The logo of Meta Platforms is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Meta Platforms – Shares of Meta Platforms rose 2.8% after JPMorgan upgraded the social media company to buy and raised its price target, saying that headwinds will ease next year.
Maxar Technologies – Shares of the satellite owner and operator surged 124.8% following news that private equity firm Advent International will acquire the company and take it private in a deal valued at $6.4 billion, or $53 a share. The stock closed at $23.10 per share Thursday.
Goldman Sachs — Goldman Sachs shares slumped 1% amid news that the Wall Street firm will cut up to 8% of its workforce. The layoffs are slated to come in January and hit all areas of the Wall Street firm, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ford — Ford shares shed 7% after the auto company said it’s increasing the base price for its F-150 Lightning pickup again because of heightened raw material costs.
Adobe — Shares of the design software maker rose 3% after the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and guidance that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Adobe maintained its forecast for the new fiscal year, while announcing a plan to buy hot startup Figma in the quarter.
Darden Restaurants — Darden Restaurants dropped 2.1% despite delivering an earnings and revenue beat for its fiscal 2023 second quarter. However, it also reported profit margins of 18.6% for Olive Garden, its largest holding, down from 21.6% in the fiscal year 2022 second quarter.
New York Times — The newspaper stock fell 3.1% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the name to equal weight from overweight. The Wall Street firm cited recent underperformance in net adds as well as growing macro headwinds to advertising revenues.
Accenture — Shares dropped 5.9% after the consulting firm issued a light revenue outlook and noted that the impacts of a strong dollar will weigh on fiscal 2023 results. Accenture beat top and bottom line estimates.
Scholastic — Shares of the publishing stock surged 5.7% following a strong quarterly earnings report. Scholastic said its profit margins expanded during the period.
Lincoln National — Shares dropped more than 5% after Lincoln National was downgraded to underperform from hold at Jefferies, according to StreetAccount. The investment firm said it expects free cash flow at Lincoln National will remain pressured in 2023 and 2024.
U.S. Steel — The steel producer’s stock added more than 5.7% after sharing better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
Energy stocks — The energy sector was one of the biggest decliners in the S&P 500, falling 2% on the back of falling oil prices. Shares of Coterra Energy, APA Corp., and Halliburton shed more than 2% each. Marathon Oil dropped 1.9%.
U.S.-listed China stocks — Some China-based stocks listed on U.S. exchanges rose Friday. JD.com and Alibaba shares rose but finished the session largely flat. Electric vehicle stock Xpeng added 1.7%. It came as delisting concerns eased as the U.S. gained access to necessary audit documents.
Guardant Health — Guardant Health’s stock tumbled more than 27% after it revealed that its blood tests to detect colorectal cancers were less effective than the stool-based test made by competitor Exact Sciences. Shares of Exact Sciences jumped more than 16%.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min, Yun Li, Carmen Reinicke, Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
