Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. GE Vernova — Shares of GE Vernova, the energy company spun off from General Electric last week, rose 5.4% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “neutral.” The company said investors should buy GE Vernova on the dip, adding that shares have fallen back since the spinoff, mainly due to technical and reflow selling, and are now trading at a discount. Tesla — Shares of the battered electric car maker rose 4% after Chief Executive Elon Musk said late Friday that Tesla will launch its long-awaited robotaxi design on August 8. TSMC – Global chip stocks rose nearly 2% on news. Arizona subsidiaries will receive up to $6.6 billion from the Biden administration to support U.S. semiconductor manufacturing as part of the Chip and Science Act. Eaton Corp. — Shares of Eaton Co. fell 1.9% after Wolf downgraded the electrical company to underperform on valuation grounds. Eaton, considered a beneficiary of the data center boom driven by artificial intelligence, has significantly outperformed the broader market this year. Ulta Beauty — Shares of Ulta Beauty rose 2.5% after Loop Capital upgraded its rating on the cosmetics stock to “buy” from “hold” and said the company’s results should improve in the final three quarters of the year. Loop said shares are likely to rebound after last week’s worst drop since 2020. Take-Two Interactive Software — Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software rose 2% after Citi upgraded the video game company to a buy rating and raised its price target, citing an attractive risk/reward balance. UiPath — Shares of the software company were up more than 2% in midday trading. KeyBanc was upgraded to overweight, saying “the market entry and leadership changes over the past two years are starting to bear fruit.” SoFi Technologies — Citigroup reinstates rating on the online personal finance company with a buy rating The company’s shares rose 2.8%. Citi cited the company’s moves to diversify its business and its “ability to continue attracting deposits” as reasons for its bullish stance. FAST — Shares of the cloud company rose 7.8% after Piper Sandler upgraded the company to overweight, citing the cloud company’s strong valuation and solid fundamentals as presenting an attractive risk/reward bias. Sociedad Quimica y Minera – U.S. shares of the Latin American lithium producer rose 5.8% after Jefferies upgraded its rating to buy from neutral. Jefferies said the stock’s valuation is attractive in the commodities space. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Brian Evans, Samantha Subin, Yun Li and Lisa Kailai Han contributed reporting.
