By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Wednesday, May 19th. Please refresh for updates.
Target (NYSE:TGT) stock rose 3.3% after the retail giant reported that its fiscal first-quarter sales rose 23%, helped by its curbside pickup service and an increasing return to physical stores by customers against the backdrrop of a widening vaccination campaign. .
Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) stock fell 2.5% despite the home improvement chain reporting a 25.9% jump in quarterly same-store sales. Impressive as this jump was it still lagged larger rival Home Depot 's (NYSE:HD) growth.
Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) stock rose 2.6% after the video game publisher posted strong results in the fourth quarter on strong pandemic-driven gaming demand.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) stock fell 2.1% after the airline trimmed its average core cash burn forecast for the second quarter, as it expects improving operating revenue to more than offset higher fuel prices. That said, it’s still expecting to lose in the range of $1 million to $3 million per day in the quarter.
Ford (NYSE:F) stock fell 0.3% after the auto giant revealed its new electric F-150 Lightning pickup during a visit Tuesday by President Joe Biden to the Michigan plant that will produce the vehicle.
Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) stock fell 5.7% with the cryptocurrency exchange raising $1.25 billion through the issuing of convertible debt, while the crypto assets in which it offers trading plunged in value due to new Chinese regulations.
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock fell 8% after the price of bitcoin fell below $40,000; the business analytics company has a large holding in the cryptocurrency.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) stock rose 0.3% after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded its stance on the cloud-based software company to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’, saying the pullback in tech stocks made this industry leader too cheap to pass up.
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) stock fell 2.2% after UBS downgraded its investment stance on the U.S. bank to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, saying after the recent rally it no longer looks cheap compared with its rivals.
JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) ADR stock fell 2.9%, weighed down by the wider market despite the Chinese e-commerce platform's first-quarter revenue beating expectations. An expanded product line-up helped lure in more users.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) stock fell 0.6% after a filing showed the world’s largest money manager has hiked its stake in Japan's SoftBank Group Corp to 5.2%.