Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Meme stocks — A group of so-called meme stocks skyrocketed Wednesday as retail investors jumped into speculative trades again. Bed Bath & Beyond rallied 38% to trigger the trend in morning trading Wednesday. Shares of GameStop, the original star of 2021′s meme-stock mania, climbed about 5%. AMC Entertainment soared 15%.
Tesla — The EV maker gained more than 2% after it registered with the state of Texas to expand its electric-vehicle factory in Austin this year. Separately, Goldman Sachs named Tesla a top stock pick for 2023.
Expedia — The travel company’s stock gained more than 4% after Oppenheimer upgraded it to outperform from perform. The Wall Street firm said it believes Expedia shares are discounting macro headwinds.
Intuitive Surgical — The maker of robotic surgical systems saw shares drop nearly 5% after the company reported only 369 placements of its da Vinci robot in the fourth quarter, which was a 4% decrease from the same period in 2021. It also issued downbeat revenue guidance that slightly missed expectations, according to FactSet.
Pool Corp — The swimming pool construction company added 5% after Deutsche Bank upgraded it to a buy from a hold rating, saying that shares and earnings guidance should surprise to the upside.
AbbVie — Shares of biopharmaceutical company AbbVie shed more than 1% after the CEO said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference that it expects the loss of exclusivity of Humira, its drug for arthritis and psoriasis, to affect the company’s performance in the near term, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company does not anticipate a decline in 2024 earnings, however.
Alphabet — Alphabet shares rose more than 2% after Germany’s competition regulator said it plans to order a redesign of the options Google offers users for opting out of its cross-service user data processing.
Levi Strauss — Shares slid about 3% after Citi downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. Despite saying the company has a strong brand and long-term prospects, the firm said it would feel pressure in the short and medium term as denim trends worsened.
Toll Brothers — The homebuilding stock gained 3% following an upgrade to a buy from a hold rating by analysts at Bank of America. The Wall Street firm said that Toll Brothers’ valuation looks attractive at these levels.
— CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Yun Li, Samantha Subin, Carmen Reinicke and Alex Harring contributed reporting.
