabet is next out of the gate, scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the market closes. Shares of the search and social media behemoth rose $1.27, or 1.2%, to $103.79.
The gains came despite some downbeat comments and cuts on stock price targets — the price Wall Street analysts expect the shares to reach within the next year — ahead of the earnings results.
“Sentiment remains cautious across the internet sector,” JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote last week as he trimmed his price target to $136 from $140. Growth is slowing for several companies as competition increases, and wider concerns about a potential recession are also on investors’ minds.
Meta, the renamed parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was also in the green, adding $4.48, or 3.5%, to $134.20 in late morning trading. Meta reports Wednesday after market close. The shares were likewise trending higher despite several price target cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 0.6% to 31,694.18, while the S&P 500 edged up 1% to 3,835.40. The tech-heavy Nasdaq chugged 1.5% higher as anticipation built for the major Silicon Valley companies’ reports.
Netflix, which last week reported strong subscriber gains in its third quarter, added $11.92, or 4.2%, to $294.37. The stock was upgraded to “Outperform,” from “Neutral” by Daiwa analyst Satoshi Tanaka, with a price target of $300, the latest positive response from Wall Street analysts since the earnings report.
Shares of streamer Roku jumped $2.38, or 4.7%, to $53. Apple, which said Monday it raised prices for streaming music and TV, added $1.34, to $150.79, while Disney gained $1.37, to $103.09. Apple reports its third quarter results Thursday, and Disney is set to post its financials on Nov. 8.
Amazon was among the only streaming companies in the red, dipping 18 cents to $119.64. The New York Post reported that the web giant has frozen hiring in its lucrative web services division head of its earnings results on Thursday.
Warner Bros Discovery also dipped slightly, giving up 5 cents to $13.13. The company reported it will take up to $4.3 billion in pre-tax restructuring charges following the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. The company reports on Nov. 1.
Cinemark Holdings Inc., which reports Thursday before market open, added 30 cents, or 3.2%, to $9.97. The theater chain’s stock is popular with day traders, as is rival AMC Entertainment, which added 41 cents, or 6.5%, to $6.77. AMC reports Nov. 7.
