Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Drops on Netflix, Tesla Earnings

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

published 20 July 2023

Stocks closed mixed Thursday as investors combed over the latest round of corporate earnings reports.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average extended its longest win streak in years thanks to strong results from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), disappointing reports from Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA) sent the Nasdaq Composite tumbling.

Taking a closer look at the numbers, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson was easily the best Dow stock today, surging 6.1%. The pop came after JNJ beat on its top and bottom lines, reporting second-quarter revenue of $25.5 billion and earnings of $2.80 per share. The company also lifted its full-year forecast.

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On the flip side, Netflix stock fell 8.4% after its quarterly results. While there were lots of positives in the report – a gain of 5.9 million new subscribers thanks to its password-sharing crackdown, an upwardly revised free cash flow forecast due to the dual strikes currently underway by Hollywood actors and writers, and a big profit beat – the company fell short on the top line. Specifically, NFLX reported revenue of $8.2 billion, below both the company forecast and analysts' estimates.

Tesla stock also declined following its Q2 results, ending the day down 9.7%. The electric vehicle (EV) maker reported higher-than-expected earnings of 91 cents per share. Revenue of $24.9 billion also came in above estimates. However, TSLA's gross margins of 18.2% were lower than anticipated, while its operating margin fell to 9.6% from 11.4% in Q1.

On the economic front, initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 last week to a two-month low of 237,000. "Markets are tumbling on fears that reports of a strong labor market alongside weaker earnings will cause the Fed to remain hawkish and push the country into recession in the name of reaching 2% inflation," says José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

At the close, the Nasdaq was down 2.1% at 14,063, while the S&P 500 was off 0.7% at 4,534. The Dow, however, finished up 0.5% at 35,225 to mark a ninth straight win, its longest such streak since September 2017.

EV stocks remain poised for growth

Tesla's second-quarter earnings report certainly disappointed investors, but the company's growth in the electric vehicle space cannot be denied. TSLA has seen its annual earnings per share rise to $4.07 in fiscal 2022 from a per-share loss of 9 cents in fiscal 2018, while revenue nearly quadrupled over that same time frame to $81.5 billion. Plus, Tesla delivered over 466,000 vehicles in Q2 2023, nearly doubling deliveries from the year prior.

The industry is expected to see accelerated growth over the next decade, too, as more automakers shift to battery-powered vehicles. S&P Global Mobility, for one, believes that by 2030, one in four new passenger vehicles sold will be electric. This will undoubtedly result in impressive growth for electric vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers.

While artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have been the hot topic around Wall Street in recent months, investors seeking out the best growth stocks would be wise to keep an eye on the electric vehicle space. Here, we take a look at some of the best EV stocks to capitalize on the expanding industry.

With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.