A cashier places a bag of items in a customer’s shopping cart at a Target Corp. store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Target — Shares of Target plunged more than 7% after the big box retailer reported disappointing holiday sales. Target said same-store sales during November and December were up just 1.4%, compared with growth of 5.7% a year earlier. The retailer saw weakness in toys and electronics sales. CEO Brian Cornell said the company faced challenges in some key seasonal merchandise categories. However, Target is maintaining its prior outlook for fourth-quarter earnings.
Shake Shack — Shares of fast food chain Shake Shack surged more than 9% after Goldman Sachs reiterated its $115 price target on the stock, an 80% upside for shares. Despite disappointing third quarter earnings that were pressured by Grubhub becoming Shake Shack’s only delivery partner, the partnership ultimately will be good for the restaurant company, Goldman Sachs said.
Beyond Meat — Shares of Beyond Meat tanked more than 7% after Bernstein lowered its rating on the alternative meat company. Bernstein downgraded Beyond Meat to market perform from outperform, saying the red-hot stock was now fairly valued after the recent run-up. Shares of Beyond Meat are up 50% since the start of the year.
First Solar — Shares of the solar panel maker slid more than 9% after Barclays double downgraded the stock from overweight to underweight. The firm said that First Solar’s systems business is in trouble, and said that the company has lost more than 80% of its market share. Barclays also said that deployments in 2020 could see a “significant drop.”
BlackRock — Shares of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, jumped more than 2% following its strong quarterly earnings. The financial company reported earnings of $8.34 per share on revenue of $3.977 billion, while analysts expected earnings of $7.69 per share on revenue of $3.825 billion, according to Refinitiv. The large quarterly profit was helped by strong flows into its exchange-traded fund business that boosted overall assets under management to a record $7.43 trillion.
Peloton — Shares of the exercise equipment maker gained more than 5% after Wedbush initiated coverage on the stock with an outperform rating. The firm said that there’s no “legitimate threat” to Peloton’s dominance in the at-home interactive exercise bike segment, and Wedbush anticipates subscription numbers reaching 4 million. The firm’s $37 target is roughly 18% above where the stock currently trades.
Hasbro, Mattel — Shares of toy companies Hasbro and Mattel dropped 3% and 5%, respectively, after Target reported weak toy sales in the holiday shopping season. Target said toy sales were about flat with the prior year, which is disappointing given the retailer has been devoting more square footage in stores to toys, following Toys R Us’ liquidation.
Bank of America — The bank’s stock dropped more than 2% despite the release of stronger-than-expected quarterly results as lower rates dampened net interest income. Bank of America said its net interest income fell by 3% on a year-over-year basis to $12.3 billion. Some of that decline was slightly offset by a 25% jump in bond-trading revenue.
Wells Fargo — Shares of Wells Fargo continued its slide, dropping 2%, after reporting disappointing fourth-quarter earnings results on Tuesday. The bank said legal fees and low interest rates weighed on its quarterly earnings, which saw profits fall more than 50% year-over-year. Piper Sandler downgraded the bank to neutral from overweight Wednesday, saying it sees a “lack of visibility” on improvement in costs.
Goldman Sachs — Goldman Sachs rose 1% after the investment banking giant reported a quarterly revenue that topped analyst expectations. Goldman posted revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter. That’s above a Refinitiv estimate of $8.51 billion. Bond-trading revenue surged 63% to $1.77 billion, giving the bank’s top line a boost. The company’s earnings, however, took a $1.1 billion hit from litigation fees.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Maggie Fitzgerald and Pippa Stevens contributing reporting.