3. Striking guidance
CrowdStrike shares soared nearly 25% in premarket trading after the cybersecurity company reported better than expected earnings Tuesday and issued strong guidance for the upcoming quarter and full year. The company has reported GAAP net income for the past four quarters, and full-year revenue climbed 36% year over year in the period that ended Jan. 31. Continuing its merger and acquisition activity, CrowdStrike also announced Tuesday that it would acquire Flow Security in a cash-and-stock deal at an undisclosed price.
4. Hitting back
OpenAI responded Tuesday to Elon Musk’s lawsuit by highlighting apparent hypocrisy on the part of the co-founder and early backer of the company. OpenAI published old emails that showed Musk encouraged the company to raise at least $1 billion in funding and agreed that it should “start being less open” over time and “not share” the company’s science with the public. The emails were in stark contrast to Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman alleging breach of contract and unfair competition. The suit alleged that the inner working of OpenAI’s GPT-4 AI model are “a complete secret except to OpenAI—and, on information and belief, Microsoft,” and that the secrecy is caused by commercial purpose instead of safety. OpenAI said it intends to move to dismiss Musk’s claims.
5. Muted outlook
Nordstrom shares slid about 10% in premarket trading after the retailer reported a holiday-quarter sales beat Tuesday but gave a muted outlook for the year ahead. The company forecast full-year revenue will range from a 2% decline to a 1% gain compared with the prior year. As consumers become more price-conscious while they deal with higher interest rates and inflation, the Seattle-based company has reported lagging sales at its off-price retailer, Nordstrom Rack, and has had too much of the wrong inventory.
— CNBC’s Ryan Anastasio wrote this newsletter. Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim, Rohan Goswami, Jeff Cox, Melissa Repko, Hayden Field and Lora Kolodny contributed.
— Follow Squawk Pod for the best conversations and analysis from Squawk Box in a curated, daily podcast.
