A Virgin Galactic logo is seen outside the building during the company’s first trading day on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 28, 2019 in New York City.
JOHANNES EISELE | AFP | Getty Images
Look at the companies that make headlines in the afternoon trading.
Virgin Galactic The shares in the space company fell by 14% after the chairman, Chamath Palihapitya, sold his personal holding of 6.2 million shares for about $ 213 million. He still owns 15.8 million shares with investment partner Ian Osborne. Palihapitiya said in a statement to CNBC that he intends to divert sales “into a major investment I am making to fight climate change.”
Ark Innovation – Shares of Cathie Wood’s flagship ETF fell more than 6% as rising interest rates put pressure on innovation stocks. The leading funds were all in the red. Shares in Tesla fell 7%, Square and Roku both lost 6% and Baidu 8%. CRISPR Therapeutics fell almost 10% and Shopify withdrew 7.5%.
Large quantities – Retail inventory slipped more than 3% after comparable fourth-quarter sales results. According to FactSet, the company reported comparable sales growth of 7.9%, before analysts predicted 8.4%. The company did not provide full guidance for the year, citing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and government stimulus. Earnings per share did exceed expectations, based on estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings – Shares in Norwegian fell 14%, underperforming other struggling cruise names, after the company announced another share offer. The company sells approximately 47.6 million shares for $ 30 per share. Norwegian said it plans to use the funds to buy back debt.
Cisco Systems – Shares in Cisco Systems rose more than 3% after JPMorgan upgraded the shares to overweight from neutral. “We are upgrading CSCO shares to overweight on a combination of Enterprise IT recovery on track, expectation on the right track to subscribers, as well as still inexpensive valuation after underperforming peers,” the firm said. said.
Nikola – Shares of electric truck maker fell more than 7% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight. The Wall Street firm said the ‘good news’ is already prices in Nikola’s stock.
Gap – Shares of the clothing retailer rose more than 6% after the company said it predicted a setback in sales growth in 2021 as more consumers returned to stores. Amid the pandemic, Gap reported lower-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter, but it turned a profit, thanks to efforts to sell more goods at full price and the progress that caused stores to outperform.
Oracle – The tech share jumped 7% after Barclays upgraded the company to overweight and said ‘accelerated growth’ would cause ‘several expansions’. Barclays called “an improved cloud mix and a better IT spending environment” as factors in raising Oracle shares higher.
Hibbett Sports – The sports retailer’s share fell more than 5% due to mixed results in the fourth quarter. The company recorded earnings per share of $ 1.40 on revenue of $ 367.8 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings per share of $ 1.37 on revenue of $ 380.9 million. For 2020, however, Hibbett set a record year, thanks in part to an increase in online sales.
IMAX Corp. Imax shares rose 11% after the company said it expected better results with consumers returning to theaters. The jump comes despite the theater operator reporting mixed results in the fourth quarter, with the company’s share losses reaching a Refinitiv estimate. However, Imax also recorded better-than-expected revenue for the quarter.
– with coverage of CNBC’s Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Rich Mendez.