In midday trading, several companies made headlines with notable stock movements. Duolingo, an online language learning app, saw a 5.3% increase after JPMorgan reiterated its overweight rating on the stock, citing attractive risk/reward factors and potential upside for its first-quarter guide and 2024 outlook. Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, a Taiwanese chipmaker, dropped 4.9% as a result of some wafers having to be scrapped due to an earthquake in Taiwan. Despite this setback, the company still beat revenue and profit expectations in the first quarter and forecasted healthy growth for 2024. JetBlue Airways also experienced a 4.1% jump after JPMorgan upgraded the airline to neutral from underperform, citing favorable turnaround potential.
Shares of bitcoin mining companies surged ahead of the widely anticipated “halving,” which cuts miners’ main stream of revenue in half as mandated by the Bitcoin code. Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Iris Energy, and CleanSpark all saw gains as a result. Estee Lauder received a boost of 4.9% after Deutsche Bank added a short-term buy rating on the cosmetics giant, pointing to positive expectations for the company’s upcoming earnings report on May 1. Meta Platforms, previously known as Facebook, advanced 1.5% after striking a partnership with Google to include its search results in its new AI assistant, Meta Llama 3. Conversely, Tesla slid 3.6% to hit its 52-week low after a downgrade by Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner, who cited the cancelation of plans to build Tesla’s inexpensive Model 2 car as a risk to the company’s future lineup and earnings.
Barnes Group, a global industrial tech and aerospace stock, saw a significant 9.3% jump after being upgraded by DA Davidson to buy from neutral, with the firm noting attractive share prices. Alaska Air Group also experienced a substantial 8.1% increase following better-than-expected first-quarter results, with a lower loss per share and higher revenue than analysts had forecasted. On the other hand, Blackstone’s stock fell 2.3% after the asset manager lowered its dividend, although earnings for the first quarter slightly surpassed expectations. BJ’s Wholesale Club saw a 3.6% drop after being downgraded by Loop Capital on the basis of valuation concerns and lowered estimates for merchandise same-store sales and gross margin.
D.R. Horton, a homebuilder, added 0.1% after exceeding expectations in its fiscal second quarter, reporting higher earnings per share and revenue than analysts had predicted. eBay saw a 1% increase following a double upgrade at Morgan Stanley, which noted that the e-commerce company appeared undervalued relative to its peer Etsy. Zoom Video Communications also received an upgrade from Rosenblatt Securities to buy from neutral, with optimism on its “refocused” channel strategy and healthy balance sheet. Meanwhile, Trump Media & Technology Group, the media firm and parent company of Truth Social founded by former President Donald Trump, saw a significant 25.7% increase, building on gains from earlier in the week, despite recent fluctuations related to the announcement of a TV streaming arm for Truth Social.
