Pacific Western Bank signage is displayed outside a bank branch in Beverly Hills, California, May 4, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
PacWest Bancorp — Shares rose 19.6%. The closely followed regional bank sold around $2.6 billion worth of construction loans to a subsidiary of Kennedy-Wilson Holdings.
DraftKings — Shares of the sports gambling platform added 4.6% in midday trading. Earlier Monday, UBS upgraded the stock to buy from neutral on strong growth in new states.
Zions Bancorporation — The bank stock jumped 4.9% after Hovde Group initiated coverage of Zions at outperform, with a $40 price target, according to FactSet. That’s about 49% upside from where shares closed Friday.
Pfizer — Pfizer shares popped more than 5.4% after a peer-reviewed study said an oral drug from Pfizer for weight loss showed similar and faster results than competitor Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic.
Meta Platforms — The social media company rose 1.1% to hit a 52-week high even after news the firm has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by European privacy regulators over the transfer of EU user data to the U.S. The stock has rallied about 106% this year, buoyed by investor optimism around the artificial intelligence space.
Nike, Foot Locker — Nike shares declined nearly 4% Monday. Citi added a negative catalyst watch on the athletic apparel company in a Monday note. The firm said Foot Locker’s worse-than-expected earnings report last week signals difficulties ahead for Nike. Meanwhile, Foot Locker shares dropped 8.5%.
Micron Technology — The chip stock shed about 2.9% after China’s Cyberspace Administration barred operators of “critical information infrastructure” in that country from purchasing products from Micron. Beijing said the company poses a “major security risk.”
Catalent — Catalent rebounded to trade 0.9% higher. The stock was down in premarket trading Monday. The action comes after JPMorgan Chase on Friday downgraded the pharmaceutical stock to neutral from overweight. The Wall Street firm cited macro headwinds for the rating change.
Norfolk Southern — Norfolk Southern gained 0.2% during midday trading. Citi upgraded the railroad stock to buy from neutral, while Wells Fargo upgraded Norfolk to overweight from equal weight.
Apple — Shares of the tech giant dipped 0.5% after a downgrade from Loop Capital, which warned Apple could miss its revenue forecast for the June quarter. Shares of Apple are up more than 30% year to date.
JetBlue Airways, American Airlines — Shares of JetBlue Airways and American Airlines declined 2.1% and nearly 3%, respectively, after the Department of Justice on Friday won a lawsuit to end their partnership in the Northeast, saying it was anti-competitive.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Michelle Fox, Alexander Harring, Hakyung Kim, Yun Li and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
