Virgin Atlantic Airways and founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson.
Craig Barritt
Discover the companies that make the headlines for lunch.
Virgin Galactic – Space tourism company stocks soared 23% to an all-time high as speculative recovery continued. According to Fidelity, Virgin Galactic has overtaken Apple and Tesla as the most popular stocks among retail investors, with stocks heading for the eighth consecutive day of gains.
Tesla – Tesla’s shares rose almost 7% following a bullish call from Wall Street firm Piper Sandler. The company raised Tesla’s price target to $ 928 per share, the highest on Wall Street, according to FactSet. Tesla exceeded this 12-month forecast and last traded above $ 940 per share. Piper Sandler said he was confident about Tesla’s push into new areas of clean energy like batteries and solar products. Tesla’s shares rose more than 100% in 2020.
Blue Apron – Meal service shares fell 17% after the company announced disappointing quarterly results and said it was considering “strategic alternatives”. The company lost $ 1.66 per share in the fourth quarter, which was higher than analysts of $ 1.60 polled by FactSet expected. Revenues also missed estimates.
Groupon – Groupon shares fell 44% after e-commerce company said it would stop selling goods by the end of the year, citing a “very competitive” environment and in some cases ” irrational”. Groupon also announced lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenues.
Garmin – The GPS and fitness equipment company exceeded midday trading by 6% after announcing higher than expected fourth quarter profits. The surge pushed Garmin stock to a 12-year high at $ 105.58 per share, its highest intraday price since December 14, 2007. Investors are also rewarding Garmin in Wednesday’s session after the board d The administration of the company proposed to increase the quarterly dividend to 61 cents per share from 57 cents per share.
Plug Power – Stocks from the fuel cell maker were up almost 18%, building on Tuesday’s strength, which saw the stock finish the day with a gain of 9.7%. There is no apparent catalyst for the upward movement. Shares of the Latham, New York-based company have gained 137% in the past 6 months.
Nvidia – Stocks of chip stocks jumped 6% after an upgrade to outperform the market by A.B. Bernstein. The company also increased its target price to $ 360 per share from $ 300 per share, which makes A.B. Bernstein is the highest target price on Wall Street, according to FactSet. The analyst said games and data center products could be the next catalyst for action.
Ally Financial – Ally Financial’s shares rose more than 11% after the lender announced it would acquire CardWorks, an unprivileged private lender, for $ 2.65 billion in cash and stocks. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Analog Devices – The chipmaker’s shares rose more than 4% after the company released better-than-expected quarterly results. Analog earned $ 1.03 per share in the fourth quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $ 1.00 of earnings per share, according to FactSet. Its revenues also exceeded estimates.
Bed Bath & Beyond – Shares of the big box retailer climbed 7% to around $ 12.20 a share as investors applauded new CEO Mark Tritton’s plan to overhaul the business. Specifically, Tritton on Tuesday announced Bed Bath’s allocation plans for 2020, which include up to $ 600 million in return of capital to shareholders and debt reduction. The CEO also revealed in a call to analysts the company’s plans to restructure stores, improve checkout efficiency and promote in-store marketing.
Apple – The title of the iPhone maker rose 1.4% late in the morning, recovering from some losses suffered earlier in the week after Apple warned on Monday that it would be below its first quarter forecasts. Equity remained net negative for the shortened vacation week, however, as fears that the coronavirus could undermine its short-term performance have dampened the equity rebound.
– with reports by Maggie Fitzgerald, Pippa Stevens, Michael Sheetz and Thomas Franck from CNBC.
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