3M, Walgreens, Amazon, GE fall premarket

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trading. Please refresh for updates.

• 3M (NYSE: MMM) stock fell 4.5% after the company missed its forecasts for the fourth quarter, reporting a drop in both revenue and profit, hurt by the strong dollar and by a charge to exit the manufacture of 'forever chemicals'. It forecast a further drop in sales and profit this year.
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) stock fell 2.3%, reversing initial gains after CEO Larry Culp said he expected 2023 to be a difficult year, especially for its power business. GE expects that division to lose around $400 million this year, while its aerospace division is facing a much brighter outlook.
• Verizon (NYSE: VZ) stock fell 2.3% after the mobile phone giant issued 2023 guidance below expectations. The US's biggest cell carrier said it sees adjusted EPS between $4.55-4.85 a share, some 5% below consensus forecasts at the midpoint of the range. Its fourth quarter profit also missed forecasts despite surprisingly strong subscriber growth.
• Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA) stock fell 1.4% after Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) expanded its presence in the healthcare sector with a new subscription plan for generic drugs. The service, known as RxPass, may draw business away from Walgreens' chain of pharmacies. Amazon stock also fell, with investors showing little appetite for what is likely to be another loss leader.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) stock fell 1.1%, despite beating market expectations both for its fourth quarter and in its guidance for 2023, where it expects strong sales of its cancer drug Derzalex to offset headwinds from inflation and the strong dollar.
• Raytheon (NYSE: RTX) stock edged lower while Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) stock rose over 1% after the two defense giants reported mixed fortunes in their fourth quarters. Lockheed warned that high inflation would eat into its profit margins in the coming year, but the positive secular outlook for defense spending allayed any disappointment.
• D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) stock rose 0.9% to a 12-month high after the homebuilder reported earnings per share more than 20% ahead of consensus in its fiscal first quarter.
• Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock fell 2.5% after the chipmaker was downgraded from Outperform to Market Perform by analysts at Bernstein. Bernstein also cut its price target on the stock from $95 to $80, citing a worsening PC environment.

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