Pipettes are seen at Moderna Therapeutics Inc.’s laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Moderna started testing this week
Adam Glanzmann | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
WW International – Shares of parent company WeightWatchers are up 48%. Goldman Sachs upgraded the diet company to “buy” from a neutral rating late Monday, saying shares could more than triple if WW International enters the obesity drug market.
CarMax — The car dealer’s shares rose 10% after it announced a hit to its fourth-quarter earnings. CarMax reported earnings of 44 cents a share, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected 24 cents a share. Meanwhile, the company’s revenue of $5.72 billion missed analyst estimates of $6.04 billion.
Mohawk Industries — Shares of the flooring maker rose 5% after Loop Capital upgraded the company from its previous hold rating. The company kept its price target at $115, suggesting Mohawk could be up 21.4% since the close on Monday.
Modern – The biotech’s stock fell about 4% after the company announced that its flu vaccine trial failed to meet criteria for early late-stage success. There weren’t enough cases of infection among the people who received the shot, the company said.
Tesla – Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker gained 1% in midday trade on Tuesday. The company rolled out a series of fresh price cuts on its website on Friday, pushing shares lower on Monday. The cuts range from 2% to almost 6% for U.S. vehicles and is the fifth price cut for the EV maker. Stricter standards for qualifying electric vehicles for a $7,500 tax credit have also raised some concerns for the company.
wisdom tree – Shares of the financial company rose 3% after the company said it had net inflows of $1.9 billion in March. The company currently has more than $90.7 billion in assets under management.
New York Community Bancorp — Shares of the regional bank rose 2.7% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy it off hold. The investment firm said NYCB’s move to acquire portions of Signature Bank has strengthened its balance sheet.
jacuzzi – Shares of the kitchen and laundry company rose more than 4% at midday after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy” from neutral, citing the rating. The company said channel checks show promotions stabilized in March in North America and that this could support pricing and increase profitability.
Smart Technologies – Shares are up 2.6% the day after Piper Sandler analyst James Fish upgraded Akamai from neutral to overweight. The analyst said the recent decline in cloud stock, which is down 5% this year, “provides an opportunity to own this contrarian name.”
Lending Club — The loan stock rose 5% after JPMorgan initiated an overweight position in the stock. The company said the stock may be oversold as investors remain skeptical about its balance sheet and recession potential.
Murphy Oil — Shares of the natural gas company gained 2.6% after Truist upgraded shares to buy it off hold. The company also raised its price target on the stock to $56 from $49, an increase of about 45% from Monday’s close.
– CNBC’s Alex Harring, Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Min, Samantha Subin, Brian Evans, Jesse Pound and Pia Singh contributed coverage