Here are the day’s biggest movers:
Stock gainers:
Vera Bradley Inc.’s stock
VRA,
rose 10% after the handbag and accessories company swung to a profit in its fiscal second quarter from a loss a year ago and swept past earnings estimates.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s stock
EBS,
rose 1% after the company said its Narcan nasal spray — an antidote for an opioid overdose — will be available without a prescription starting in September.
Insulet Corp.’s stock
PODD,
rose 7% to lead S&P 500 gainers, after Chief Executive James Hollingshead purchased 5,500 shares at an average price of $181.41.
Nvidia Corp.’s stock
NVDA,
rose 1.8% after closing Tuesday at a record high. Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes said he sees a case to be made that the stock could be “cheap,” at least on a relative basis.
Lyft Inc.’s stock
LYFT,
soared 6.6%, after lead independent director Sean Aggarwal scooped up $1 million of the ride-hailing company’s stock, joining Chief Executive David Risher, who made a similarly sized purchase earlier in the month.
Shares of Alkermes PLC
ALKS,
jumped 10% Wednesday after the Dublin-based biopharma company announced a settlement of patent litigation with Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.
TEVA,
relating to Vivitrol, a treatment for alcohol and opioid dependence.
Cannabis stocks rallied sharply in afternoon trade after a Bloomberg report that the Department of Human Health and Services is recommending that the DEA reschedule cannabis. The plant is currently a Schedule I drug, which classifies it along with heroin. The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF
MSOS
rose 18.5%, while Canopy Growth Corp.
CGC,
jumped 15%, Tilray Brands Inc.
TLRY,
rose 8% and Curaleaf Holdings Inc.
CURLF,
was up 16%. Green Thumb Industries Inc.
GTBIF,
was up 17.6% and Trulieve Cannabis Corp.
TCNNF,
was up 15.6%.
Stock decliners:
Box Inc.’s
BOX,
stock tumbled 9% after the applications developer reported quarterly results that barely topped analyst revenue and earnings estimates but offered weak guidance.
Shares of HP Inc.
HPQ,
skidded 8% to lead S&P 500 decliners following an earnings report highlighted by a third straight revenue miss and warnings of a challenging economy for the PC and printer maker.
Ambarella Inc. shares
AMBA,
dropped 19% after the video-chip maker issued a disappointing forecast.
VinFast Auto
VFS,
the Vietnam electric vehicle maker with a small float, fell 5% after skidding 44% on Tuesday.
Shares
BF.B,
of Brown-Forman Corp. took a beating after the spirits company, which is the parent of the Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand, reported a surprise drop in fiscal first-quarter profit and sales that came up a bit shy.
MasterCraft Boat Holdings Inc.’s stock
MCFT,
slid 12.6% after the powerboat maker provided a fiscal 2024 outlook that was well below forecasts, citing “significant uncertainty” regarding retail demand given expectations of an economic downturn.
Outlook Therapeutics Inc.’s stock
OTLK,
tumbled 84% after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a Control Response Letter for the company’s Biologics License Application for a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration.
Shares
FGEN,
of FibroGen Inc. slid 28% after the company said its investigational treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy failed to meet its primary and secondary endpoints in a clinical study.
