Stock Market Live August 20: After Misses from Home Depot And Now Target, S&P 500 (VOO) Keeps Falling
Key Points
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Lowe’s cures Home Depot’s miss yesterday with an earnings beat of its own.
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Target beat earnings by a penny this morning, but investors are punishing the big box store chain anyway.
Live Updates
Wednesday Wrap-up
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed at 586.58 Wednesday, down 0.26%.
Analog Devices Performs Like Clockwork
We’re not done with earnings news yet, either. Shifting back to the U.S. of A. and the S&P 500 in particular, semiconductor company Analog Devices (Nasdaq: ADI | ADI Price Prediction) beat earnings by a dime this morning, reporting $2.05 per share in fiscal Q3 profit. Revenue also topped estimates at $2.9 billion, and guidance was pretty great, too: Q4 profit could range from $2.12 to $2.32 per share, versus the consensus estimate of $2.03.
If you guessed all this good news would be good for the stock — you’re right! Analog Devices shares are up more than 4%. (But the Voo is still down 0.5%).
Baidu Beats on Earnings, Misses on Revenue
In international earnings news, Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) — the “Chinese Google” — beat earnings forecasts this morning with a Q2 report of RMB13.58 per share ($1.87), RMB0.25 better than expected. Revenue for the quarter came in light, however, at RMB32.71 billion ($4.5 billion).
Baidu stock is down nearly 2%. The Voo is now down 0.7%.
Estee Lauder Needs a Touch-up
Continuing our S&P 500 news coverage, component company Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) beat earnings by one cent this morning, reporting a $0.09 per share profit. Revenue also eked out a small win, coming in $20 million ahead of estimates at $3.41 billion.
Unfortunately for shareholders, the skincare company followed up this good news with some bad: Full-year fiscal 2026 earnings will be only about $2 a share, 10% below the consensus forecast for $2.22. Investors aren’t thrilled with the news, and Estee Lauder stock is down nearly 2% in the first few minutes of trading.
The Voo is also moving lower, down 0.2%.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) closed down 0.5% Tuesday, and is heading lower premarket on Wednesday, falling another 0.1%. Weighing on the market this week was, first, Home Depot‘s (NYSE: HD) earnings miss yesterday, and now, a second miss by fellow big-box store chain Target (NYSE: TGT).
Target shares are tumbling more than 10% before trading opens today.
Curiously, Target’s news wasn’t entirely “bad.” Adjusted earnings for the second quarter came in at $2.05 per share, a penny ahead of projections, and revenue was $25.2 billion, about $300 million more than Wall Street was counting on. Management also reassured investors that it’s on track to hit its target of earning $7 to $9 per share, adjusted for one-time items, and that’s more than the $7.34 consensus estimate on Wall Street.
Nevertheless, Target’s same store sales declined 1.9% in Q2. Target also announced today that it will replace CEO Brian Cornell with current COO Michael Fiddelke (promoting Cornell out of office, to the post of “executive chair of the board of directors”), and investors seem worried the switcheroo could foreshadow more bad news ahead.
Earnings
Speaking of earnings, earnings season for S&P 500 companies is almost over, but we still have a few stragglers to run through before all’s said and done.
TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) beat earnings by nine cents this morning, reporting a $1.10 per share fiscal Q2 2026 profit. Sales of $14.4 billion exceeded expectations by more than $250 million. TJX guided lower for fiscal Q3, however, warning earnings will be only about $1.18 per share, less than the $1.22 Wall Street is looking for.
On the plus side, full year fiscal 2026 earnings should be better than estimates, ranging from $4.52 to $4.47 per share. TJX shares are up nearly 5% premarket in response.
Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) also offered a counterpart to Home Depot’s report today, reporting $4.33 per share for its fiscal Q2 — also a nine-cent beat. Revenue for the quarter nailed analyst targets for $24 billion in sales, and Lowe’s guided above consensus estimates, forecasting full year profit from $12.20 to $12.45, and full year sales from $84.5 billion to $85.5 billion. helping to push its stock up more than 2% premarket.
With plenty of good news to offset Home Depot’s bad news, today might end up being a good day for investors, no matter what the premarket trend looks like right now.
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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