Here’s a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading: Rocket Lab — The aerospace company’s stock price surged more than 16%, a new 52-week high. The two spacecraft were designed, built, integrated and tested by the UC Berkeley Space Science Laboratory and NASA Rocketry Laboratory. BAVARIA, Nordic — Shares of the Danish biotech surged more than 16% after it submitted data to the European Union’s drug regulator on expanding use of its MPOX vaccine among adolescents. Chief Executive Paul Chaplin told CNBC that expanding approval to those ages 12 to 17 is critical to combating outbreaks of new strains of the virus. H & R Block – Shares of H & R Block rose more than 16% after the tax services provider’s fiscal fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations, boosted its dividend and authorized $1.5 billion in buybacks. H & R Block also released its fiscal 2025 forecast, reflecting another year of revenue growth. Bayer – The German life sciences company won a lawsuit claiming exposure to its Roundup herbicide and herbicide can cause cancer, sending its shares up more than 10%. The move follows accusations that Bayer-acquired Monsanto violated state law by failing to add a cancer warning to its Roundup label. JD.com — Shares of the Chinese e-commerce provider rose more than 5% after stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. JD.com’s second-quarter earnings per share excluding items increased 74% year-on-year to 9.36 yuan, while analysts surveyed by LSEG expected earnings per share to be 6.07 yuan. Price cuts have attracted cost-conscious consumers, driving solid performance growth. Applied Materials — The semiconductor equipment maker fell 3% despite reporting better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. The company earned $2.12 per share on revenue of $6.78 billion. Fourth-quarter guidance was also in line with expectations. The stock is up 51% in the last year. Amcor — Packaging inventories fell more than 5% after sales slowed last quarter. Amcor reported net sales of $3.54 billion for the quarter, down from $3.67 billion a year earlier and below analysts’ expectations of $3.57 billion, according to StreetAccount. Amcor experienced sales declines in both rigid and flexible markets. Coherent — Shares of Coherent rose 3.1% after the electronics maker’s fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street expectations. Coherent earned 61 cents per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.31 billion, above the 60 cents per share on revenue of $1.28 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Sphere Entertainment — The live entertainment stock rose 6.2% after JPMorgan upgraded its rating to “overweight” from “neutral.” JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the company’s Las Vegas venues have become “a mainstay in the destination travel market” for travelers and artists. Sphere also said it should be able to open international venues. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Samantha Subin, Yun Li and Pia Singh contributed reporting.
