Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Tesla — Shares fell 5.6% after an internal memo said the electric vehicle maker is planning to lay off more than 10% of its global workforce . “As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” CEO Elon Musk said in the memo. Tesla had almost 141,000 employees as of December 2023. Goldman Sachs — Shares climbed 2.9% after the investment bank beat Wall Street’s first-quarter earnings expectations , reporting a 28% jump in profit to $4.13 billion from the year-earlier period due to a rebound in capital market activities. Goldman posted earnings of $11.58 per share on revenue of $14.21 billion for the period, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had called for earnings of $8.56 per share on revenue of $12.92 billion. Logitech — Shares dropped 6.4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the computer peripherals stock to underweight, saying the market is “mis-pricing” the company’s “future growth algorithm.” Analyst Erik Woodring forecast only 3% annual revenue growth through fiscal 2027, which is below consensus. Salesforce — The customer relations management software stock shed 7.3%, becoming the biggest loser in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, after The Wall Street Journal reported the company is in advanced talks to acquire data-management software provider Informatica . Masimo — Shares added 0.1% after getting an upgrade to buy from hold at Stifel. The firm sees a return to high-single-digit growth and a steady margin expansion trajectory for the health technology company. Reddit — Shares dropped 5.4% after Wall Street firms initiated coverage of the stock following its public debut last month. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of the social media platform at equal weight, saying shares are already trading at fair value. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs each gave Reddit a neutral rating. Others were more bullish on the stock. Deutsche Bank called Reddit a buy, while Raymond James said the social media stock is a strong buy. Medical Properties Trust — Shares jumped 18.8% after the real estate investment trust said it would sell majority interests in five Utah hospitals to a new joint venture for a total of $886 million. Trump Media & Technology Group — Shares of Trump Media plunged 18.4% after the company filed to issue up to 21.5 million shares. Since the company, which created the Truth Social app, began trading on March 26, its share price has fallen more than 62%, from an opening price of close to $71 to around $27 on Monday. Coupang — The South Korea-based e-commerce company climbed 1.9% following an upgrade to buy from neutral at Citi. The bank thinks there is still room for Coupang’s margins to expand as the firm raises its subscription fees, anticipating little customer pushback due to its strong delivery service. Snap One , Resideo Technologies — Snap One shares jumped 29.5% after the provider of smart living products said it will be acquired by Resideo Technologies , a home automation company, in a deal worth roughly $1.4 billion, or $10.75 per share in cash. Resideo fell 3.5%. Charles Schwab — The online brokerage and money manager added 1.7% after posting mixed first-quarter results. Schwab reported earnings of 74 cents, matching an LSEG estimate, while revenue came in at $4.74 billion, slightly higher than analysts’ consensus forecast of $4.71 billion. — CNBC’s Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Novo Nordisk – Shares plunged more than 19% after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported disappointing late-stage trial results for its experimental weight loss drug, CagriSema. Rival obesity drug maker Eli Lilly rose more than 6% following the results. FedEx – Shares jumped 8.5% after FedEx announced a spinoff of its freight business . Elsewhere, the company said earnings per share for the fiscal second quarter came in at $4.05, excluding items, while analysts polled by LSEG anticipated just $3.90. On the other hand, the company saw $21.97 billion in revenue for the quarter, under the consensus forecast of $22.10 billion. Nike – The athletic apparel retailer’s stock sank more than 7%. Nike topped Wall Street’s already low expectations but showed a decline in revenue and earnings year over year. The company’s CEO also said that Nike’s turnaround plan could take longer than anticipated. Mission Produce – The stock advanced more than 10% following the avocado producer’s better-than-expected results for the fiscal fourth quarter. U.S. Steel – The steel producer shed 6% after issuing weak fourth-quarter guidance. For its current quarter, U.S. Steel expects a loss between 25 cents to 29 cents per share. On the other hand, analysts polled by FactSet had expected a per-share profit of 22 cents. Tesla – Shares fell nearly 5%, extending the almost 1% loss seen in the previous session. The stock is coming under pressuring during the overall market sell-off as investors take profits on some of the big election winners. Occidental Petroleum – The stock gained around 2% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it purchased shares of