After-hours buzz: RH, CRM, HPQ & more
Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Wednesday:
shares tumbled after hours when the company issued preliminary quarterly results that were lower than Wall Street expected, citing stock market volatility in January, a key sales month for the high-end consumer.
The upscale home furnishing firm expects earnings of 99 cents per share on revenues of $647 million in the fourth quarter, lower than the $1.02 per share on $711 million expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Competitor Williams-Sonoma's stock also dropped after the report, while low-cost furniture e-tailer Wayfair's shares rose briefly.
Shares of Salesforce.com popped in extended trading after posting better-than-expected forward guidance. The software and cloud-computing technology firm, which focuses on customer-service platforms, posted earnings of 19 cents per share, ex-items, in line with estimates. Revenues hit $1.81 billion, above Thomson Reuters consensus estimates.
Shares of other enterprise software companies also bounced, including Workday, Tableau and Palo Alto Networks.
HP Inc. seesawed after the bell after reporting falling quarterly earnings and sales that missed analyst estimates amid the tough PC market. Wednesday's earnings presented a glance into the technology company's progress since splitting into HP Inc., focusing on printers, PCs, mobile devices, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which focuses on cloud and data solutions for business IT departments.
Hotel company La Quinta's stock sank after it reported quarterly earnings. The Texas-based company, which went public in 2014, faced challenges from falling oil prices, the transition of call centers, and weather disruptions in its home state, CEO Keith Cline said, in a statement.
Diamond Resorts International's shares were lifted after the hospitality company announced it would explore "strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder values." Though the company has created "intrinsic value," the board said in a statement, shares are down almost 43 percent so far this year.
IMAX's stock fell after posting lower-than-predicted earnings in the fourth quarter. The immersive movie technology company reported earnings of 39 cents per share, excluding items, lower than the 43 cents per share estimated by Thomson Reuters analysts. Still, with major movie franchises releasing sequels this year, the company is "well positioned" going forward, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said in a statement.
And Bankrate, an online aggregation website of personal finance information, saw shares dive nearly 30 percent in somewhat light trading volume after competition from Google and lower advertising revenue depressed earnings. The company said Google will terminate its rival credit-card comparison tool, but management is still assessing the impact of lower advertising budgets in the winter season, said Kenneth Esterow, president and CEO of Bankrate, in a statement.
"In 2016, RATE will step up product, technology and marketing investments," Esterow said. "We are confident these investments are the key to return Bankrate to the level of growth that we all expect, in 2017 and beyond."
— CNBC's Everett Rosenfeld, Alex Crippen and Steven Kopak contributed to this report.
Disclosure: CNBC has a content-sharing partnership with Bankrate.