A man passes a Hewlett Packard display at a technology conference
Jim Young | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
HP — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway became the largest shareholder in the computer hardware company, sending shares up 16.4%. Berkshire Hathaway bought nearly 121 million shares, or about an 11% stake worth roughly $4.2 billion based on Wednesday’s closing.
Lamb Weston Holdings — Shares soared 6.2% after the food processing company reported quarterly earnings. Lamb Weston showed profit of 73 cents per share, beating consensus estimates of 44 cents. It reported revenues of $955 million, compared to analyst estimates of $969 million.
Constellation Brands — The stock jumped 4.3% after the producer of beer, wine and spirits reported an earnings beat. Constellation saw earnings of $2.37 per share and revenues of $2.1 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $2.10 per share and revenues of $2.02 billion.
JD.com — News that founder Richard Liu stepped down from the CEO position sent shares down 4%. Liu will remain on as chair. Company President Xu Lei will take over as CEO.
Levi Strauss — Shares fell nearly 5% despite Levi’s better-than-expected quarterly report. The jeans maker posted a quarterly profit of 46 cents per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. Analysts looked for earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $1.55 billion. Levi said supply chain constraints hurt sales by roughly $60 million during the latest period.
Costco — The big-box retail chain jumped 3.2%, a day after it reported robust same-store sales in March, which jumped 17.2% in the last five weeks ending April 3.
CDK Global — Shares jumped 11.4% after the provider of automotive retail technology agreed to be acquired by Brookfield Business Partners in an $8.3 billion deal. CDK Global shareholders will get $54.87 per share in cash, implying a 12% premium over Wednesday’s closing price for CDK.
Ford — The automaker dropped 5.2% after Barclays downgraded Ford to equal weight from overweight. The ongoing semiconductor shortage will keep Ford from rebounding after a rough start to 2022, Barclays said in a note to clients.
— CNBC’s Hannah Miao and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
