Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Chewy — Shares popped 7.8% after Jefferies initiated coverage of the pet e-commerce company with a buy rating and $27 price target, which suggests about 25% upside from Monday’s close. Jefferies said Chewy should benefit from increasing pet e-commerce penetration and premiumization of pet products. Affirm — Affirm’s stock jumped 15% after the company announced an expansion of its “buy now, pay later” partnership with Walmart to over 4,500 of the retailer’s self-checkout kiosks. Nikola — Shares of the electric vehicle company rebounded on Tuesday, jumping 6.8% a day after the company’s founder Trevor Milton was sentenced to four years in prison for wire and securities fraud. The stock had fallen more than 9% on Monday. Kenvue — Shares of consumer health company Kenvue, which was spun from Johnson & Johnson earlier this year, gained 3.5% a day after it received a favorable court ruling in a product-liability case related to Tylenol. JPMorgan wrote in a Tuesday note that the ruling “effectively collapses the plaintiffs’ case,” and that shares would trade up and potentially re-rate after the ruling. Coinbase — Shares rose 2.6% after Compass Point reiterated a buy rating on the stock and substantially hiked its price target, saying that the rise in crypto prices should benefit the crypto exchange. The firm sees about 30% upside from here. Macy’s — Shares of the retail giant traded close to 2% higher after Morgan Stanley reiterated the stock as equal weight and lifted its price target to $21 per share from $15. The firm said that the reported buyout bid from Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital to acquire Macy’s “makes for a floor in the stock, for now.” Sunnova , Sunrun — Solar stocks Sunnova and Sunrun added roughly 13% and 6% following upgrades to overweight from Piper Sandler. The firm highlighted the potential easing of benchmark interest rates as a positive catalyst for the solar energy sector. UBS — U.S.-listed shares of the Swiss bank climbed more than 5% to a 52-week high. The leg up follows a report from the Financial Times that activist investor Cevian Capital built a stake valued at 1.2 billion euros. First Solar — The stock, which jumped nearly 6% on Tuesday, was named one of TD Cowen’s top utility solar ideas for 2024. The firm said that U.S. utility fundamentals appear more encouraging based on satellite imagery data and a “healthy pipeline,” which supports First Solar. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals — Shares added 2.5% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the biotech firm to overweight from equal weight. The firm said that it has more confidence in Rhythm’s treatments and raised its terminal growth rate as a result. Enphase Energy — Shares of Enphase Energy popped more than 6%. The move comes a day after the manufacturer of microinverters said it would lay off about 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Brian Evans, Samantha Subin, Lisa Kailai Han and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
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