Twitter, Sirius XM, Nektar Therapeutics and more

Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:

Twitter (TWTR) – Twitter shares jumped 4.5% in the premarket after the company’s board of directors adopted a so-called poison pill to prevent Tesla (TLSA) CEO Elon Musk from increasing his stake in the company past 15%. That follows Musk’s $54.20 per share bid for Twitter last week.

Sirius XM (SIRI) – The satellite radio operator’s stock fell 2% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded it to “underweight” from “equal-weight.” Morgan Stanley said auto market headwinds would negatively impact Sirius XM, and also noted the stock’s outperformance over the past year.

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) – The drugmaker’s shares cratered 24.4% in the premarket after it halted all trials involving its key cancer drug. The experimental treatment did not produce the desired results in multiple studies.

Bank of America (BAC) – Bank of America reported quarterly profit of 80 cents per share, 5 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also topped Street forecasts on strength in consumer lending. Bank of America shares rose 1.1% in the premarket.

Bank of New York Mellon (BK) – The bank beat estimates by a penny a share, with quarterly earnings of 86 cents per share. Revenue was essentially in line with analysts’ predictions. Its results were helped in part by higher interest rates.

Synchrony Financial (SYF) – The financial services company reported quarterly profit of $1.77 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 a share. Revenue came in above estimates as well.  Synchrony’s board also approved the addition of $2.8 billion to the company’s stock buyback plan as well as a 5% dividend increase to 23 cents per share.  Synchrony added 1% in the premarket.

Southwest Gas (SWX) – The utility said its board had authorized the review of a full range or strategic alternatives, after receiving what it called an “indication of interest” well in excess of investor Carl Icahn’s $82.50 per share offer.

Didi Global (DIDI) – Didi shares posted an 18.3% premarket loss after the China-based ride-hailing firm reported a 12.7% drop in fourth-quarter revenue compared to a year earlier. Didi also said a shareholding meeting would be held on May 23 to vote on delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

Wendy’s (WEN) – Wendy’s fell 1.8% in the premarket after BMO Capital downgraded the restaurant operator’s stock to “market perform” from “outperform.” BMO said Wendy’s is less well-positioned for a tighter consumer spending environment than some of its industry peers.

Progressive (PGR) – Progressive was downgraded to “underweight” from “neutral” at Piper Sandler, which thinks the insurance company is likely to miss consensus earnings estimates due to too much optimism surrounding rising auto insurance rates. Progressive fell 1.6% in the premarket trading.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-in-the-premarket-twitter-sirius-xm-nektar-therapeutics-and-more.html