Fans arrive to Madison Square Garden before the game between the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks on February 23, 2021 in New York City. For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Madison Square Garden reopened its doors at limited capacity.
Here are the companies making headlines on Wall Street.
MSG Entertainment – The parent company of Madison Square Garden announced Friday that it is buying media company MSG Networks in an all-stock deal. The companies said in a release that the combined entity would be better positioned to take advantage of the expansion of sports betting. Shares of MSG Entertainment fell more than 9%, while those for MSG Networks lost 7.6%.
Nio – The U.S.-traded shares of the Chinese electric vehicle stock fell 4.8% after Nio announced that it was idling one of its production plants for five days. The company cited the global semiconductor shortage as a reason for the pause and lowered its guidance for first-quarter deliveries.
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase – Most bank stocks rose slightly after the Federal Reserve announced that the companies could resume buybacks and raise dividends after June 30. Shares of Bank of America rose 2.7%, while JPMorgan added 1.7%.
Snowflake – Shares of the data company gained more than 8% after Evercore ISI initiated coverage with an outperform rating. "We believe there are few software firms over the last decade that have as large a growth opportunity as Snowflake," the firm wrote in a note to clients. Evercore has a $311 target on the stock, which is about 36% above where shares traded Friday.
ViacomCBS, Discovery – Shares of the media companies continued to tumble as Wall Street worries about the valuation of these television and streaming stocks. The class B shares of ViacomCBS fell more than 27% after being downgraded to underweight from equal weight by Wells Fargo, while the class A shares Discovery also dropped more than 27% after the company was downgraded to equal weight from overweight by the same firm.
Money Report
BowX Acquisition – The special purpose acquisition company jumped 20.3% after news that it will take office-sharing company WeWork public in a deal worth $9 billion, including debt. The valuation is a far cry from the $47 billion that WeWork was valued for a traditional IPO in 2019.
Root – Shares of the auto insurer jumped more than 11% after a bullish call from Citron Research. The research firm said Root is a "disruptive tech company" and that it's been misunderstood. Citron recently ditched its short-selling strategies after the GameStop mania and is now only focused on the long side.
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Progress Software – The tech stock jumped 5.9% after reporting stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter. Progress reported earnings of 91 cents per share on revenue of $129 million. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were projecting 78 cents in earnings per share and $128 million in revenue.
