Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Snap — The social media company’s stock price jumped about 4.7% after Atlantic Equities upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. The Wall Street firm said that Snap has transformed into a broad content platform and that it sees an “attractive” entry point right now.
Illumina — Shares of the biotech company jumped more than 9% after Illumina pre-announced better than expected results for its first quarter. The company said it expects about $1.085 billion of revenue for the period, above the $924.6 million projected by analysts, according to FactSet. Illumina also raised its full-year revenue guidance.
Southwest Airlines — The airline stock climbed 2% after the company recalled 209 pilots from a voluntary extended leave program to support its summer schedule. Southwest said on Monday the pilots will return to active status on June 1 on the back of a return in travel demand amid the vaccine rollout.
Paychex — Shares of Paychex dipped more than 5%, despite beating analysts’ earnings estimates for the fiscal third quarter. Paychex earned 97 cents per share, topping the forecasted 92 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Revenue came in in-line with estimates.
Signet Jewelers — The jewelry stock dipped more than 1% after Signet announced that it was acquiring rental platform Rocksbox. The company said the move is part of its strategy to expand its services business.
Moderna — Shares of the drugmaker jumped more than 4% after Moderna announced an expanded partnership with manufacturer Catalent. Through the collaboration, Catalent will dedicate a high-speed filling line to Moderna through June 2023. ”This additional fill-finish capacity will be important for not only our COVID-19 vaccine, but also potentially for other programs in our clinical development pipeline,” Moderna said in a statement.
Cara Therapeutics — The biopharmaceutical company’s stock price jumped more than 17% following news that Cara Therapeutics will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 index. The company will replace MTS Systems Corp., and the change will go into effect prior to the opening bell on Thursday.
Apple — Shares of the technology giant rose 0.5% after Morgan Stanley’s top rated Apple analyst Katy Huberty upped her services revenue estimates for 2021 and 2022. Huberty did, however, lower her 12-month price target to $156 from $164 on peer multiple compression, or the likelihood that valuations would start to fall across the industry.
BP — Oil titan BP rose 2.7% in midday trading after it said it’s seeing a healthy start to 2021 thanks to higher energy prices and signs that the industry is set for a rebound after pandemic-induced losses in 2020. The company said Tuesday it was poised to lower its net debt to $35 billion in the first quarter, a level it has said could instigate share buybacks.
– CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald, Jesse Pound, Pippa Stevens, and Yun Li contributed reporting.