Traders wear masks as they work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues New York, May 27, 2020.
Lucas Jackson | Reuters
Here are some of the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle company slid more than 7% as selling continued after the stock’s record run. The move lower follows Tesla’s largest outside shareholder reducing its position in the company due to portfolio restrictions, as well as Tesla announcing that it will raise up to $5 billion from a new stock offering.
Facebook — Shares of Facebook dropped more than 5% amid a big sell-off in major technology shares. The social media company also announced Thursday it will ban new political ads from running in the week before the Nov. 3 presidential election. Shares are still up about 40% this year.
Apple, Amazon, Microsoft — Megacap tech stocks suffered one of their worst days in months on Thursday, dragging down the broader market. Shares of Apple dropped 5.9%, while Microsoft and Amazon lost 5% and 4.6%, respectively. All three stocks have outperformed even the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite this year, and Apple’s market cap was still above $2 trillion despite Thursday’s slump.
Beyond Meat – Shares of the alternative meat company jumped more than 3% after Baird initiated coverage on the stock with an outperform rating. “We are constructive on BYND’s growth prospects given the company’s rapidly growing brand equity and large addressable market,” the firm said. Baird’s $160 target is about 20% above where shares currently trade.
Zoom Video — The videoconference stock slid nearly 10% as work from home names were hit hard during Thursday’s tech sell-off. The fall also came after Pfizer’s CEO said the company could learn the early results of the phase three trial for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in October. DocuSign also struggled, losing more than 12%.
Novavax — The biotech stock rose 2.8% after data published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed positive results for the company’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The data was from a phase one study.
PagerDuty — The company’s shares plunged 26% after PagerDuty delivered weaker than expected forward guidance with its second quarter earnings release. The company’s projections for losses for the third quarter and the full fiscal year were both worse than what analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting. The company’s CEO said in a release that PagerDuty’s customers are loyal and that she is confident in its growth trajectory.
Cloudera, Crowdstrike — The cybersecurity stocks fell sharply on Thursday despite both companies reporting better than expected results for their respective second quarters as tech stocks were under pressure. Shares of Crowdstrike dropped nearly 9%, while Cloudera’s stock lost 10%. Crowdstrike year-to-date gain was still more than 160%.
Nvidia — Shares of the chipmaker fell 7.5% amid the broad sell-off for the tech sector, making Nvidia one of the worst performers in the S&P 500. Other chip stocks struggled as well, with Advanced Micro Devices shedding more than 6%.
PVH — The apparel stock rose 4.5% after the company reported a surprise profit for its fiscal second quarter. PVH reported adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share and $1.58 billion in revenue for the quarter, while analysts surveyed by Refinitiv anticipated a loss of $2.43 per share and $1.25 billion in revenue. Digital commerce revenue was up more than 80% compared with the same quarter last year.
Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival — Cruise stocks rose on Thursday following an announcement from Carnival that it will resume voyages in Italy this weekend. Shares of Carnival gained more than 5%, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean gained 4.9% and 3.8%, respectively.
Rocket Companies – Shares of Rocket Companies plunged more than 13% following the parent of Quicken Loans’ first earnings report after its IPO in August. Earnings in the second quarter came in at $3.5 billion on revenue of $5 billion. The firm said closed origination volume jumped to a record $72.3 billion, a 126% increase from a year earlier, amid lower interest rates. The stock has had a huge run-up since its market debut, rising about 70% through Wednesday’s close.
