Before you call, check out the companies that are making headlines. Ulta — Shares of the beauty chain fell more than 1% after Jefferies downgraded the company from a “hold buy” rating. Analyst Ashley Helgans cited increasing pressure from rival Sephora as well as a “lack of newness” as two reasons for the change. Netflix — Shares fell nearly 6% after the video streaming platform posted weaker-than-expected revenue growth forecast for the full year and said it would no longer report quarterly subscriber growth going forward. Despite this, Netflix reported earnings and revenue for the first quarter. Shopify — Shares of the Canadian e-commerce company jumped 3%. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shopify to Overweight, citing confidence in the company’s growth potential and the potential for increased operating leverage. First Solar — Shares rose 1.5% after Wells Fargo raised its rating on the stock to outperform. The firm cited several catalysts for growth, including the expectation that the Biden administration will end tariff breaks and potential trade restrictions on Chinese panels. Sunnova Energy — Shares fell nearly 4% after Wells Fargo downgraded to equal weight. The bank believes that a higher rate environment over a longer term will be particularly detrimental to Sunnova’s upcoming debt maturities and limited liquidity. SLB — Energy stocks fell 1.7% despite a first-quarter report that was broadly in line with expectations. SLB reported adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents on revenue of $8.71 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected earnings of 75 cents per share on revenue of $8.69 billion. The company said North American revenue fell . Intuitive Surgical — Shares of the robotic surgery company rose 3% after reporting first-quarter earnings and revenue. Intuitive Surgical reported adjusted earnings of $1.50 per share last quarter, compared with an estimate of $1.41 by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Western Alliance – Shares fell 2% after the company missed earnings expectations in its latest quarter. Western Alliance reported earnings of $1.60 per share, compared with FactSet’s estimate of $1.64 per share. KB Home – Shares of the homebuilder rose 1.6% after announcing a share repurchase plan worth up to $1 billion. KB Home also said it would raise its quarterly cash dividend by 25% to 25 cents per share, payable May 23. Paramount — Media shares soared 10% after the New York Times and Bloomberg reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management were discussing the possibility of combining to acquire Paramount in a joint bid. This comes as Paramount is in talks to merge with production firm Skydance Media. Bentley Systems – French energy management and automation company Schneider Electric confirmed it is currently in advanced talks regarding a potential strategic deal with Bentley Systems, sending the software stock up less than 1%. Proctor & Gamble – The consumer products maker reported mixed results for its latest quarter, with earnings of $1.52 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.41 per share, according to LSEG. However, the company slightly missed revenue expectations, posting $20.20 billion compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.41 billion. Shares were little changed in premarket trading. American Express — Shares fell 1.5% even though the financial services company reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped FactSet estimates. American Express also confirmed that its full-year guidance will be in line with expectations. — CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Tanana Machil, Jessie Pound and Samantha Soobin contributed reporting.
