Twitter logo seen on a smartphone screen on April 14, 2021.
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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Twitter – Social media stocks rose 5.7% after it was announced that Twitter would accept a takeover from Elon Musk to take the company private for $54.20 a share.
Penn National Gaming — Shares of the casino and online betting company rose 4.9% after an upgrade from Morgan Stanley. The investment firm upgraded its rating to “overweight,” saying that Penn National’s stock’s recent plunge has made it an attractive valuation and that the company has a better strategy for attracting sports betting customers than its peers.
Oil stocks – Energy stocks tumbled amid renewed fears of a global slowdown as the country grapples with a Covid outbreak. Chevron and Exxon Mobil shares fell 2.2% and 3.4%, respectively.
Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell – AMD’s stock rose 2.9% after Raymond James upgraded it to outperform and said the stock could rise 80%. Raymond James also upgraded Marvell to market performance, which pushed shares up 3.9%.
Verizon — Shares fell nearly 3.1% after Goldman Sachs downgraded Verizon from “buy on rating” to “neutral” following a big drop in subscribers for the telecom giant. Goldman said Verizon is positioned to remain a wireless leader in the 5G cycle, but also expects revenue growth to slow.
Snowflake — Shares rose 7.6% after Wolfe Research began reporting on the cloud data company with an outperform rating. The stock, which is trading at “Black Friday prices,” could get a boost in its upcoming analyst day, the analyst said. Wolfe expects new product announcements as well as updated guidance on how Snow will reach $10 billion in annual product sales by fiscal 2029.
ThredUp – Shares of the resale stock fell 2.3% after a downgrade from a buy to a neutral rating by Goldman Sachs, citing near-term headwinds.
Activision Blizzard — The video game publisher’s stock fell 0.7% after analyst estimates failed to materialize in the first quarter. Activision Blizzard cited disappointing demand for Call of Duty: Warzone as the reason for the weak earnings.
Deere – Shares fell 4.5% after Bank of America downgraded the stock from “buy” to “neutral.” Analysts said they see limited upside for farm equipment stocks, which could be hit by rising fertilizer prices amid ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
GoDaddy – The stock rose 4.5% after Piper Sandler upgraded the company from neutral to overweight and called it a top defensive idea. The firm also said the website domain company has strong free cash flow potential and appeals to GoDaddy’s $3 billion capital return strategy over the next three years.
Formula 1 – Shares edged higher after Citi downgraded the stock to neutral and said there was little upside left.
– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Tanaya Macheel and Jesse Pound contributed coverage.