Yahoo Finance Trending tickers: Tesla, Nvidia, Marks and Spencer and SSE
The latest investor updates on stocks that are trending on Wednesday
Tesla (TSLA)
Shares in the EV maker were higher in pre-market trading after it gave an update on its long awaited project to develop electric semitrucks.
The company confirmed its Tesla Semi remains on track for production-spec deliveries to customers by 2026.
Speaking at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas, Tesla executive Dan Priestley said: "We're building a factory in Nevada that is being ramped in 2026 for customer deliveries and ramping to eventual target capacity to 50,000 units a year."
Meanwhile, a group of Tesla investors are urging shareholders to reject a record £44bn ($56bn) pay package for chief executive Elon Musk.
Shareholders in the electric car maker are due to vote on June 13 on what would be the biggest corporate pay day in history.
Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: London lower as markets scale back interest rate cut hopes
Shareholders should not pretend that this award has any kind of incentivising effect – it does not,” a coalition which includes New York City finance chief Brad Lander, SOC Investment Group and Amalgamated Bank said in a letter to investors.
Tesla registrations in Britain fell by a quarter in April and have slumped 14% in the first four months of the year.
Nvidia (NVDA)
Nvidia is set to report its first quarter earnings after the US bell on Wednesday in what will be one of the most consequential reports for investors this year.
Nvidia’s market cap increased more than six-fold to $2.3tn since the start of 2023, as the chipmaker has emerged as the go-to manufacturer of the graphical processing units that power generative AI.
Wall Street is expecting Nvidia to report revenue and profits that rose more than 200% and 400%, respectively, from the prior-year period.
Analysts expect adjusted earnings per share to total $5.65 on revenue of $24.69bn, according to data from Bloomberg. The company reported adjusted EPS of $1.09 on revenue of $7.19bn in the same quarter last year.
Read more: Mag 7 stocks including Apple and Amazon still holding strong
Analysts at JPMorgan this week ranked an Nvidia earnings miss behind only “recessionary or stagflationary” economic data and “extreme” investor positioning in a list of potential scenarios that could drag the US stock market meaningfully lower, the FT wrote.
So far, Nvidia has repeatedly surprised investors on this front, continuously topping analyst expectations for quarterly results and boosting its outlook for the coming quarter amid robust demand for its AI servers.
Marks & Spencer (MKS.L)
Marks & Spencer has revealed a better-than-expected surge in annual profits as its turnaround pays off, but ramped up cost-cutting in the face of a soaring wage bill.
The retail bellwether reported a 58pc rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £716.4m for the year to March 30.
It notched up an 11.3% jump in like-for-like food sales over the year, with growth of 5.2% across its clothing and home arm.
The group said it was upping its cost-cutting target by another £100m to £500m by 2027-28 as it looks to offset rising staff wages.
The company said: “With continuing cost headwinds, notably from investment in colleague pay, the structural cost programme is critical to our profit progression.”
It said it was in the “strongest financial health since 1997” and was confident of making “further progress” over the financial year ahead.
SSE (SSE.L)
SSE has reported a 4% drop in adjusted operating profit to £2.4bn for the year, sending shares into the red this session.
The FTSE 100 company said adjusted operating profit for the 12 months ended 31 March stood at £2.43bn, reflecting a 4% decrease, while profit before tax remained stable at £2.18bn.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at 158.5p, a 5% decline from year-on-year. Free cash flow improved from around £0.1bn to £1.9bn. Underlying net debt rose from £7.0bn to £7.6bn.
The British power generator and network operator plans to recommend a final dividend of 40p, that will be issued to shareholders on 19 September, making the full year dividend 60p per share, 36p lower than in 2023.
Chief executive Alistair Philips-Davies said: “This is a strong performance where we have delivered essential energy infrastructure, benefited from the resilience of our business model and made disciplined investment in our excellent growth opportunities.
“SSE is ideally placed to benefit from [the drive to renewables], creating value for shareholders and society.”
He added SSE was on course to hit targets over the coming years, including increasing investment to over £3bn in 2025 in line with plans for £20.5bn in the half decade to 2026.
Watch: Nvidia's 'secret sauce' isn't just its chips, strategist says
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
