Pfizer, McDonald's fall in premarket, International Paper, UPS jump

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Investing.com

Tue, Jan 31, 2023, 1:56 AM 2 min read

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock fell 3.0% after the pharma giant forecast a sharp drop in sales and earnings this year as demand for its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral drug Paxlovid slow. The company’s forecasts assume no sales of Paxlovid in China after March this year, when it loses its current government reimbursement privileges. McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) stock fell 2.0% after the strong dollar took a bite out of its global revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter. The company also forecast that inflation would continue to be a headwind in the current quarter. The company’s top and bottom-line numbers were still marginally ahead of expectations. United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) stock rose 1.5% after the parcel delivery company raised its dividend by over 6% and announced a new $5 billion stock buyback, giving an impression of resilience despite a slight slowdown in the global freight business. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) stock fell 1.4% after higher operating costs caused it to miss consensus earnings forecasts by some 4%. Revenue was stronger than expected, however. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) stock dipped before recovering, after the oil and gas major confirmed expectations of one of corporate America's biggest ever annual profits. Underlying fourth-quarter profit was ahead of expectations, but output is seen flat in the current quarter, with more windfall taxes due in Europe. General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock rose 5.3% after it announced $2B in annual cost savings measures, saying these will help it keep operating margins steady this year at around 8%-10%. The news comes as a relief after Tesla’s(NASDAQ:TSLA) price cuts sparked fears of a price war in the electric vehicle space. GM noted that its outlook in the near term is still largely dependent on sales of conventional autos. Micron (NASDAQ:MU) stock fell 4.2%, dragged down by rival Samsung’s (KS:005930) announcement of its lowest profit in seven years. Samsung also said it would carry on investing in chip production this year, despite increasing signs of a glut in world markets. International Paper (NYSE:IP) stock rose 5.6% after the company beat earnings forecasts handily.