Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Clean Energy Fuels — Shares of Clean Energy Fuels surged more than 14% amid heightened chatter on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. The renewable natural gas company has a relatively small float at 66%, meaning the stock can be more easily manipulated, and about 8% of its float is sold short, according to data from FactSet.
Clover Health, ContextLogic, AMC Entertainment, Wendy’s — Some of the most popular Reddit stocks over the past few weeks lost ground on Wednesday as social media traders appeared to shift their focus to other ideas. Shares of AMC dropped nearly 10%, while Clover fell about 13%, ContextLogic dipped more than 3% and Wendy’s slid about 11%. Wendy’s was also downgraded to hold from buy by Stifel.
Lordstown Motors Corp — The electric vehicle company saw its shares fall more than 17% after it said Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it’s having trouble funding vehicle production and there’s “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep going. Bank of America kept a neutral rating on Lordstown, and RBC Capital Markets started coverage on it Wednesday with an underperform rating.
Campbell Soup Company — The food producer’s stock fell more than 5% in midday trading after it reported quarterly earnings of 57 cents per share, missing analysts’ estimates by 9 cents. The company cut its full year forecast and said it expects higher costs to hurt margins, even with price hikes planned for later this year.
Merck — Shares of the drugmaker gained more than 2% after the company said the U.S. government has agreed to pay about $1.2 billion for 1.7 million courses of its experimental Covid-19 treatment if it is authorized by U.S. regulators. Merck expects to have more than 10 million courses of the therapy available by the end of this year.
Abercrombie & Fitch — Shares of the clothing retailer added more than 1% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy from hold. Jefferies said Abercrombie & Fitch is experiencing brand elevation that is underestimated on Wall Street.
Fox Corp. — Shares of the media giant popped over 3% in midday trading after Wells Fargo upgraded its rating on the stock and said it could rally to $47 over the next 12 months. Wells said it is bullish on the company’s exposure to sports betting: “Our detailed sports betting scenario analyses indicate potential share price accretion of 17% to 34% over the next couple of years.”
— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens, Tanaya Macheel, Yun Li, Maggie Fitzgerald, Tom Franck and Jesse Pound contributed reporting
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