By Francesca Fontana
The Score is a weekly review of the biggest stock moves and the news that drove them.
Pfizer
An activist investor is taking aim at Pfizer.
Starboard Value has taken a roughly $1 billion stake in the drugmaker and wants the struggling company to make changes to turn its performance around, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Chief Executive Albert Bourla has been under pressure from investors to right the ship at Pfizer. The company overestimated future demand for Covid-related products after the pandemic subsided, and its other offerings haven't been able to fill the gap.
In addition, the company's first attempt at a weight-loss pill disappointed while competitors such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk found greater success.
Pfizer shares climbed 2.2% Monday.
Super Micro Computer
Super Micro Computer got a super boost.
The server maker announced positive shipment data Monday, saying that it recently deployed more than 100,000 graphics processing units with liquid-cooling solution to large AI factories.
The stock, which recently split 10-for-1, was hit last month after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department is probing the company following a critical report by an activist short-selling firm. In August, an annual filing delay also prompted a selloff.
Super Micro shares surged 16% Monday, making it the top performer in the S&P 500.
Alphabet
The U.S. hasn't broken up a company in 40 years. Will Google be next?
The Justice Department submitted a filing Tuesday that presented a federal court with potential options to remedy what a judge said was Google's unlawful monopoly in search. The remedies range from conduct restrictions to a breakup.
Google responded in a blog post that the Justice Department's initial proposal for reforming the search engine market is "radical and sweeping" and could have "negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America's consumers."
The company also faces the threat of breakup in a separate government lawsuit targeting its online-advertising business.
Parent company Alphabet shares slipped 1.6% Wednesday, the laggard of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks.
Delta Air Lines
The CrowdStrike fiasco weighed heavily on Delta's latest quarter.
The airline reported earnings that came in below analysts' estimates, in part because of a $380 million hit to sales resulting from flights canceled during the global CrowdStrike IT outage.
Expenses related to reimbursements and grounded crews totaled $120 million, even after accounting for the fuel savings of flying less. All in all, it led to its earnings per share coming in 26% lower than during the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, Delta continues to pursue compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the outage, Chief Executive Ed Bastian told The Wall Street Journal.
Delta shares lost 1.4% Thursday.
Tesla
Tesla's driverless robotaxi made a flashy debut -- but investors weren't impressed.
Chief Executive Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled the new autonomous Cybercab, with no steering wheel or pedals. He also announced the Robovan, designed to shuttle up to 20 people at a time.
Tesla's driverless taxi business will compete with services like Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors' Cruise, and ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft.
Musk said Tesla plans to start Cybercab production before 2027. He also left many questions unanswered, including business model specifics.
The unveiling got a chilly reception from investors, and Tesla shares dropped 8.8% Friday.
JPMorgan Chase
America's top banks kicked off earnings season with reassuring news.
Both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on Friday posted quarterly profits that fell from a year earlier, but by less than what analysts expected.
JPMorgan said profit decreased 2% to $12.9 billion, bolstered by lending profits and weighed down by increased losses in credit-card loans. At Wells Fargo, profit dropped 11% to $5.11 billion, dragged down by higher funding costs for customer deposits.
JPMorgan said the economy remains strong for both consumers and big companies, a sign that the Federal Reserve may have achieved a soft landing.
JPMorgan shares gained 4.4% Friday.
Our weekly markets news roundup is now part of the WSJ's What's News podcast. Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Check out What's News in Markets at wsj.com/podcasts or wherever you listen.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2024 17:19 ET (21:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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