Thursday’s movers: Apple falls for seventh session

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Safeway Inc. shares led gainers on the S&P 500 on Thursday, while Tesla Motors Inc. sank on worse-than-expected losses, tripping Nasdaq�s circuit breaker.

Apple Inc. shares fell for a seventh session as David Einhorn outlined his plan to get the iPhone maker to return more cash to shareholders.

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J.C. Penney Co. JCP �shares climbed 6.7%, extending gains into a second day. The stock is up 8.8% for the week to date.

Safeway SWY �shares rose 14%. The grocery chain on Thursday said fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $1.02 a share from 67 cents a share. See: Safeway profit up as sales rise

Decliners

Cablevision Systems Corp. CVC �slid 4.1%, the biggest loser on the S&P 500 SPX . The stock is down almost 5% so far this week. �

Shares of Tesla Motors TSLA �closed down 8.8% after triggering Nasdaq�s short-sale circuit breaker earlier in the day. The car maker swung to an adjusted loss of 65 cents a share in the fourth quarter, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected a loss of 59 cents a share. The company said it still plans to deliver about 20,000 Model S cars this year.

Read: Tesla triggers short-sale circuit breaker

Read: Tesla Motors quarterly loss widens as costs rise.

Getty Images Enlarge Image Wal-Mart worker Bella Battista, wearing her "How may I help you?" vest, stocks shelves November 13, 2002 at a Wal-Mart store in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

VeriFone Systems Inc. PAY �shares tumbled 43%. The electronic-payments company was downgraded to a neutral rating by Piper Jaffray, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase on Thursday. On Wednesday, the company reduced its fiscal first-quarter estimates and predicted disappointing results this quarter, citing the economic climate in Europe, weakness in South America and delayed projects.

Top Tickers Trending

$AAPL: Apple AAPL �fell 0.6%, extending its losing streak to a seventh session.

Greenlight Capital�s Einhorn hosted a conference call to tout his plan to get Apple to stop hoarding and do more to return cash to investors via a new class of preferred stock. Read: Einhorn touts plan for Apple�s �war vault�

$GOOG: Google GOOG �shares rose slightly after a couple of analysts raised their target price for the stock. Carlos Kirjner at Bernstein Research hiked Google�s target price to $1,000 from $820 while Ross Sandler at Deutsche Bank lifted his target to $935 from $850. �We believe mass adoption of smartphones, tablets and the mobile Web is a large value creation opportunity for Google,� Kirjner said. �We also think YouTube is still an underappreciated asset.�

$WMT: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT �was trending on Twitter as the retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations. But it was more conservative in its outlook, projecting earnings of $1.11 to $1.16 a share versus $1.18 a share forecast by analysts in a FactSet poll. Read: Wal-Mart gives cautious view, citing macro worries.

$STZ: Constellation Brands Inc. STZ �shares strengthened after Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD �BE:ABI �and Grupo Modelo SAB GPMCY �MX:GMODELOC �said Wednesday they were trying to resolve the antitrust lawsuit against their planned merger. Anheuser-Busch had previously sold various assets to Constellation, including Modelo�s Piedras Negras brewery, in an effort to rescue the deal.