Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Monday, May 8th.
Shares of PacWest (NASDAQ:PACW) increased in premarket trade, adding to gains made on Friday after the Beverly Hills-based bank slashed its dividend and declared its business to be “solid.”
Peer Western Alliance (NYSE:WAL), located in Arizona, also had a gain of over 10%, building on a gain of about 50% at session’s conclusion.
Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), two companies exposed to cryptocurrencies, saw their shares fall. The actions follow Binance’s lifting of a block on Bitcoin withdrawals that had been imposed due to high withdrawal volumes and rising processing costs.
Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) After Warren Buffett said that his investment behemoth Berkshire Hathaway will not attempt to acquire complete control of the oil company, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) saw a modest decline.
Shares of Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) increased after Stifel changed the cloud software provider’s rating from hold to buy.
Shares of Tupperware Brands (NYSE:TUP) dropped more than a tenth after the manufacturer of reusable plastic containers announced it was exploring its strategic alternatives with investment bank Moelis & Co LLC. Prior to this, the corporation reported a first-quarter net sales decline of 18%.
Following Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) announcement that it had agreed to acquire Israeli automotive chip manufacturer Autotalks, the shares of the semiconductor company declined somewhat.
Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (NASDAQ:AY) increased after National Bank Financial upgraded its assessment of the power generating industry from Sector Perform to Outperform.
Big stock buybacks
Apple announces a $90 billion stock repurchase and dividend increase.
A new programme to acquire up to $90 billion of Apple’s common shares was announced (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Stronger-than-anticipated iPhone sales were a key factor in the company’s Q1/23 earnings beat, and it also announced a 4.3% dividend increase. iPhone sales grew to $51.33 billion, above the average expectation of $48.84 billion and accounting for more than half of all sales.
shares of MetLife plummet as $3 billion buyback programme is announced
In addition to the $202 million still available under its existing authorization announced in May 2022, MetLife (NYSE:MET) has authorised a fresh $3 billion share repurchase programme.
On Thursday, shares fell more than 7% after the business released weaker-than-anticipated Q1 financial results.
Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) disclosed a new authorisation for share repurchases of up to $1.5 billion, which will start when the present $1 billion buyback programme is finished and be carried out by December 31, 2028.
CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Another $500 million in stock buybacks was announced by CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO). At the end of March, the company’s available buyback capacity was about $172 million.
Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) The Board of Directors of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) approved an extra $500 million for the company’s share repurchase programme.
Hot insider trades
Peter Nolan, a director at Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), purchased 13,160 shares at a cost of $75.9882 per, totaling over $1 million.
CEO of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Patrick Gelsinger purchased 8,200 shares, valued at $249,324, between $30.385 and $30.4184 per share
Karen Lynch, the CEO and president of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS),
purchased 14,000 shares for about $1 million at a price of $69.7548 per share.
Keurig Dr. Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) Several insider transactions totaling $1.3M were made by the CFO, Chief Legal Officer, and two other individuals at Keurig Dr. Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP).
ADT (NYSE:ADT) The CEO, CFO, and three other insiders of ADT (NYSE:ADT) purchased the shares of the firm during the week’s decline. The purchases cost close to $670,000 in total.
Experts top biotech picks for today market
Watch Eyenovia (NASDAQ:EYEN) on Monday as the company’s medication candidate for treating pupil dilation (mydriasis), MydCombi, is scheduled for PDUFA review.
The company has received favourable evaluations from Wall Street analysts as well, with 5 buys, 1 hold, and 0 sells.
Biotherapeutics Protalix
Another PDUFA occurs today. PDUFA assessment of Protalix Biotherapeutics’ (NYSE:PLX) PRX-102 drug, a potential treatment for Fabry disease, is scheduled for Tuesday.
Analysts have given the business 3 buy recommendations, 5 holds, and 0 sell ratings before to the decision.
Therapeutics Seres
The conference call and Q1 results announcement from Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MCRB) are slated for Tuesday before the market opens.
Analyst recommendations for the stock are 12 Buys, 1 Hold, and 2 Sells.
Roche and Sarepta Therapeutics
It will be important to keep an eye on Sarepta Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:SRPT) and its partner Roche’s (OTC:RHHBY) OTC-listed ADRs on Friday. Roche is a multinational pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Switzerland.
The current analyst consensus for SRPT is 31 buys, 7 holds, and 1 sell.