Pioneer Natural Resources was a lead boat atop a rising tide in the oil sector Wednesday after US crude prices hit $60 a barrel for the first time since November. Crude inventories fell by 9.6 million barrels in the last week, compared with expectations of a 309,000 barrel increase, per CNBC. The Irving, Texas-based company is reaping the benefits of reduced supply.
Shares rose 4.5% to close at $144.45.
Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIA) (NASDAQ:VIAB) took a hit as a potential disruption of services looms. The TKTKT company’s deal with AT&T’s (NYSE:T) DirecTV expires Friday, and the two sides have yet to reach a new agreement. Viacom’s Nickelodeon has each of the top 12 TV shows for kids ages two to 11, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said Wednesday.
Viacom’s Class B shares shrank 5.5% to $26.01, while AT&T slipped 0.5% to $30.51.
General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) dished out better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results Wednesday morning, which the company attributed in part to the addition of the Blue Buffalo pet food brand. The cereal giant’s revenue increased to $4.2 billion from $3.9 billion the previous year, just beating the average analyst expectation of $4.19 billion. The Minneapolis-based company’s $0.74 earnings per share were down more than 50% from a year ago but beat Street expectations of $0.69.
Investors were chowing down, boosting shares 2.2% to $48.27.
FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) stock slowed after releasing disappointing third-quarter earnings late Tuesday. For the period ended February 28, the shipping giant posted adjusted earnings per diluted share of $3.03 on revenue of $17 billion. The average forecast of analysts was for net income of $3.11 per share on revenue of $17.67 billion.
The share price fell 3.5% to $175.09.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE:TME) released fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday mostly in line with Street expectations. The Chinese music streaming company posted earnings per share of $0.08 on revenue of $785 million, compared with expectations of $0.08 EPS on revenue of $785.8 million. However, investors were wary of costs that increased 63% year over year, and the stock was downgraded by Credit Suisse Wednesday morning to Neutral from Outperform.
The stock isn’t hitting the right notes, down more than 10% to $16.65.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel