Here’s a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading: Delta Air Lines — Shares of Delta Air Lines fell nearly 5% after the airline forecast lower-than-expected third-quarter sales growth. The company also reported that second-quarter net profit fell nearly 30% from the same period last year. After the financial report was released, the share prices of major airline stocks American Airlines and United Airlines also fell by about 4.7% and 3.7% respectively. Shares of MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, rose more than 3% Thursday after the company announced a 10-for-1 stock split “to make MicroStrategy stock more accessible to investors and employees.” WD-40 – The metal lubricant maker’s shares rose about 3%. WD-40 reported total net sales of $155 million in the third fiscal quarter, a 9% increase from the same period last year. The company’s gross profit margin was also higher than the same period last year. Costco Wholesale — Shares of the members-only warehouse club fell more than 3%. A day earlier, the retailer announced it was raising membership fees for the first time since 2017. QuantumScape — Shares of QuantumScape surged about 31% Thursday after the company announced a deal with Volkswagen’s PowerCo battery unit to mass-produce its solid-state battery technology for the automaker. The deal replaces a previous joint venture between the two companies. SoundHound AI — Shares of SoundHound AI rose 5% after the company launched a voice assistant and said it is in production and will be integrated into its Stellantis car brand across Europe. Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall car brands will adopt the technology from this month. Conagra Brands — Conagra’s shares fell 2.6% after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $2.91 billion, missing analysts’ forecasts of $2.93 billion, according to FactSet. The company also issued soft guidance and called for annual organic net sales to decline 1.5% to be flat compared with last year. ConAgra also forecast full-year adjusted earnings below Wall Street expectations. Lantheus Holdings — The maker of radiopharmaceutical diagnostic products, shares rose 15%, extending gains from the previous session. The stock surged nearly 37% on Wednesday after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a rule targeting the cost of diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals. PepsiCo — Shares of the snack and beverage giant are hovering near the flat line after reporting mixed second-quarter results. PepsiCo reported adjusted earnings of $2.28 per share, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $2.16 per share. Revenue was $22.5 billion, below expectations of $22.57 billion. Tesla — Shares of the electric car maker fell 6% after Bloomberg News reported that the company plans to delay the launch of its robotaxis from August to October. Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, said Tesla delayed the major launch to give the project team time to build more vehicle prototypes. Homebuilding stocks – SPDR S & P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) surged more than 5% as June consumer price index reflected a monthly decline and raised hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Shares of Mohawk Industries, Builders FirstSource and DR Horton rose more than 6%. SEMICONDUCTOR STOCKS — Investors dumped some chips on some outperforming semiconductor stocks on Thursday. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell nearly 3%. Nvidia fell 3.7% and Advanced Micro Devices fell 2.5%. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han, Pia Singh, Tanaya Macheel and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.
