Check out the companies making headlines in the midday trading: NVIDIA – The heavyweight chipmaker has raised geopolitical concerns as traders piled up in stocks near the session, recouping losses from a short sale caused by a tense exchange between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymiazelensky. This week, after artificial intelligence darling posted that its quarterly revenue for the most recent period was the lowest in two years, the stock has lost momentum, increasing concerns about tariffs, export controls and hard competition that will hurt stocks this year. Crypto Stocks – Stocks related to Bitcoin prices rose on Friday after cryptocurrency went positive on Friday, thanks to aid that the latest personal consumption expenditure price index was released in line with forecasts. Bitcoin has been below the $80,000 level for the first time in three months. Coinbase and MicroStrategy stocks added 3.5% and 6.4%, respectively. Minor Mala Holdings won around 6%. Dell Technologies – PC maker poured 4.7% after its fourth quarter revenue error. Dell reported quarterly revenue of $23.93 billion against an LSEG consensus estimate of $245.6 billion. Adjusted earnings of $2.68 per share exceeded analysts’ forecast of $2.53 per share. Voya Financial – New York-based insurance and investment company rose 2.8% after Morgan Stanley upgraded Voya from equal weight to overweight. The company said since Voya’s full-year revenue mistake in 2024, management has taken steps to improve the company’s performance and set a strong growth profile for the company after 2026. AES – The energy utility company’s stock accounted for around 11.7%, in the year-on-year results that beat analysts’ expectations. In 2024, the company acquired $2.14 per share, adjusted with revenue of $12.28 billion. Analysts voted by FactSet were expecting a profit of $1.91 per share against revenue of $12.13 billion. Asia Stocks – Hong Kong’s Hangsen index fell 3.3% on Friday, with US stocks in Chinese companies falling after the Chinese president vowed retaliation against President Trump’s threat of imposing an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on March 4. Automakers Li Auto and Nio have also declined. Duolingo – Stock in the online language learning platform plunged nearly 17% after Duolingo’s guidance on EBITDA adjusted for the current quarter fell below analyst expectations. However, subscribers and revenue for the fourth quarter still broke forecasts. NetApp – High-tech companies fell 15.6% behind NetApp’s softer revenue printing than expected in the third quarter. According to LSEG, NetApp reported revenue of $1.644 billion below the estimated LSEG consensus estimate of $1.69 billion by analysts. Adjusted earnings of $1.91 per share were announced in line with estimates, but the company’s fourth quarter guidance was based on analyst forecasts between $1.94 and $1.99 per share. Soundhound AI – Stocks rose approximately 17.5%. The voice recognition company posted fourth quarter revenue of $34.5 million, surpassing the $33.7 million fact set consensus estimate. It also increased its full-year revenue guidance to the $157 million and $177 million range. Autodesk – The stock slipped around 2.9% after the software company announced it was planning to fire 1,350 employees, or 9% of its workforce. Autodesk also delivered a fourth-quarter result that beats Wall Street estimates, posting adjusted earnings of $1.64 billion, earnings of $2.29 per share, while analysts surveyed by LSEG sought adjusted earnings of $2.14 per share and $1.63 billion. Walgreens – The struggling drugstore chain stock price fell 4.9% behind the downgrade from Deutsche Bank to sales. According to a Financial Times report, Sycamore Partners is planning a three-way split for the Walgreens Boots Alliance. The computer products company’s shares fell 4.7% after Logitech International – Bank of America downgraded from Neutral to a decline in performance. The investment company said Logitech’s revenue growth could be slower in the coming years due to new tariffs from the US government. – Reported by CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Jesse Pound, Lisa Han, Sarah Minh, Yun Lee, Lisa Han and Michelle Fox.