the energy company . Meanwhile, shares of Sirius XM and VeriSign – two other names that Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it had purchased shares of – were up more than 1% and down 0.2%, respectively. Micron Technology – The chipmaker fell 2.9%, extending its slide one day after Micron posted its worst day since March 2020. The move comes after Micron posted disappointing second-quarter guidance . Trump Media – The stock lost more than 5% on the heels of President-elect Donald Trump transferring his entire stake of the company’s shares to a revocable trust . The stock’s fall also comes after a House Republican spending deal backed by the former president to avert a government shutdown failed Thursday night . Starbucks – The coffee giant slipped about 1%. Baristas in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle are set to strike Friday morning , demanding better wages and schedules. The Workers Union, which represents baristas at 525 Starbucks stores, said walkouts could escalate nationwide by Christmas Eve. Crypto-linked stocks – Shares of MicroStrategy and Coinbase each declined about 5.5%, continuing their slump as bitcoin prices fall from their highs . Robinhood shares shed 6%. The cryptocurrency has had an aggressive sell-off since the Federal Reserve on Wednesday cautioned fewer rate cuts next year, which hit equity and crypto markets. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Sarah Min, Pia Singh, Lisa Kailai Han and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
Warren Buffett poses with Martin, the Geico gecko, ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder’s Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3rd, 2024.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Warren Buffett went on bit of a shopping spree in the stock market before Christmas, picking up shares of Occidental Petroleum among others during a swift December sell-off.
Berkshire Hathaway purchased additional 8.9 million shares in the Houston-based energy producer for $405 million through transactions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, pushing its stake above 28%, according to a regulatory filing late Thursday night.
During the same time frame, the Omaha-based conglomerate also bought about 5 million shares of Sirius XM for around $113 million as well as about 234,000 shares of VeriSign for roughly $45 million. These two stakes are much smaller in size, so these transactions could be made by Buffett’s investing lieutenants Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
All told, Berkshire bought over $560 million worth of stocks over the last three sessions.
The 92-year-old legendary investor appeared to have taken advantage of a broad market pullback that made these stocks much cheaper.
Occidental shares have dropped more than 10% this month, bringing its 2024 losses to 24%. The energy company, once known for being founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer, is Berkshire’s sixth-biggest equity holding. Buffett has ruled out a full takeover.
Occidental Petroleum
The sell-off in Sirius XM has been more dramatic. The New York-based satellite radio company is currently in its six-day losing streak, falling 23% this month and 62% this year.
Berkshire started hiking this bet after billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media completed its deal in early September to combine its tracking stocks with the rest of the audio entertainment company. Now, Berkshire’s stake has risen to about 35%. SiriusXM has been grappling with subscriber losses and unfavorable demographic shifts.
Internet name VeriSign has also had a rough year with its stock down 6% in 2024, significantly underperforming the tech sector. Berkshire first bought the tech stock in 2013 and hasn’t adjusted the stake in years.
Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading. FedEx – Shares rose 8% following the delivery giant’s better-than-expected earnings. For its fiscal second quarter, FedEx reported adjusted earnings of $4.05 per share, above the $3.90 per share that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. Revenue, however, came in weaker-than-expected. The company also announced that it’s planning on spinning off its freight business . Nike – The retailer’s stock popped around 6% after its fiscal second quarter results topped Wall Street estimates . Nike earned 78 cents per share on $12.35 billion in revenue. Analysts were expecting 63 cents per share on revenue of $12.13 billion, according to LSEG. Mission Produce – Shares gained 9% on the heels of the company’s fiscal fourth quarter results beating analysts’ expectations. Mission Produce posted adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $354.4 million. That’s an improvement from the 11 cents per share in adjusted earnings the company posted in the year-ago period. Revenue also rose 37% from a year earlier. U.S. Steel – Shares fell more than 4% after the steel producer issued weak guidance for its fourth quarter. U.S. Steel expects a loss between 25 cents and 29 cents per share for the period, while analysts were looking for a projected profit of 22 cents per share, per FactSet.