Oracle, Visa among market cap stock movers on Thursday

Earnings season continues as we approach the end of 2025. Below we highlight companies expected to report earnings on the next trading day so you can position your portfolio accordingly. Leading the action for Friday, December 12, are Johnson Outdoors and Zedge Inc, both releasing their quarterly financial results before the market opens.

Earnings Before the Open:

• Johnson Outdoors (NASDAQ:JOUT) - EPS estimate: -$0.68, Revenue estimate: $115.24M

• Zedge Inc (NYSE:ZDGE) - EPS estimate: $0.03, Revenue estimate: $7.06M

Earnings After the Close:

No companies are scheduled to report earnings after market close on Friday.

Be sure to check back daily for updates and insights into the earnings season and real-time results at Investing.com’s Earnings Calendar and Headlines section. Do you want to trade the earnings of the biggest companies like a pro? Then get InvestingPro now and access over 1000 metrics that will give you a significant advantage in the shark tank that is Wall Street. Click here.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Fitch Ratings has upgraded Toll Brothers, Inc.’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ’BBB+’ from ’BBB’, the rating agency announced Thursday.

The upgrade reflects Toll Brothers’ strong balance sheet and shift toward a more land-light strategy. Fitch also upgraded the issue ratings on Toll Brothers Finance Corp.’s senior unsecured notes and First Huntingdon Finance Corp.’s revolving and term loan facilities to ’BBB+’ from ’BBB’. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

Fitch expects Toll to maintain low leverage through the cycle, with net debt-to-capitalization below 25% and EBITDA leverage below 2x.

The rating agency highlighted Toll’s position as the leading public builder of luxury homes, which has resulted in one of the highest EBITDA margins among homebuilders in Fitch’s coverage. The company achieved an 18.9% EBITDA margin in fiscal year 2025, though this was 280 basis points below FY 2024.

Fitch projects EBITDA margins will settle between 16% and 17% in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, remaining above pre-pandemic levels despite current pressures from elevated incentives, increased land costs, tariff impacts, and high speculative inventory.

As the 10th largest homebuilder by deliveries and fourth largest by revenue in 2024, Toll Brothers holds top 10 positions in 14 of the 50 largest metro markets in the country. The company’s customers make substantial non-refundable cash down payments, resulting in the lowest cancellation rates among peers.

Toll’s net debt/capitalization was 17.4% in FY 2025, while EBITDA leverage was 1.3x. The company generated $929 million in free cash flow in FY 2025, representing an 8.5% margin. Fitch expects FCF margins to drop to low-single digits in FY 2026 due to higher working capital before settling between 5.5%-6.5% in FY 2027.

The company has reduced its lot position but maintains a longer position than most peers due to its luxury focus. At the end of FY 2025, Toll controlled 76,102 lots, with 57% controlled through options and 43% owned, approaching its long-term target of a 60:40 mix.

Fitch anticipates the housing market will remain constrained through early 2026 due to low affordability and weaker economic growth. The rating agency expects Toll’s homebuilding revenues to fall 5.5%-6.5% in FY 2026 before improving by high-single digits in FY 2027.

The company’s financial flexibility supports its capital allocation priorities, with Fitch expecting at least $600 million in share buybacks in both fiscal 2026 and 2027, following $652 million in FY 2025.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sappi Limited’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ’BB’ from ’BB+’ with a Stable outlook, the agency announced Thursday.

The rating agency also lowered Sappi Papier Holding GmbH’s senior unsecured debt rating to ’BB’ from ’BB+’.

The downgrade reflects Fitch’s expectation that Sappi will exceed previous negative leverage thresholds through fiscal years 2026-2029. The company’s gross leverage reached 4.5x and net leverage hit 4.3x at the end of fiscal year 2025, up from 2.7x and 2.3x respectively in FY24.

Weaker-than-expected performance in FY25 and additional debt to fund cash shortfalls contributed to the leverage increase. Fitch projects deleveraging will occur but only to 2.6x gross by FY29.

The Stable outlook is based on expectations that free cash flow will turn neutral in FY26 and become sustainably positive from FY27 onward. This improvement will be supported by suspended dividends, reduced capital expenditure, and the continued ramp-up of paper machine 2 at Sappi’s Somerset mill.

Sappi’s FY25 EBITDA of $464 million reflected pressure from intensifying global trade tensions, which led to a broad slowdown, lower consumer confidence, and declining selling prices across segments. A weaker U.S. dollar reduced pulp profitability in South Africa while oversupply in global paper markets weighed on paper operations.

Fitch expects market conditions to improve in FY26, though remaining historically weak, with EBITDA projected at $479 million. Demand for dissolving wood pulp should stay robust, but pricing recovery may be slow due to market conditions.

The company’s free cash flow was deeply negative in FY25 due to lower EBITDA, high capital expenditure of $496 million related to the PM2 conversion, an $85 million dividend, and a $65 million working-capital outflow.

In December 2025, Sappi signed a non-binding letter of intent to form a 50/50 European graphic paper joint venture with UPM. This would reduce Sappi’s exposure to direct sales volume of graphic paper to less than 20% from about 40%. The joint venture remains subject to approvals and is not factored into Fitch’s rating case.

Fitch noted that Sappi’s product portfolio is stronger and typically broader than many packaging peers, with applications across textiles, consumer goods, foodstuff, pharmaceuticals, packaging, automobiles, and paper products.

The rating agency indicated that a further downgrade could occur if Sappi fails to reduce EBITDA gross leverage below 3.5x by FY27, maintains EBITDA margins below 9%, or experiences sustained negative free cash flow.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com – Netherlands stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Industrials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Amsterdam, the AEX gained 0.35%.

The best performers of the session on the AEX were Akzo Nobel NV (AS:AKZO), which rose 3.55% or 1.92 points to trade at 56.00 at the close. Meanwhile, IMCD NV (AS:IMCD) added 2.85% or 2.10 points to end at 75.90 and Aegon Ltd (AS:AEGN) was up 2.20% or 0.14 points to 6.32 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were BE Semiconductor Industries NV (AS:BESI), which fell 2.53% or 3.55 points to trade at 136.90 at the close. CVC Capital Partners PLC (AS:CVC) declined 1.45% or 0.20 points to end at 13.63 and ASM International NV (AS:ASMI) was down 1.09% or 6.00 points to 542.80.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange by 55 to 37 and 13 ended unchanged.

Shares in CVC Capital Partners PLC (AS:CVC) fell to all time lows; losing 1.45% or 0.20 to 13.63.

The AEX Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of AEX options, was unchanged 0.00% to 21.09.

Crude oil for January delivery was down 2.00% or 1.17 to $57.29 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 1.96% or 1.22 to hit $60.99 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 2.03% or 85.90 to trade at $4,310.60 a troy ounce.

EUR/USD was up 0.54% to 1.18, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.23% to 0.88.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.98% at 97.80.