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

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Tuesday, 31st January. Please refresh for updates.

• 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.

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