Hot Stocks: AAL, UAL, TRV earnings; NVAX gets Australian approval; AMD downgrade
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Airlines stepped into the spotlight during Thursday's pre-market trading, with American (NASDAQ:AAL) and United (NASDAQ:UAL) moving in opposite directions following the release of their respective quarterly updates.
The announcement of financial figures also impacted shares of The Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV), which rallied in the wake of its earnings report.

In other news, Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) got a lift from news that it has received regulatory approval in Australia for its COVID vaccine. Elsewhere, an analyst downgrade prompted a decline in AMD (NASDAQ:AMD).

Gainers

American Airlines (AAL) saw red ink in Q4, posting a loss for the quarter of $1.42 per share, excluding special items. However, this was narrower than the loss of $1.48 per share that analysts were predicting. The company's revenue figure of $9.43B also topped projections.
Earnings also gave a lift to The Travelers Companies (TRV). The stock rallied almost 4% in pre-market action after the insurance provider exceeded estimates with its Q4 earnings. Revenue rose 7% from last year to reach $8.02B.
Bolstered by the narrower-than-expected loss, AAL climbed more than 1% in pre-market action.
Meanwhile, Novavax (NVAX) edged higher by nearly 2%, boosted by news that Australia has approved its COVID-19 vaccine. The company signed a deal with the Austrian government last year that called for the purchase of 51M doses of the vaccine.


Decliners

United Airlines (UAL) slipped more than 1% in pre-market action as investors reacted cautiously to capacity and cost guidance included in its quarterly results. The company said its Q1 capacity would be down 16%-18% compared to 2019.
For Q4, UAL issued a narrower-than-expected loss and a revenue figure of $8.19B -- more than $200M above consensus.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was another high-profile decliner ahead of the opening bell. The stock slipped more than 1% following a downgrade from Piper Sandler.
Piper Sandler cut its rating on the stock to Neutral from Overweight, with analyst Harsh Kumar warning of a slowing PC market this year. He also cited "the broader market dynamics around high-multiple, high-growth technology stocks."
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