Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Apple — The tech giant jumped around 6% after announcing it would repurchase $110 billion in shares . Apple also posted beats on the top and bottom lines, reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.53 per share on $90.75 billion in revenue. That topped analysts’ estimates for earnings of $1.50 per share on revenue of $90.01 billion, per LSEG. Block — The payment services provider slipped more than 1% despite posting first-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations. Block reported adjusted earnings of 85 cents per share on revenue of $5.96 billion, which exceeded the earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $5.82 billion that analysts polled by LSEG had expected. Live Nation Entertainment — Shares jumped 7.2% on the back of better-than-expected first-quarter revenue. Management said it expects a strong stadium year in 2025 and continued growth in concert attendance. Expedia — Shares tumbled 15.3% after the online travel booking company lowered its full-year guidance, pointing to weakness in its vacation rentals segment, Vrbo. Wall Street firms, including Piper Sandler and BMO Capital Markets, downgraded Expedia following the report. DaVita — Shares of the health-care provider dropped 5.5% despite posting a beat on top- and bottom-line estimates and slightly raising its earnings guidance for the year. The stock on Thursday had posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.38 per share on $3.07 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by FactSet had called for earnings of $1.95 per share on revenue of $3.03 billion. Booking Holdings — The online travel booking company advanced 1.6% after reporting first-quarter results that topped analysts’ expectations, bolstered by the earlier Easter vacation cycle this year. The company said consumer demand remains strong overall, but noted risks from geopolitical tensions. Avidity Biosciences — Shares popped more than 8% on the back of a bullish Bank of America call . The firm initiated coverage at a buy rating and called for potential upside of 56% from Thursday’s close, citing Avidity’s strong pipeline for rare muscle disorder treatments. Amgen — The biotech company rallied 11.8% after reporting a beat on both top and bottom lines in the first quarter. The company also announced it would proceed with its injectable obesity drug into a phase 3 trial. Simultaneously, shares of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly traded down roughly 1% and 2% each, respectively. Cloudflare — The stock plunged 16.4% on the back of issuing weak full-year guidance, despite posting a first-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue beat. Arista Networks — The cloud networking company rallied more than 3% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to a buy rating from hold. The bank forecasts Arista becoming a “prime AI beneficiary.” Fortinet — The security stock lost more than 8% after the midpoint of its second-quarter billings forecast came in lighter than analysts had expected. However, the company beat analysts’ expectations for the first quarter. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Lisa Kailai Han, Michelle Fox and Pia Singh contributed reporting.
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Apple, Expedia, Block, Live Nation and more
May 4, 2024
