In midday trading, several companies were making headlines for various reasons. EVgo, an electric vehicle charger company, saw its shares soar by 55% after receiving a $1.05 billion conditional loan from the Department of Energy. JPMorgan also upgraded EVgo to overweight based on its utilization rate compared to peers and its owner-operator model. Hims & Hers Health, a health and wellness platform, experienced a nearly 14% drop in shares after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the shortage of popular weight loss drugs from Eli Lilly had been resolved. Joby Aviation saw shares drop more than 7% after a previous day’s surge following an investment announcement from Toyota to support the certification and production of its electric air taxi.
Levi Strauss, a denim maker, saw its stock dip more than 7% after trimming its full-year revenue outlook and posting weaker-than-expected revenue for the third quarter. The company is also considering selling its Dockers business, which has been underperforming. Wolfspeed, a semiconductor manufacturer, experienced a 6% drop in shares after being downgraded by Mizuho to an underperform rating. The company cited slowing global electric vehicle sales in the next two years and increasing competition from China as potential headwinds. On the other hand, Nvidia, a chipmaker, saw its shares advance more than 3% after CEO Jensen Huang revealed strong demand for its new Blackwell artificial intelligence chips, with production on schedule to ship in the fourth quarter.
Stellantis, an automotive company, saw shares fall nearly 4% to a new 52-week low following a downgrade to equal weight from overweight by Barclays. The downgrade was based on concerns about the firm’s inventory issue in the US and declining market shares in both the EU and US. In contrast, Palantir Technologies, a software stock, rose nearly 3% after announcing a partnership with Edgescale AI to deliver Live Edge, a platform utilizing artificial intelligence for various industries. Additionally, utility stocks including Vistra and Constellation Energy saw jumps in shares of more than 6% and 4%, respectively, after Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned the tech giant’s consideration of using electricity from nuclear power plants for its data centers. Investors view these companies as key supporters for the growth of tech companies utilizing artificial intelligence technologies.
Overall, these companies were experiencing fluctuations in their stock prices for various reasons such as partnerships, product announcements, financial outlook adjustments, and market performance. While some companies saw significant gains following positive news such as investments and strong demand for products, others faced challenges such as downgrades, underperformance in specific business segments, and market share concerns. Investors will continue to monitor these companies closely to assess their performance and make informed decisions about their investments in the future.
