An attendee wears a Meta Platforms Inc. Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) headset at the Telefonica SA stand on day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira de Barcelona venue in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.
Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Meta — Shares of the tech giant rose more than 5% after the tech giant announced a dramatic price drop for its higher-end virtual reality headset, the Quest Pro. Wall Street also got bullish on Meta’s artificial intelligence potential. Barclays named Meta as one of the AI beneficiaries, while Morgan Stanley included the company as a top pick in the space, saying the technology is at an inflection point.
Apple — The technology giant advanced 2.6% after Morgan Stanley reiterated its top pick rating, noting the stock has a “catalyst-rich event path” over the next year. The firm predicts the stock could rally more than 20% in the next 12 months.
Costco Wholesale — The retailer’s shares dropped 3.4% after the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings missed analysts’ expectations. The wholesale retailer reported revenue of $55.27 billion, less than the consensus estimate of $55.54 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Hormel Foods — Shares for the food processing company were down 2.7% after JPMorgan issued a downgrade to underweight for neutral. The firm said that the spam maker’s shares are not “fully de-risked” yet.
Marvell Technology — The chip stock lost 7.3% after Marvell Technology reported mixed quarterly results and provided weak guidance. The company said it expects first-quarter earnings of 29 cents, short of the 41 cents expected, according to StreetAccount. Inventory corrections and the resulting charges are to blame, but management expects the headwinds to subside later in the year.
First Solar — The solar stock gained 5% after UBS said it would be one of the biggest beneficiaries among covered stocks from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Asana — Asana shares jumped 9% after D.A. Davidson upgraded the software stock to buy from neutral. “Sensor Tower app data for Asana shows continued growth in active users, and a marked acceleration in downloads,” the firm said.
Bumble – Shares of the dating app provider slid 9.1%. The move comes after Bumble announced it would price a secondary offering of 13.75 million shares of its common stock at $22.80 per share. The selling parties include certain stockholders affiliated with Blackstone and Bumble’s founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.
Broadcom — Shares of the chipmaker popped 5% on the back of a stronger-than-expected quarterly report. Broadcom earned $10.33 per share on revenue of $8.92 billion. Analysts expected a profit of $10.10 per share on revenue of $8.92 billion. The company also issued fiscal second-quarter guidance that beat expectations.
Integral Ad Science — Shares jumped 10% after the digital ad company posted an earnings and revenue beat in the fourth quarter. Revenue came in at $117.4 million, topping StreetAccount’ consensus estimate of $111.3 million. Fourth quarter earnings of $40 million also beat estimates of $36.9 million. Integral Ad Science also posted a higher guidance for the first quarter than what FactSet analysts had expected.
Zscaler — Shares of the cybersecurity company slid nearly 10% despite Zscaler reporting a stronger-than-expected first quarter. The company earned an adjusted 37 cents per share, above the 29 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. However, billings guidance was a concern on Wall Street, with Stifel analyst Adam Borg saying in a note to clients said that the guidance was “muted.”
C3.ai — The enterprise artificial intelligence company’s shares surged 30% after its fiscal third-quarter results topped Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted a loss of 6 cents per share, compared to Refinitiv analysts’ estimates for a 22 cent loss. It also posted revenue of $66.7 million, beating expectations of $64.2 million.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings — Shares of the cruise company rose more than 3%, continuing to bounce back from a post-earnings slide. Norwegian dropped more than 10% on Tuesday after reporting a wider-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter, but the stock has now clawed back most of that decline.
JBG Smith Properties — Shares for the real estate investment trust and builder were down 6.2% after Amazon announced that it would pause construction on its Virginia headquarters.
Samsara — Shares of the internet of things company rallied more than 18.8% on the back of stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results. The stock also got a boost from management commentary pointing toward breakeven free cash flow by year-end.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Yun Li, Michelle Fox, Fred Imbert and Darla Mercado and Alex Harring contributed reporting
