Apple Inc, (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock soared Thursday afternoon on the wings of two major upgrades. Needham analyst Laura Martin shifted her rating to Strong Buy after two years at Buy. Martin set her price target at $225, a premium of more than 15% on tech titan’s current price. Meanwhile, Dan Ives of Wedbush maintained his Outperform rating for the stock but raised his price target to $215 from $200. The upgrades come in anticipation of Apple’s March 25 event, where it is expected to unveil its video streaming service.
The stock led the Dow, finshing up 3.7% at $195.09.
Shares of Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) slipped in extended trade after the sneaker maker posted fiscal third-quarter earnings that just beat Wall Street analysts’ estimates and sales that met their expectations. The Beaverton, Oregon company reported adjusted earnings of $0.68, coming in ahead of the consensus of $0.65. Its sales, meanwhile, matched estimates at $9.61 billion. Nike continues to sell more sneakers in China as it faces competition in North America from Adidas, Skechers and other rivals.
Shares dropped 3% to $84.67 after the closing bell.
Shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) edged higher after the chipmaker beat Wall Street’s pared-back forecasts for revenue and profit in its fiscal second quarter late Wednesday. The Boise-based company posted net income on an adjusted basis of $1.97 billion, or $1.71 per share. These results represent a drop from its profit of $3.5 billion, or $2.82 per share in the year-ago quarter, but come in ahead of the Street’s consensus, which shifted lower over the quarter, of $1.67 per share.
Shares jumped 9.6% to close at $43.99.
Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) took a big hit after discontinuing the Phase 3 trials of its Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab. The moves comes after an analysis determined that the trials were unlikely to meet their primary endpoints, the company announced Thursday.
The share price plunged more than 29% to $226.88.
Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) rallied after a promising fiscal third-quarter report Thursday morning. The restaurant group posted earnings per share of $1.80 on revenue of $2.25 billion, beating the average analyst estimates of $1.75 per share on revenue of $2.24 billion. The Orlando-based company’s Olive Garden chain saw same-store sales jump 4.3% from the previous year.
The stock sizzled, up 6.9% to $116.09.
Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG) stock jumped after its fiscal third-quarter earnings came in ahead of expectations. The owner of brands like Slim Jim, Duncan Hines and Marie Callender’s reported earnings per share of $0.51 on revenue of $2.7 million, compared with expectations of $0.49 EPS on revenue of $2.8 billion. Revenue increased year over year thanks in part to a price increase.
Investors gobbled up shares, driving the price up almost 13% to $25.82.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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