5 stocks to watch on Wednesday: ARCH/CEIX merger, M and more

U.S. stock index futures on Wednesday pointed to a slightly higher open, as the focus continued to remain on this weekend's upcoming Jackson Hole symposium. Here are some stocks to watch on Wednesday: 

• Class A shares of Arch Resources (ARCH) and shares of Consol Energy (CEIX) rose ~6% and ~8%, respectively, in pre-market trading. The advance came after the two companies said they would combine in an all-stock merger of equals to create Core Natural Resources, a coal producer with 11 owned mines and an expected pro forma market capitalization of about $5.2B. The combined firm will be able to produce ~12 mtpa of metallurgical grade coals and more than 25 mtpa of high calorific value thermal coal. Arch (ARCH) and Consol (CEIX) sold an aggregate of around 101M tons of coal in 2023.
• TJX (TJX) stock added about 6% ahead of the opening bell, after the off-price retailer increased its annual comparable store sales growth and profit per share guidance. For fiscal 2025, TJX (TJX) now sees consolidated comparable store sales to be up about 3%, compared to a prior forecast for 2% to 3%. Meanwhile, the company now expects to earn $4.09 to $4.13 per share for fiscal 2025, versus a previous range of $4.03 to $4.09. TJX (TJX) owns brands such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods.
• Shares of Macy's (M) retreated 10% ahead of market open, after the department store chain lowered its full-year net sales guidance. Macy's (M) now sees 2024 revenue of $22.1B to $22.4B, compared to a previous outlook of $22.3B to $22.9B. Moreover, Macy's (M) now expects full-year comparable sales to be down 0.5% to 2% versus 2023. It had earlier anticipated comparable sales to be down 1% to up 1.5% versus 2023. Macy's (M) said the guidance update reflected a "more discriminating consumer and heightened promotional environment relative to its prior expectations."
• Snowflake (SNOW) stock will be one to keep an eye on, ahead of the data warehousing firm's FQ2 2025 results after the closing bell. Wall Street expects the company to earn 16 cents per share on revenue of $850.15M. Investors will be looking out for the impact of and any remarks about the data breach that Snowflake (SNOW) suffered in late May. That breach ended up affecting significant customers, such as telecom giant AT&T (T) and Live Nation Entertainment's (LYV) Ticketmaster.

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