Stocks with the biggest gains at noon: BRK.B, RCM, FRPT, AS | Private Equity Weekly
Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. Berkshire Hathaway — Berkshire’s Class B shares fell 1.2% in intraday trading. Earlier in the session, the group’s shares hit a record high following strong operating earnings in the fourth quarter. R1 RCM – Shares of R1 RCM soared 28% after the healthcare payments technology company’s major shareholders said they have been weighing strategic options, including taking R1 RCM private, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Freshpet — Shares soared 16%. The pet food company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $31.3 million, topping the FactSet consensus of $27.4 million. Revenue was $215.4 million, up from $204.6 million. HashiCorp — Shares of HashiCorp rose 14% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the software company to overweight from equal weight. The bank said HashiCorp should benefit from a resurgence in cloud initiatives. Pilgrim’s Pride — The meat-packing company’s fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street expectations, sending its shares up 6.2%. Pilgrim’s Pride reported earnings excluding items of 59 cents a share on revenue of $4.53 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter. Domino’s Pizza — Shares of Domino’s Pizza rose 6% after the restaurant chain announced it would increase its dividend payment by 25% on March 29. Domino’s board of directors also approved an additional stock repurchase program of up to $1 billion. Amer Sports — Shares of the sports retailer rose 3%, driven by a series of bullish calls from Wall Street analysts. Many analysts said they expect upside from the parent company of brands such as Wilson and Arc’teryx, whose shares are set to debut earlier this month. Micron Technology — Shares of Micron Technology rose nearly 6% on gains related to artificial intelligence after the semiconductor maker announced it would begin mass production of its high-bandwidth memory 3E solutions. The company said the HBM3E solution consumes 30% less power than competitors, providing data centers with the memory bandwidth to seamlessly adapt to their AI applications. Moderna — Shares of the vaccine maker fell 5% after HSBC downgraded the company to underweight from hold. HSBC says Moderna’s RSV vaccine appears to be less effective than rivals and could hurt future growth. Alcoa — Shares of the aluminum producer fell 5%. On Sunday, Alcoa announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire its Australian joint venture partner Alumina Limited in an all-stock transaction of approximately US$2.2 billion. Fluence Energy — Shares of Fluence Energy rose more than 4% after Susquehanna Financial upgraded the energy storage stock to “positive” from “neutral,” saying recent weakness in share prices makes it an attractive entry point. Fresh Del Monte Produce — Shares of Fresh Del Monte Produce fell 2% after the agricultural company reported quarterly results that missed expectations. Fresh Del Monte Produce reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 25 cents per share, below the 31 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue was $1.01 billion, missing consensus estimates of $1.03 billion. PPG Industries — Shares of PPG Industries fell 2% after the company said it was reviewing strategic alternatives for its architectural coatings business in the United States and Canada. —CNBC’s Brian Evans, Michelle Fox, Lisa Kailai Han, Alex Harring, Tanaya Macheel, Jesse Pound and Pia Singh contributed reporting.
