Ford Stock Rises After Outperforming Expected Earnings, While Tesla Falls

Ford Motor Co., the oldest U.S. automaker, surged today after beating expectations with first quarter earnings while Tesla, one of the youngest, continued to slide after reporting dismal results two days ago.

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Ford was up 10.74 percent, while Tesla fell 5.16 percent--the biggest gain and loss on the Entrepreneur Index™ today. The move in the two companies' stock prices now makes Ford more valuable than Tesla for the first time since April 2017.

The broader stock market was up today on the strength of the U.S. economy. Despite slower global economic growth and conflicting U.S. economic data, first quarter GDP growth of 3.2 percent was sharply higher than 2.5 percent estimates. A build-up in inventories was responsible for a good portion of that growth, but the economy is doing significantly better than expected.

The major stock indexes were all up today. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes rose 0.31 percent and 0.47 percent respectively and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 0.34 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ had a gain of 0.68 percent on the strength of Ford, Capital One Financial and technology stocks.

The technology sector was generally strong today with Verisign Inc. leading the way. The company that maintains the internet domain name registry was up 5.65 percent after reporting strong earnings and a 4.4 percent jump in domain name registrations. Amazon.com was also up smartly after reporting good financial results. The internet giant met revenue estimates and blew away earnings expectations. The stock was up 2.51 percent on the day. Other gains in the tech sector included Netflix (1.77 percent) and salesforce.com (1.76 percent).

Chipmaker NVIDIA Corp. was the notable exception in the tech sector. It fell 4.72 percent after competitor Intel Corp. reported disappointing results and lowered guidance for the rest of the year. NVIDIA will report earnings next month.

Shares in Capital One Financial popped 6.45 percent after the company handily beat earnings and revenue estimates for the quarter. The stock is now up 24 percent on the year.

While Amazon's stock move helped the Entrepreneur Index™ today, its plan to offer free one-day shipping for Amazon prime members didn't. The news is expected to put significant financial pressure on retail competitors. Walmart was down 1.92 percent on the news. Amazon plans to use its growing delivery infrastructure to execute the new strategy. That prospect led to a sharp 2.56 percent drop in Fedex Corp. shares today.

The see-sawing healthcare sector was also down today. Hospital manager Universal Health Services lost 1.88 percent on the day. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals fell 1.81 percent and Alexion Pharmaceuticals was off 0.82 percent.

The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.