Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Nucor, Sunrun, Affirm, Zoetis, Circle and more
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Steel stocks — Shares of steel producer Nucor jumped more than 3%. The company issued rosy guidance for its second-quarter earnings, calling for $2.55 to $2.65 per share, while FactSet consensus estimates sought $2.36 per share. In contrast, Steel Dynamics’ guidance fell short of Wall Street’s estimates, ranging from $2.00 to $2.04 per share, while analysts were looking for $2.73 per share. The stock slipped 1%. The moves follow the completion of the Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal . Shares of peer companies Cleveland-Cliffs and Reliance were little changed. Scholar Rock Holding — Shares jumped nearly 15% after the biotech reported its experimental drug showed it was able to help patients taking Eli Lilly ‘s obesity drug lose less muscle as they shed pounds. Lilly shares were down slightly. Affirm — The consumer finance stock rose 3% after Affirm announced the creation a new loan sale facility with Prudential’s PGIM Fixed Income business. Prudential will buy as much as $500 million of Affirm’s consumer loans at any one time, with a total investment of $3 billion over the next three years. Sunrun — Shares of the solar company rose 5% despite a downgrade to sector perform from outperform by RBC Capital Markets. The stock on Tuesday recorded its biggest one-day loss in its history amid a sell-off in solar names. Other solar stocks including Enphase Energy , which was up nearly 5%, and SolarEdge , which gained 7%, were also higher. Bausch Health — Shares climbed 8% after John Paulson, its nonexecutive chair, acquired 3.6 million shares of the pharma company’s stock. The purchase came on the heels of a $14.7 million purchase disclosed last week. Paulson now owns about 9% of the company’s outstanding stock. CERo Therapeutics Holdings — Stock in the immunotherapy company pulled back more than 30%. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the company’s acute myeloid leukemia drug CER-1236 an orphan drug designation . Shares rose more than 188% on that news. Chemours — The chemical stock rose 8% after an updated second-quarter forecast showed weakness in a key profit metric. Chemours said it expects consolidated adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, of $215 million to $225 million for the period. Wall Street expectations called for $236 million, according to FactSet. Regencell Bioscience — Shares dropped 26% after an eye-watering move higher this week . The Hong Kong-based developer of traditional Chinese herbal treatments has said it can treat childhood ADHD and autism. Regencell jumped 30% on Tuesday and soared 283% Monday, following a 38-for-1 stock split. It has gained more than 59,000% this year. Oracle — The software company gained more than 1% after Guggenheim raised its price target on the stock to the highest on the Street. Analyst John DiFucci said Oracle is “on the precipice of a narrative shift that has been decades of technology innovation in the making.” Zoetis — Shares of the animal health company slipped 3% following a downgrade at Stifel to hold from buy. The firm said it expects Zoetis’ revenue growth to decelerate further amid increasing competition. Korn Ferry — Shares of the consulting firm gained 9% after fourth-quarter results surpassed analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines. Korn Ferry earned $1.32 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $712 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a profit of $1.26 per share and revenue of $689.9 million. Circle Internet Group — Stock in the company behind stablecoin USDC advanced almost 16%, after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS bill . The legislation is the first of its kind and establishes federal guidelines for digital dollars that are pegged to the greenback. — CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sarah Min, Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Fred Imbert, Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.
