(Updated with Amazon/iRobot, Western Digital, Amgen)
Aug 5 (Reuters) – Top stocks to watch on Friday on Wall Street where futures open down 0.66% for the Dow Jones, 1.01% for the Standard & Poor’s-500 and 1. 33% for the Nasdaq:
* TESLA shareholders voted in favor of the board’s recommendations on most of the proposals at the annual meeting on Thursday, including the re-election of directors and the share split by three, but rejected proposals focusing on the environment and governance. The title took 0.44% in pre-market trading.
*WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY announced a net loss of $3.4 billion in the second quarter and a slight drop in revenue and presented a new strategy to merge streaming service HBO Max with Discovery+. The stock fell 9.5% in pre-market trading.
* AMAZON will acquire IROBOT for about 1.7 billion dollars, announced Friday the manufacturer of autonomous vacuum cleaners, which climbed 19.5% in pre-market.
* LYFT – The ride-hailing group forecast adjusted operating profit of $1 billion for 2024, banking on a rebound in demand after reporting record second-quarter profit. The stock rose 8.5% in trading before the market opened.
* AMGEN released quarterly revenue of $6.59 billion on Thursday evening, slightly above consensus, and confirmed its annual adjusted profit forecast.
* WESTERN DIGITAL posted a drop in quarterly revenue on Friday and said it expected it to be between $3.6 billion and $3.8 billion in the first quarter, below estimates provided by Refinitiv. The title yielded 6.3% in pre-market trading.
* DOORDASH raised its annual gross order value target on Thursday, as the meal delivery group does not foresee a slowdown in demand despite inflation. The title gained nearly 12% in pre-market.
* BEYOND MEAT – The agribusiness group specializing in plant-based meat substitutes lowered its annual revenue target on Thursday and announced job cuts due to the impact of inflation. The title lost 1.1% in pre-market trading.
* TWITTER described as “incredible and contrary to the facts” the allegations of Elon Musk who claims, in a document filed with a Delaware court, that he was tricked into signing the agreement to buy the social network.
* AMC ENTERTAINMENT HOLDINGS said on Thursday it would pay a special preferred stock dividend after posting a bigger-than-expected loss in the second quarter. The stock fell 9% in pre-market trading.
* VIRGIN GALACTIC, specializing in space tourism, has announced that it has once again postponed its first commercial flights from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2023. The stock fell by 12.3% in pre-market trading.
* VISA and MASTERCARD said on Thursday they had suspended their ties with the advertising arm of MindGeek, owner of the Pornhub site, after US justice raised questions about the possibility that payment card specialists may have facilitated child pornography.
* Google, a subsidiary of ALPHABET, has been asked by Nigeria to block the use of YouTube and live streams by banned groups and terrorist organizations in the country, Nigeria’s information minister said on Thursday.
* APPLE has asked suppliers to ensure that shipments from Taiwan to China comply with the latter’s customs regulations to avoid being checked, according to a report by Nikkei on Friday.
* DUKE ENERGY – Credit Suisse downgrades its recommendation on the value to “neutral” against “outperformance”.
* KELLOGG – Piper Sandler raises its stock recommendation to “neutral” from “underweight”.
* PARAMOUNT GLOBAL – JP Morgan lowers its recommendation on the stock to “underweight” against “neutral”.
(Written by Juliette Portala, edited by Laetitia Volga)