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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Media stocks — A handful of media and studio stocks rose Wednesday after the nearly 150-day writers’ strike ended. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global jumped more than 2.5%, while Comcast added 0.9%. Disney hovered near the flatline while Netflix inched up 0.3%.
MillerKnoll — The furniture stock soared more than 27% after posting fiscal 2024 first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street’s expectations and upped its earnings guidance for the full year. Excluding items, MillerKnoll said it now expects earnings per share to range between $1.85 and $2.15, versus its prior guidance of $1.70 to $2.00 per share.
ChargePoint, Blink Charging — Shares of ChargePoint and Blink Charging gained 4.1% and 5.5%, respectively, after UBS initiated coverage of the electric vehicle charging stocks with buy ratings. Both stocks look well-situated to capitalize on accelerating EV adoption, the firm wrote.
Costco — Shares of the wholesale superstore added 2.1% on the heels of a fourth-quarter earnings beat. Costco executives noted higher store traffic and an 8% uptick in memberships year over year.
XPO — Shares added roughly 2% after XPO stock was upgraded to outperform by Evercore ISI, with analyst Jonathan Chappell highlighting margin growth potential and stronger pricing power.
Mattel — Shares of the toymaker rose more than 4% after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Mattel with an overweight rating. The investment firm said Mattel should see its sales and margins expand in the third and fourth quarters, helped by the success of the “Barbie” movie.
Amazon — Amazon shares fell 1% Wednesday, a day after the Federal Trade Commission filed a long-anticipated antitrust suit against the technology giant. The shares fell 4% Tuesday.
Levi Strauss & Co. — The apparel maker added 1.2% after TD Cowen initiated coverage at an outperform rating. The firm said Levi’s is in the “early innings of a favorable denim cycle.”
Guardant Health — The oncology company popped 5.6% after Piper Sandler upgraded it to overweight from a neutral rating, saying the recent sell-off creates a “compelling opportunity” for investors.
AAR Corp — Shares of the aircraft services company rose 2.3% on the back of its quarterly earnings report. The company beat analysts’ forecasts on earnings and revenue in the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year and reported $550 million in quarterly sales, up 23% from the prior year.
Kosmos Energy — Shares surged more than 6% after Bank of America upgraded the upstream oil company to a buy from neutral rating, saying Kosmos Energy’s current valuation looks compelling.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Alex Harring, Jesse Pound and Hakyung Kim contributed reporting.
