By Geoffrey Smith
Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Wednesday, February 19th. Please refresh for updates.
9:05 AM ET: Barrick Gold (NYSE:) stock rose 0.8%, hitting another three-year high, after hit their highest level since 2013 on expectations that the world’s central banks will further loosen monetary policy to offset the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the economy.
Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE:) rose 0.6% to its highest in three and a half years.
9 AM ET: Plug Power (NASDAQ:) rose another 8.9% to add to Tuesday’s 9.7% rise, as the hydrogen fuel cell company benefited from a surge of hot money being thrown at alternative energy stocks, squeezing what has been a heavily-shorted stock.
8:54 AM ET: Analog Devices (NASDAQ:) stock rose 5.2%, zeroing in on an all-time high, after the company raised its dividend by 15% on the back of a better-than-expected final quarter in 2019.
8:48 AM ET: Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock was up 6.7% at $858.40, nearing its previous record high, after Piper Sandler increased its target price to $928 a share. That makes it the only Wall Street house to have any upside in its target price.
The company said it expects Tesla (NASDAQ:) to make a big success out of energy generation and storage, alongside its electric vehicle business.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:) stock was up 0.1% after the company said it would abandon Makani, the power-generating kites business that was one of its ‘moonshot’ projects. Alphabet’s non-core ventures lost $4.8 billion last year, an increasingly expensive distraction from its main search and advertising businesses.
Devon Energy (NYSE:) stock rose 1.6% after raising its production guidance for 2020 and trimming $50 million off the top end of its guidance range for capital spending this year.
Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:) stock rose 3.3% after the oil and gas producer reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and upheld its guidance for the coming year, despite the weak start to 2020 for crude prices.
Groupon (NASDAQ:) stock fell 28.2% to a new all-time low after it said it plans to stop selling merchandise by the end of the year.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:) stock rose 6.9% after CEO Mark Tritton promised to “de-clutter” the company’s stores. The stock is still well below its level before last week’s earnings report, however.
