The Spotify logo on a smartphone laid out in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Saturday, January 29, 2022.
Gaby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Find out which companies are making headlines in the midday business.
Wayfair – Shares of the furniture retailer jumped 24.1% on Monday after Wayfair received upgrades from several Wall Street firms, including a double upgrade to an overweight from an underweight at JPMorgan . The company announced on Friday that it would lay off around 10% of its global workforce as part of a cost-cutting plan. JPMorgan cited “Wayfair management’s new commitment to controlling spending” in its upgrade memo.
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Apple – Apple shares rose 3.2% as China’s reopening gave investors hope it would give the tech and electronics sector a boost. Morgan Stanley called the stock a top pick, saying the reopening has “significant implications” for demand as well as supply.
Meta – Shares of Meta soared 2.4% after Citi reiterated its buy rating on the social media company, saying that while macroeconomic visibility is limited, they believe the market is stabilizing.
Spotify — Spotify gained 3.1% after the company sent an internal memo to staff on Monday announcing its intention to lay off 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 employees. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has admitted the streaming giant is “too ambitious to invest before our revenue grows”.
Skechers – Skechers jumped 3.7% after Cowen improved the stock to outperform relative to the market. The company said there were potential upsides that Wall Street could overlook.
Selling power – Salesforce shares rose 3.9% after news that activist investor Elliot Management had made a multi-billion dollar investment in the company. The announcement comes weeks after Salesforce announced it was cutting 10% of its workforce and closing some offices.
Qualcomm – Shares of the semiconductor maker rose 6.7% after Barclays raised its rating from overweight to equal weight. The company cited Qualcomm’s exposure to data centers, personal computers and headsets as reasons for its more upbeat rating.
western digital – Shares jumped 7% after Bloomberg reported that merger talks between Western Digital and Kioxia were progressing. Western Digital would spin off its flash business and merge it with Kioxia into a publicly traded company, according to the report.
Xylem – Xylem water technology shares fell 8.2% following the company’s acquisition Evoca Water Technologies in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $7.5 billion. Shares of Evoque jumped more than 14% after the announcement.
– CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Tanaya Macheel, Jesse Pound, Carmen Reinicke, Pia Singh and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.
