Trending tickers: AMD | Asos | GSK | Next

AMD stock initially dropped about 4% in extended trading but recovered after the company gave a rosy 2024 forecast for its AI chip business. Photo: PA/Alamy (Trygve Finkelsen)

AMD (AMD)

AMD shares were 1.7% lower in pre-market trading after it beat analyst expectations in its third-quarter earnings.

While it beat estimates on the top and bottom line, the company missed on its fourth quarter guidance.

The chipmaker said it expects sales to come in around $6.1bn (£5bn) for Q4, while analysts were looking for revenue of $6.37bn.

Net income in the third quarter rose to $299m, or 18 cents per share, from $66m, or four cents per share a year ago. Revenue increased 4% from $5.6bn a year earlier.

The stock initially dropped about 4% in extended trading but recovered after the company gave a rosy 2024 forecast for its AI chip business.

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“We now expect data centre GPU revenue to be approximately $400m in the fourth quarter and exceed $2bn in 2024 as revenue ramps throughout the year,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said on the earnings call.

AMD is looking to keep AI and data centres as its focus in 2024.

"We will definitely increase both R&D investment and the go-to-market investment to address those opportunities," Su told analysts. "The way to think about it is that our objective is to drive top-line growth, much faster than OpEx growth, so our investment can drive long-term growth."

Asos (ASC.L)

Asos fell out of fashion with investors on Wednesday, slumping as much as 10% on the day, after it warned of a sales drop in 2024.

The retailer said sales would continue to fall in the year ahead by much as 15%, while tumbling to a near £300m annual loss.

Revenue fell 11% worldwide, and 13% in the UK, with the decline accelerating in the second half to 15%. Net debt including leases came in at £648.5m, up from £533m the previous year.

Asos’s chief executive José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said the business had made “good progress” in “a very challenging environment”. His turnaround plans have including reducing stock and promotions, cutting costs, prioritising cash, and transforming the culture.

It is targeting a return to growth in financial year ending 2025 but analysts have cautioned that the online fashion site will need to raise new cash, potentially through the sales of its Topshop brand.

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"ASOS still remains in intensive care, meaning the year ahead is also likely to be very painful," Charlie Huggins, manager of the Quality Shares Portfolio at Wealth Club, said. "Arresting that sales decline and getting the top line growing again will be the biggest challenge for Calamonte."

"Overall, ASOS is still in a mightily challenging spot and it seems unlikely it will ever rediscover its former glory. But at least it now has a leader who recognises those challenges and is taking bold actions, giving it a fighting chance of returning to growth in FY25."

GSK (GSK.L)

GSK upgraded its full-year outlook after it launched the world’s first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for the elderly and saw good demand for its shingles shot.

The pharmaceutical firm said on Wednesday that it expects turnover to increase between 12% and 13% this year, when offsetting for currency movements and discounting the fall in COVID-19 medicines. This compared to a previous 8%-10% forecast.

It added that adjusted operating profit will grow between 13%-15% compared to the previously expected 11%-13%.

It came as the launch of RSV vaccine Arexvy in the third quarter added to turnover, which rose 4% to £8.1bn.

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Emma Walmsley, chief executive officer of GSK, said: “GSK is delivering strong and sustained performance momentum, with another quarter of double-digit sales and earnings growth. Competitive performance was broadly based but benefitted particularly from the outstanding US launch of Arexvy, the world’s first RSV vaccine.

"Our excellent execution supports an upgrade to our full-year 2023 guidance and we have clear momentum as we look ahead to deliver our 2026 outlooks. GSK’s longer-term outlook also continues to strengthen, with progress in our vaccines pipeline, the development of our ultra long-acting HIV portfolio and significant new prospects in respiratory.”

The stock was trading 1.3% lower in London.

Next (NXT.L)

Next announced upbeat results on Wednesday which pushed shares more than 3% higher during the session.

The high street retailer hiked its full-year profit forecast after better-than-expected sales, despite unusually warm weather knocking demand for autumn ranges.

It now expects group underlying pre-tax profits to increase 1.7% over the year to £885m on sales up 3.1%. This compares with its previous guidance for profits of £875m and a 2.6% increase in sales.

It is the fourth increase in the last six months, following an early upgrade in September.

Weekly sales fell by up to 7% in September during the heatwave and were also lower during the first half of October.

However, sales bounced back as the colder weather started to creep in in October, with overall sales up 4% in the third quarter. This was better than its forecast of 2% growth in the August to October period.

Online sales at the business rose 6.5% for the period while those in-store fell by 0.6%.

Earlier this month Next snapped up FatFace for £115m under a takeover deal.

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