Stocks with the biggest gains at noon: CC, SNOW, HRL, AI | Private Equity Weekly
Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. Hormel Foods — Shares of Hormel Foods rose 13.3% after the food processing company beat fiscal first-quarter profit and revenue estimates. The company reported earnings before items of 41 cents per share on revenue of $3 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $2.91 billion. The company said it expects continued growth in its food service business and improvements in its international operations. Monster Beverage — Shares of Monster Beverage rose about 5% even as the energy drink maker reported strong sales and gross margin expansion in January, reporting adjusted earnings and a first-quarter profit, according to FactSet. Revenue fell slightly in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada raised their price targets on the stock on Thursday. C3.ai — C3.ai shares rose more than 24% after reporting an adjusted loss of 13 cents per share, below expectations. The company’s revenue also beat Wall Street expectations. CHEMOURS – The chemicals company placed its CEO, CFO and chief accounting officer on leave and said it was conducting an internal review to investigate potential “material deficiencies” in its financial reporting, sending the company’s stock price down more than 33% . The company also delayed its fourth-quarter earnings report. Okta — Shares of the identity management company jumped 20% after BofA Securities upgraded the stock to buy from underperform. The bank believes Okta’s full-year guidance is too conservative and could push its full-year estimate upward. Bank of America also raised its price target to $135 from $64, a nearly 55% upside from Wednesday’s closing price. Birkenstock — Newly-listed footwear maker Birkenstock reported a 22% year-over-year revenue increase on higher pricing and higher U.S. demand, sending its shares up more than 6%. Best Buy — Shares of Best Buy rose 3% after the consumer electronics retailer reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ expectations. Best Buy reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.72 per share, above LSEG’s forecast of $2.52. Revenue of $14.65 billion also beat consensus estimates of $14.56 billion. Snowflake — The cloud data company issued disappointing first-quarter product revenue guidance and announced that Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman is retiring, sending the company’s stock price plummeting nearly 20%. Morgan Stanley also downgraded Cloud stock to equal weight. Paramount Global — Shares of Paramount Global rose nearly 3% after the media company reported a surprising quarterly profit. Paramount’s streaming platform Paramount+ had 67.5 million subscribers in the latest quarter, a net increase of 4.1 million. However, the company’s fourth-quarter revenue did fall short of expectations. Pure Storage — Shares of Pure Storage jumped more than 22% after the data storage company reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and upbeat first-quarter guidance. After adjustments, the company’s profit for the period was 50 cents per share on revenue of $790 million. AMC Entertainment Holdings — Shares fell nearly 12% after the movie theater operator reported a larger-than-expected loss. However, fourth-quarter revenue of $1.1 billion exceeded LSEG’s forecast of $1.05 billion. FIGS – Shares of the apparel company fell more than 16% after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter sales and said its chief financial officer would leave in April. Figs’ revenue was $145 million, compared with $150 million forecast by analysts polled by LSEG. Celsius Holdings — The energy drink maker’s shares jumped nearly 19% and hit a record high after reporting a stronger-than-expected earnings report. Celsius earned 17 cents per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $347.4 million. Analysts polled by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) expected earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $331.5 million. Duolingo — The education technology company’s fourth-quarter results beat expectations and gave strong first-quarter and full-year revenue forecasts, sending shares up 22%. Duolingo reported earnings of 26 cents per share on revenue of $151 million, beating analysts’ expectations of 17 cents per share on revenue of $148 million, according to LSEG. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Yun Li and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
