Markets posted another green day on Thursday as the S&P 500 closed up 0.55% and oil closed above $33 a barrel, bolstered in part on unconfirmed reports of OPEC nations considering production cuts.
Under Armour (UA) was the big winner on Thursday as the athletic-apparel makers' shares soared -- yes, soared -- 22% after the company's fourth-quarter earnings blew past analyst estimates.
"We are entering this milestone position for success, capping off the past year with yet another solid finish," CEO Kevin Plank said on the Thursday's earnings call. "Total net revenues for the fourth quarter were up 31%, marking our 23rd consecutive quarter of 20% plus net revenue growth."
The company credited some of its recent succes to a 31% revenue increase in the fourth quarter and the success of its first signature line of athletic shoes featuring NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
Near the end of the trading day the Wall Street Journal reported that Xerox (XRX) plans to split into two companies, one for its hardware business and one for its services business. Activist-investor Carl Icahn is expected to get three seats on the services company's board.
Icahn spoke to CNBC about the reported split and said, "We think this is a major move and will greatly enhance shareholder value." He also said that he hoped the board and management of AIG (AIG) would follow Xerox's example.
After the close, two Seattle-based tech giants reported quarterly earnings.
Amazon (AMZN) fell short of analyst estimates, posting quarterly earnings of $1 compared to estimates of $1.56 per share. The stock plummeted 12% in after-hours trading despite reporting profit of $482 million, compared to $214 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. In its earnings release the company cited the success of its Prime-exclusive orginal programming such as "Mozart in the Jungle," which won two Golden Globe awards.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's (MSFT) earnings beat analyst estimates as it reported EPS of $0.78 on $25.7 billion in revenue, compared to analyst estimates of $0.71 on revenue of $25.3 billon.
"Businesses everywhere are using the Microsoft Cloud as their digital platform to drive their ambitious transformation agendas," said CEO Satya Nadella. "Businesses are also piloting Windows 10, which will drive deployments beyond 200 million active devices."
Shares of the company were up 4% in after hours trading.
On Friday Xerox, Chevron (CVX), and Consol Energy (CNX) are expected to report earnings.
