Stocks traded mixed on Thursday after reaching record highs in the previous session.
The S&P 500 added 0.01% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.28%. The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.69%.
Bitcoin traded 2.5% higher, breaking above $100,000 for the first time. Crypto stocks rallied in premarket trading but lost that momentum by noon.
S&P 500 big stock movers today
Five S&P 500 stocks making big midday moves are:
- Brown-Forman (BF.B) +11.3%
- Moderna (MRNA) +5.1%
- United Airlines (UAL) +4.8%
- Delta Air Lines (DAL) +4.3%
- Tesla (TSLA) +4.1%
The worst-performing five S&P 500 stocks with the largest midday drop are:
- Synopsys (SNPS) -12.0%
- Uber (UBER) -7.3%
- Ball Corp (BALL) -6.4%
- Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) -5.5%
- Ansys (ANSS) -5.2%
Stocks also worth noting include:
- Nvidia (NVDA) +0.3%
- Amazon (AMZN) +1.8%
- Dollar General (DG) -2.2%
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) +1.4%
- UnitedHealth (UNH) -4.2%
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Tesla gains after analyst raised price target
Tesla added 4% midday after Bank of America analyst John Murphy raised its price target to $400 from $350 with a buy rating on the shares, thefly.com reported.
After visiting Tesla's Texas gigafactory for a meeting with investor relations, a factory tour, and a ride-and-drive session, the analyst is increasingly confident that Tesla is well-positioned to grow in 2025 and beyond with its core EV business, robotaxis and Optimus.
CEO Elon Musk called Optimus "the most advanced humanoid robot by a long shot" during Tesla's October earnings call.
Related: Analyst revisits Tesla stock price target amid Optimus robotics push
"While Optimus currently accounts for only a single-digit percentage of Tesla's compute capacity, we expect the resources allocated to Optimus will grow as the robotaxi technology matures," Murphy said.
Murphy also sees opportunities for Tesla to improve margins, which are driven mainly by hardware now but will shift more to margin-accretive software with growth in Full Self Driving.
Dollar General falls on mixed earnings
Dollar General lost 2.2% after earnings miss estimates and the outlook narrowed.
The retailer reported adjusted earnings of 89 cents a share, missing Wall Street’s forecast of 94 cents. Sales of $10.2 billion, up 5% from a year earlier, exceeded the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion.
Dollar General narrowed its fiscal 2024 earnings-per-share outlook. The company now expects EPS in the range of $5.50-$5.90, compared with the previous estimate of $5.50-$6.20.
Related: Analyst is "increasingly pessimistic" about Dollar General stock
Dollar General's real estate projects included opening some 575 new stores in the U.S. and remodeling 2,000.
Kelly Dilts, financial officer, said the projects aimed to enhance customer experience and boost incremental sales growth.
HP Enterprise pops on Morgan Stanley upgrade
HP Enterprise added 1.4% midday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to overweight from equal weight and raised its price target to $28 from $23, according to thefly.com.
Morgan Stanley says HP Enterprise's proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks is compelling in the short term. The firm highlights that Juniper is emerging from inventory digestion while gaining new cloud customers.
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The analyst says this acquisition could act as a catalyst for HP Enterprise's stock performance. By integrating Juniper, HP Enterprise is positioned to benefit from potential earnings growth and revaluation of its shares.
Juniper Networks is an AI-networking-products provider.
In early 2024, HP Enterprise announced the acquisition of Juniper Networks in an all-cash transaction valued at $14 billion. The deal is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, pending regulatory approvals.
Related: Veteran fund manager delivers alarming S&P 500 forecast
