Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. Paramount Global — Shares of Paramount Global fell 2% after the media and entertainment company agreed to merge with Skydance Media. Skydance and its financial backers will invest more than $8 billion in Paramount and acquire Paramount’s controlling shareholder National Amusements. Morphic Holding — Shares jumped 75% on news that Eli Lilly and Company will acquire the biopharmaceutical company in a $3.2 billion deal. The deal will give Eli Lilly access to a portfolio of treatments Morphic is developing, such as drugs to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Affected by this news, Eli Lilly’s stock price rose 1.3%. Ideaya Biosciences — Shares of Ideaya Biosciences soared 19% after the precision oncology company announced positive results from a Phase 2 trial of its cancer treatment. Monotherapy dose expansion is being developed for the treatment of patients with urothelial carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer. SolarEdge — Shares of the energy company rose 12% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to neutral from underperform. While the company cited an attractive entry point, Bank of America said it was waiting for “a more tangible path to margin and cash flow recovery.” Corning shares rose 12% after it raised its second-quarter core sales guidance to $3.6 billion from $3.4 billion. Corning also said it expects core earnings per share to be at or “a little above” guidance of 42 cents to 46 cents. ServiceNow — Shares of the cloud computing company fell more than 4% after Guggenheim downgraded its stock to a sell rating, citing doubts about expectations for growth in its artificial intelligence business in the second half. Columbia Sportswear — The stock rose 3.7% after Stifel upgraded the stock to buy. The company sees positive revenue change potential as trends such as out-of-home engagement and a focus on health and wellness grow. Boeing Co. — Shares of Boeing Co. fell slightly after the planemaker agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud in connection with fatal 737 Max crashes, sparing Boeing Co. a trial. If the plea deal is accepted, Boeing will be labeled a felon, which could complicate its ability to sell products to the U.S. government, according to CNBC. Devon Energy — shares fell 2% after the company announced it would acquire Grayson Mill Energy’s Williston Basin operations. The company said the $5 billion cash-and-stock deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter and will increase its net acreage in the Williston Basin by 307,000 acres. Gilead Sciences — Raymond James upgraded Gilead Sciences to outperform, saying the biotech will achieve on the strength of its drug pipeline Growth over the years has seen the company’s shares rise 1.6%. —CNBC’s Samantha Subin, Pia Singh, Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
