Virgin Galactic’s space tourism rocket plane SpaceShipTwo returns after a test flight from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, December 13, 2018.
Gene Blevins | Reuters
Explore the companies grabbing attention in midday trading.
Virgin Galactic — The shares of this pioneering space company surged by 16.5%. This month, Virgin Galactic will conduct its first commercial space tourism flight. With billionaire Richard Branson as its founder, the firm successfully completed its final test spaceflight in May.
iRobot — The stock of iRobot soared by 21.2% as U.K. regulators approved Amazon’s acquisition of the Roomba vacuum cleaner maker for $1.7 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon experienced a slight decline of approximately 0.5%.
West Pharmaceutical Services — West Pharmaceutical Services saw a 0.6% gain after Bank of America upgraded the life sciences stock from neutral to buy. The upgrade is based on the potential benefits from the growth of weight loss drugs.
Cava Group — Cava Group shares experienced a 12.9% drop during Friday’s trading, partially reversing the gains made during its impressive debut on the New York Stock Exchange the previous day. At one point, the company’s shares more than doubled in value on its first trading day.
SoFi Technologies — The financial technology stock witnessed a nearly 10% decline after Bank of America and Piper Sandler downgraded it from buy to neutral. The downgrade was due to SoFi’s recent surge. Bank of America stated that the expiration of the student loan repayment moratorium’s fundamental aspects has largely been priced in.
Adobe — The shares of Adobe increased by 0.9%. In the fiscal second quarter, the company surpassed expectations and delivered positive guidance. Adobe reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.91 on a revenue of $4.82 billion, while analysts projected earnings of $3.79 per share and revenue of $4.77 billion. Adobe expects its current-quarter and full-year revenue to align with Wall Street’s expectations. However, it anticipates adjusted earnings per share to be higher than predicted.
Nvidia — At one point, the chipmaker witnessed a surge of over 2% to reach another record high after Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore changed his top pick from Advanced Micro Devices to Nvidia. The analyst stated that Nvidia offers more immediate upside compared to other artificial intelligence stock plays. Eventually, Nvidia closed with a 0.1% increase.
Micron Technology — After Micron Technology warned that a China chip ban could impact the company, its shares dipped by 1.7%. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company stated, “We now believe that approximately half of that China HQ customer revenue, which equates to a low-double-digit percentage of Micron’s worldwide revenue, is now at risk of being impacted.”
Humana — Humana shares declined by 3.9%. The company reaffirmed its full-year insurance segment benefit expense ratio guidance, which is expected to be between 86.3% and 87.3%, with an inclination towards the upper end of this outlook. The company attributed this forecast to higher-than-expected utilization trends in non-inpatient services such as emergency room visits, outpatient surgeries, and dental procedures.
Truist Financial — Shares of Truist Financial fell approximately 1% after Odeon Capital Group downgraded the stock from buy to hold, according to FactSet.
— CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, and Yun Li contributed to this report.
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