Newly manufactured Ford Motor Co. 2021 F-150 pick-up trucks are seen waiting for missing parts in Dearborn, Michigan, March 29, 2021.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Ford — Shares jumped more than 2% as the automaker’s market cap topped $100 billion for the first time Thursday. The rally comes as the company plans to increase electric vehicle production, including the Mustang Mach-E crossover and an upcoming electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup. Deutsche Bank also named Ford one of its top 2022 auto stock picks.
Delta Air Lines – The airline’s stock rose about 2% after beating on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Delta earned an adjusted 22 cents per share on revenue of $9.47 billion. Wall Street expected adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share on revenue of $9.21 billion, according to Refinitiv. The company also said it expects to turn a profit in 2022.
Boeing – Shares gained nearly 3% after Chinese aviation regulators issued a directive to bring the aircraft maker’s 737 Max back to the skies. The planes have been grounded for more than two and a half years, after the second of two fatal crashes.
KB Home – The homebuilder’s stock soared 16.5% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. KB Home reported earnings of $1.91 per share, topping estimates of $1.77 per share, according to Refinitiv. KB Home also issued a positive outlook for 2022.
Snap – Shares fell more than 10% after Cowen downgraded the social media stock to market perform. The firm said Snap should continue to face challenges from Apple’s privacy rules.
Virgin Galactic – The stock plunged 18.9% after the space tourism company announced plans to raise up to $500 million in debt. The company intends to raise $425 million from the sale of 2027 convertible senior notes through a private offering, with an additional $75 million option also expected to be granted to buyers.
Moderna – The vaccine maker saw its shares fall 5.7% after the company said it expects to report data from its Covid-19 vaccine trials involving 2- to 5-year-olds by March. The company could file for approval to vaccinate that age group if the data is supportive, it said in a statement.
Virgin Orbit – Shares fell 5.6%% as the company was set for a satellite launch mission Thursday afternoon.
Taiwan Semiconductor – Shares rose 5.3% after the chipmaker’s fourth-quarter profit and revenue topping beat StreetAccount consensus estimates. The company also issued an upbeat outlook.
Halliburton – The energy giant rose 1.8% to a new 52-week high after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. “We see more earnings upside and a more attractive relative valuation under our ‘normalized’ framework,” JPMorgan said.
Mattel – Shares gained more than 3% after MKM upgraded the toymaker to buy from neutral. “We look for continued positive momentum from Mattel’s product portfolio in 2022,” MKM said.
— CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald, Pippa Stevens and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting
