These are the companies making headlines in midday trading. Viasat – Shares were up more than 8% after Viasat announced that the U.S. Space Force awarded it a multi-year contract to deliver a dual-band satellite system under the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global program. EchoStar – The satellite communications company gained more than 8% ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering slated for Friday. EchoStar holds a stake in SpaceX shares. General Dynamics – The defense contractor saw shares gain almost 5% on the back of an upgrade to buy from Jefferies. The firm said that General Dynamics’ investments are “paying off” and pointed to “continued strength of [near-term] results.” Jefferies’ new price target of $400 implies 17% upside from Wednesday’s close. Adobe – Shares of the software giant dropped nearly 5% and touched a fresh 52-week low. Adobe is slated to post its fiscal second quarter results after the bell. Analysts polled by FactSet anticipate earnings of $5.82 per share and revenue of $6.45 billion, with both numbers landing within the range of the company’s earlier guidance. Intel — The semiconductor company was double upgraded to buy from underperform at Bank of America, which cited the rising demand for central processing units amid the increasing focus on agentic artificial intelligence. Shares jumped 5%. Oracle — Shares tumbled 11% after the software giant shared plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to pay for its artificial intelligence buildout. However, the company reported an overall beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its adjusted profit forecast for the year. Chip equipment stocks — Oracle’s higher capital expenditure spending plans sent chip equipment stocks higher. Applied Materials and Lam Research climbed 7% and 8%, respectively. KLA rose almost 9% and ASML Holding added more than 5%. Navan — The stock popped 14% after the travel management platform guided for second-quarter and full-year revenue that came in above FactSet’s forecasts. Navan also reported a first-quarter non-GAAP earnings and revenue beat. Alcoa — The aluminum company added more than 2% following its 9.5% drop in the prior session. Morgan Stanley said the pullback Wednesday, due to pressure in Alcoa’s alumina business, was “overdone” and reiterated its buy rating on the stock. Space companies — Shares of space companies popped following Wednesday’s losses and ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering. Intuitive Machines rose 12%, while Redwire advanced 8%. Rocket Lab added 5%, and AST SpaceMobile gained 7%. Memory stocks — Chipmakers in the memory space climbed after the sector’s broad selloff Wednesday. Sandisk jumped 8%. Western Digital , Seagate Technology and Micron Technology each added around 4%. — CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Nick Wells and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.
