An exterior view of Party City store, who are closing their doors on July 08, 2020 in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Johnny Louis | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Intel — Shares of the chipmaker popped more than 8% after CNBC’s David Faber reported that CEO Bob Swan would step down from his post, effective next month. The company later confirmed the news. Intel has been struggling in recent years, losing market share to competitors such as AMD.
Airbnb — The vacation rental stock jumped more than 6% on Wednesday, building off an 8.6% rise in the previous session. The stock has had a volatile start to the year and is on track for its sixth day with a move of greater than 3% in 2021. Airbnb said it’s canceling and blocking future reservations in the Washington, D.C., metro area during the week of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Zoom Video — Shares popped more than 7%, continuing their rebound from recent losses. The popular stay-at-home bet, which rallied 395% in 2020, experienced weakness in recent weeks as investors rotated out of high-flying pandemic plays. The stock fell nearly 30% in December. The video conferencing company issued new shares to raise about $1.75 billion in cash Wednesday. CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Zoom is here to stay and the stock’s recent pullback may be over.
GameStop — The video came company soared more than 60% to a record after the company announced Chewy co-founder and former CEO Ryan Cohen is joining the board. Wednesday’s jump brought the stock’s week to-date-gain to more than 80%.
Party City — Shares tumbled more than 14% as the company gave weak guidance for its fourth quarter at an investor conference. The retail chain said the rapid surge in new coronavirus cases had a greater-than-expected impact on consumer behavior including reduced size of social gatherings.
General Motors — Shares continued to move higher after the company revealed several new projects earlier this week, including an electric shuttle and a flying car. Nomura Instinet upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and praised its electric vehicle strategy. The stock has gained nearly 12% this week alone.
Urban Outfitters – The retailer slid 6% after it said sales for the two-month period ending Dec. 31 declined 8.4% year over year. The company also announced the departure of CEO Trish Donnelly effective Jan. 31.
Target – Shares advanced to a new all-time high on Wednesday, before giving back those gains and trading about 1% lower. The move came after Target said same-store sales grew 17.2% over the holidays, with online sales more than doubling in November and December.
KB Home — The home construction company rallied more than 5% after KB Home reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. KB Home reported earnings of $1.12 per share on revenue of $1.19 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of 93 cents per share on revenue of $1.14 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Exxon Mobil — Shares of the energy giant rose more than 1% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. The firm said Exxon’s dividend is safe, echoing Morgan Stanley’s sentiment from its upgrade of Exxon on Monday.
Twitter — The social media stock jumped more than 2% after MKM Partners upgraded the company to buy from neutral, saying it’s poised to leave negative sentiment stemming from the pandemic and politics behind. The stock is down more than 11% in the new year as Twitter and other companies step up their efforts to rid their services of content that could lead to violence like the events of the insurgency at the Capitol. Twitter has permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account.
— CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald, Jesse Pound, Pippa Stevens and Fred Imbert contributed reporting.
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