Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Charter Communications, Liberty Broadband — Cable operator Charter Communications has agreed to acquire Liberty Broadband in an all-stock deal. Charter stock rose 3.6%, while Liberty Broadband fell about 5%. Cava Group — Shares of the Mediterranean chain jumped 1.6% after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter results. Cava’s earnings per share of 15 cents beat the consensus estimate of 11 cents from analysts surveyed by LSEG, and revenue of $244 million beat expectations of $234 million. Rocket Lab — Shares of the space infrastructure company soared 28.4% after Rocket Lab reported third-quarter sales of $104.8 million. This exceeded analysts’ expectations and reflects a 55% year-over-year increase. The company also announced its first customers for its Neutron vehicles and predicted fourth-quarter sales to be in the range above analysts’ expectations. Maplebear — Shares fell about 11% after Instacart’s parent company’s fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization guidance fell short of Street expectations, according to FactSet. Meanwhile, Maple Bear’s sales and final profit both exceeded analysts’ expectations for the third quarter. Skyworks Solutions — Semiconductor shares fell 4.5% after Skyworks Solutions reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results. The company expects revenue in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.08 billion for the period, compared with the $1.09 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Flutter Entertainment — Shares of the online gambling company rose 7% after a better-than-expected third-quarter report. Flutter generated 43 cents per adjusted share on revenue of $3.25 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected earnings of 10 cents per share and revenue of $3.07 billion. Flutter said its U.S. division, which includes FanDuel, saw revenue increase 51% year-over-year. Spotify Technology — Shares of the music streaming platform rose 11.4% after Spotify’s fourth-quarter profit forecast beat analysts’ expectations. The company also had strong monthly active user numbers in the third quarter, totaling about 640 million, an 11% increase from the same period last year and beating analysts’ expectations of 639 million, according to FactSet. However, Spotify’s third-quarter earnings and revenue were lower than expected. Rivian Automotive — Shares rose 13.7% after the automaker announced a joint venture with Volkswagen Group in a deal worth $5.8 billion, making it the first Volkswagen model to feature Rivian’s software and electrical architecture. It could appear as early as 2027. Amgen — Shares rose 0.9%. The drug company said it found no link between the use of Maritide, an experimental weight loss injection, and changes in bone density. Amgen fell 7% in the last session after analysts cited additional data from early-stage trials showing the highest doses of Maritide were associated with decreased bone density. SoundHound AI — The voice recognition stock plummeted nearly 17.1%. SoundHound announced 2024 revenue guidance of $82 million to $85 million, but analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for $82.6 million. The company posted an adjusted loss of 4 cents per share in the third quarter, compared to Street expectations for a loss of 7 cents per share. Spirit Airlines — Shares soar after the Wall Street Journal reported that the low-cost carrier could file for bankruptcy within weeks following failed merger talks with rival Frontier Group Holdings. It plunged more than 59%. — CNBC’s Sarah Ming, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Jesse Pound, Yun Li, Lisa Kai-Lai Han and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
