Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Lululemon — Shares declined 1.3% after Wells Fargo downgraded the athleisure company to equal weight from overweight. The firm said Lululemon’s prior positive catalysts have already played out, and it forecasts more muted growth in 2024. Coinbase , MicroStrategy , Marathon Digital — Shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy gained 5.5% and 6.7%, respectively, as bitcoin advanced, passing the $41,000 mark to notch a 19-month high. Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms popped 8.5% and 8.9%. respectively. Spotify — Shares added 7.5% after the music streaming company announced it would lay off 17% of its workforce. The cuts amount to about 1,500 jobs, according to a source familiar with the matter. Uber Technologies — Shares of Uber Technologies jumped 2.2% and during the day traded at 52-week highs after the S & P Dow Jones Indices announced Friday that the ride-sharing company will join the S & P 500, in addition to Jabil and Builders FirstSource. The three stocks will replace Sealed Air , Alaska Air Group and SolarEdge Technologies . Shares of Jabil and Builders FirstSource slipped less than 1% each. Virgin Galactic — Shares of the space company plunged 17.5%. In an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday, British billionaire Richard Branson ruled out further investment in the space travel company. Branson said his business empire no longer has “the deepest pockets” in the wake of the pandemic. United Rentals — Shares dipped 2.3% after KeyBanc downgraded the equipment rental company to sector weight from overweight, citing a limited growth environment in fiscal 2024. Carvana — The online car retailer jumped 13.8% after JPMorgan upgraded shares to neutral from underweight. The Wall Street firm said Carvana has made progress cutting costs, while also boosting productivity. Alaska Air Group — The airline stock fell about 14.2% after the Seattle-based carrier agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. Alaska Air would pay $18 a share and take on $900 million in debt as part of the deal, the companies said Sunday. Hawaiian Air’s parent Hawaiian Holdings soared nearly 190%. General Motors — Shares of the Cadillac and Chevrolet maker jumped 2.2% after Mizuho Securities upgraded the company to buy from hold. The firm said the stock has bottomed and is poised for growth, particularly after the labor settlement with the United Auto Workers. Palo Alto Networks — Shares of the cybersecurity firm fell 3.2% Monday, as the stock took a break from a recent hot streak. Palo Alto’s shares have roughly doubled this year and are up 17% in the past month. Morgan Stanley recently said the stock has more room to run, even as Palo Alto became the first cybersecurity company to surpass $100 billion in market cap last week. — CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jesse Pound, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
