Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Costco — The wholesale retailer’s shares dropped 2.2% after the company announced sales dipped 1.1% year over year in March. Meanwhile, comparable sales growth was positive when excluding changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rates, with the fastest growth coming from overseas markets.
Bed Bath & Beyond — The stock tumbled 8.2% after the retailer proposed a stock split as it attempts to avoid bankruptcy.
FedEx — Shares of the parcel delivery company were up 0.9% a day after the company announced its DRIVE program, a comprehensive $4 billion cost-cutting restructuring plan. Analysts covering the stock welcomed the news, with Raymond James upgrading shares to outperform from market perform Thursday morning.
Richardson Electronics — Shares tumbled 15.5% after the electronics company reported a smaller backlog in its third fiscal quarter than it did in the same quarter a year prior. However, the company’s earnings were better than expected.
Constellation Brands — The beverage company advanced 1.5% on the back of stronger-than-expected corporate earnings. Per-share earnings came in 16 cents ahead of expectations at $1.98, while revenue was in line at $2 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Levi Strauss — The clothing maker shares lost 16% after CFO Harmit Singh said the annual guidance reflects “a cautious outlook on the macro-environment.” The company beat expectations, reporting earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $1.69 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv anticipated earnings of 32 cents per share on a revenue of $1.62 billion.
AMC Entertainment — The meme stock gained 21%. Earlier in the week, shares tumbled after the entertainment company announced a settlement with some of its shareholders. The deal would allow the company to raise more capital and convert preferred shares into common stock. But a U.S. court denied AMC’s request for a quicker conversion of the shares.
C3.ai — The AI company jumped 8.3%. The company issued a response to allegations made earlier in the week from Kerrisdale Capital that alleged the firm had accounting issues.
Fox — Shares of the media company fell about 0.9%. Argus downgraded the stock to hold from buy, saying it’s nervous about the ongoing lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems.
Wells Fargo – The banking giant rose 2.7% after Raymond James upgraded the stock to strong buy from outperform, noting it expects Wells Fargo to benefit from the recent turmoil in the banking sector.
Fifth Third Bancorp – The regional bank saw its stock rise 1.2% after KBW upgraded it to outperform due to a discounted valuation on 2024 earnings, despite expectations of better-than-peer return on average tangible common equity. Other mid-size banks also rose, including KeyCorp and Comerica.
XPO — XPO gained 1% following an upgrade to outperform by BMO. The firm said the logistics company has a significant re-rating opportunity.
Leslie’s, Pool — Shares of pool company Leslie’s popped 5.1%, while Pool gained 1.4%, after both names were upgraded by Loop Capital to buy from hold. The firm said its latest pool survey indicated a 2023 outlook that was better than expected and said the pullback in both stocks offer a good buying opportunity.
New Relic — Shares rose 3.3% after DA Davidson initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating, noting the cloud computing company is closing the gap with peers.
Pinterest — Shares of the image sharing platform rose more than 3.4% after a duo of bullish analyst calls on Wall Street. Raymond James on Thursday initiated Pinterest as outperform, saying it sees “steady user growth.” Meanwhile, UBS reiterated its buy rating on Pinterest ahead of the earnings season, saying there could be potential upside surprise.
Lumentum — Shares slid 9.7% after the company pulled back revenue guidance for the third quarter, citing a network equipment manager accounting for around 10% of last quarter’s revenue said they would not take shipments they originally projected needing. Craig-Hallum downgraded the stock to hold from buy and Rosenblatt pulled its rating to neutral from buy following the guidance cut.
Mosaic — Shares dipped more 5.6% after JPMorgan downgraded Mosaic to neutral from overweight, and cut its price target on the stock. The Wall Street firm said earnings at the fertilizer company are slowing faster than expected.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min, Michelle Fox, Tanaya Macheel and Yun Li contributed reporting
Source: Finance - cnbc.com
