Check out the companies that make headlines during afternoon trading.
GameStop – The gaming retailer’s stock continued to rise as the stock price more than doubled to over $ 360, up 140%. Private investors have driven the stock price higher and pushed back on short sellers. Melvin Capital, which was short in GameStop, closed its position on Tuesday afternoon after a loss.
AMC Entertainment – The cinema operator got a 175% boost, starting at $ 20.34, before falling to around $ 15 a share. That’s still up 200% from the time it closed Tuesday. Trading volume for AMC Entertainment has skyrocketed – more than 689 million shares switched hands today – as retail investors continue to push for short sellers.
Bed Bath & Beyond – Shares of the home goods retailer were up more than 35% past $ 50, up from its opening price of $ 42.98. The company is a favorite of speculative traders, backed by small investors betting against short sellers. Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock price has risen despite Baird lowering the company to neutral from an outperform on Wednesday.
Microsoft – Shares are up 2% after the tech giant’s strong quarterly profit. Microsoft’s revenue grew 17% year-over-year as a result of cloud business growth, compared to 12% growth in the previous quarter, a statement said. Microsoft reported earnings per share of $ 2.03 on revenues of $ 43.08 billion. Wall Street expected $ 1.64 per share on sales of $ 40.18 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Starbucks – The coffee chain saw its inventory fall 5.75% during afternoon trading after it said Tuesday night that its US same-store sales fell 5% during the fiscal first quarter amid a wave of new Covid-19 business. The company also announced that Chief Operating Officer Roz Brewer will be leaving the company in late February to become CEO of another publicly traded company.
Advanced Micro Devices – AMD shares fell 4.8% about midway through the trading session after reporting earnings results just above analyst expectations on Tuesday, with earnings per share of 52 cents versus the 47 cents projected. Despite the beats, some analysts left wondering during Wednesday’s trading whether investors had hoped for even more from the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker.
Boeing – Shares of the US aircraft manufacturer fell 3% Wednesday morning after the company reported a quarterly loss of $ 15.25 per share, thanks in part to $ 8.3 billion in costs associated with the 737 Max and a slowdown in the 777-X -program. CEO Dave Calhoun told CNBC on Wednesday that the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will prolong the recovery in travel demand.
F5 Networks – Shares of the application services company fell more than 3% despite beating Wall Street’s estimates for its quarterly earnings. According to Refinitiv, F5 reported earnings of $ 2.59 per share, compared to the $ 2.47 per share analysts expect. The company earned $ 625 million in revenue, in line with expectations.
Texas Instruments – Texas Instruments reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $ 1.64 per share, 30 cents above estimates, while the chip maker’s earnings were also above estimates, according to Refintiv. However, the chipmaker’s stock fell 4%.
Brinker International – Shares of the restaurant company lost more than 7% after Brinker reported results for the fiscal second quarter. The company reported 35 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $ 761 million in revenue, slightly higher than Refinitiv’s consensus estimates on both counts. Some analysts pointed out in client notes that the revenue figure was boosted by a tax break. Brinker said 18% of the sites in Chile and 31% of the sites in Maggiano are still closed due to the pandemic.
Anthem – Stocks of Anthem were down more than 6% despite beating Wall Street expectations at the top and bottom in the fourth quarter report. The insurance company reported $ 2.54 earnings per share on $ 31.82 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had posted $ 2.52 per share and $ 30.78 billion in revenue. However, the expectation for 2021 revenues was lower than expected, according to FactSet.
– with reporting from CNBC’s Thomas Franck, Jesse Pound and Darla Mercado.