Affirm Falls on Results, Expedia Cuts Outlook, Tesla Leads Mag 7

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Affirm (ARFM) shares plunged as much as 14% on Friday after the financial technology company reported what some analysts said were “mixed” results. Analysts made note of the mostly positive earnings, but flagged expectations were very high heading into the results and the guidance given may be conservative. 

- Expedia (EXPE) cut its full-year outlook for gross bookings and revenue after it saw weaker-than-expected domestic and inbound travel demand in the US at the start of the year. Gross bookings and revenue are now expected to grow 2% to 4% in 2025, Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel said on an earnings call. The company had projected 4% to 6% growth in February. It also issued first-quarter results and a second-quarter outlook that missed Wall Street estimates.

- Tesla (TSLA) shares were higher leading Magnificent Seven stocks today. Investors refrained from making riskier bets on speculation that while talks between Chinese and American officials could represent a diplomatic icebreaker, they would unlikely result in a comprehensive agreement at this stage. Following a rapid $6 trillion surge in the S&P 500 from the brink of a bear market, action has been more muted in recent days. The gauge was little changed Friday amid volume that was 30% below the average of the past month.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio news, The.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Stock Movers podcast, your roundup of companies making moves in
the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Let's take a look at some of the stocks on
the move today. Emily Grafeo joins US out of San Francisco.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Emily, what do you got?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
All right?

Speaker 4 (00:25):
Well, there's not a lot of movement on the index level,
but under the hood there is a lot moving. A
firm Holdings is down thirteen percent. They had earnings today.
Remember this is the buy now, pay later company. The
earnings were actually pretty positive, but analysts had noted that
the expectations were really high heading in and that the

(00:45):
guidance might be conservative. So they now see their year
forecast revenue three point one six billion to three point
one nine billion. That was actually higher than what they
had seen previously. But we saw some movement here on
the street. You do cut their price target on the
Stock Bank of America raised, and then the CEO told
Bloomberg TV today that they're still seeing people spending. Consumers

(01:09):
are spending a mixed bag with these earnings.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
But when you look at the movement in.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
The stock price today, it's very clear that it is
moving lower down again like thirteen percent right now.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
While talking of.

Speaker 5 (01:21):
Spending, I'm also thinking about the consumer travel demand all
of that. You're also looking at Expedia, what's happening there.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
That's right, So they're down twelve percent. It was the
biggest inter day drop in a year. This is a
very similar story with Expedia that we've seen with Airbnb
with bookings with a lot of those travel related companies
this earning season that they're pulling back their guidance for
what's going to come ahead given macro uncertainty. If you
look at their actual results for Expedia, they cut their

(01:50):
gross bookings growth forecast for twenty twenty five, so they
now see gross bookings growth up two percent to four percent.
They had previously seen up four to six sent. The
revenue also missed, and you know, JP Morgan said that
their higher exposure to the US is not ideal given
the current backdrop, so hire versus some of those competitors,

(02:11):
and then of course given that there's heightened macro uncertainty
in the US maybe versus some of those international markets.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
Are you an Expedia user or is there a specific
age demographic that uses it.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I don't know what the specific age demographic is. I
don't use it.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
I always think it's better to book the hotel directly
through the hotel website.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
But I don't know. I'm personally not an Expedia user.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
But they clearly do have enough people that they are
a publicly traded company with the stock price on the move.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
It's funny. I'm fifty one years old, right, My wife
is thirty three, So I go straight to Expedia and
then she yells at me.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
As your timeout, it's your debt.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
It's because of my age, right. I think the old
people use Expedia. I don't want to call you people.
Young people say that that's.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Not the right way to do it. I mean, I
was going to say.

Speaker 5 (03:01):
The people I was thinking of is you know fit
these sixties they love Expedia.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
And the kids.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
What do you use like Kayak Travel, Worm, Hopper, even Hopper, Yeah,
i'd say so, Airbnb, all the others.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
You've also got eyes on Tesla. What's going on there?

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Tesla is almost a trillion dollar company again.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, it's up like five percent right now. It's leading
the mag seven names. It's you know, outperforming the Nazaq
one hundred on a day when again indexes are flat.
I don't know if there's any fundamental news to this
upward move today in Tesla. I did ask a couple traders.
One person pointed out, maybe there's some short covering going

(03:39):
on here, traders who were short the stock preparing for
potentially what could be good news between those US China
trade talks this weekend. They don't want to be short
Tesla going into that in case something good does happen
that's pushing up the stock.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
And then there also could be some technical movement here.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Tesla did breach above its two hundred day moving average
bridge for the first time since March, so oftentimes traders
see that as a positive technical signal and that the
stock can continue to move higher after it breaches that
upward level.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
By the way, do the kids still want a Tesla? Emily?
Do you know, do your classmates do you want a Tesla?

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (04:21):
I mean, you know, I do live in New York City,
so people don't really think about buying cars.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Unfortunately, you're from the car.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
And like, you know, the people that you went to
school with, the cool people, do they do they want
a Tesla?

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Now?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
I would say that you know, buy and large.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
There's been a reputational hit like if you buy a Tesla,
like you're buying into that you're still an Elon Musk fan.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
So depending on your opinions on Musk.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
But I think that's what the street thinks too, that
like this stock is still very much tied to the
whims of Elon Musk.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
The Stock Movers podcast from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
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