Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. Affirm Holdings – shares rose 11% after announcing that its “buy now, pay later” loans will embed Apple Pay as a purchase option. U.S. Apple Pay users on iPhone and iPad will be able to use the option later this year, the company said in a filing. General Motors — Shares of General Motors rose about 1.4% after the automaker announced a $6 billion stock buyback program. General Motors has also lowered its 2024 electric vehicle sales forecast due to the slow adoption of electric vehicles. The company plans to produce 200,000 to 250,000 electric vehicles this year, down from 200,000 to 300,000 previously. Apple — Shares of Apple rose more than 7% a day after the iPhone maker announced its artificial intelligence strategy at the Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple executives said Siri will take advantage of ChatGPT through Apple’s partnership with OpenAI and other updates. GameStop – The stock rose 22.8%, paring losses after recent losses. GameStop shares fell 12% on Monday, deepening losses on Friday after the company reported a poor earnings report and conducted Keith Gill’s first livestream in years. FMC Corp – Shares of the agricultural sciences company rose 4% after the company announced that former CEO Pierre Brondeau will return to his old role, effective immediately, replacing the resigned chief executive CEO and President Mark Douglas. Ronaldo Pereira was appointed President. The company also reiterated its second-quarter revenue and profit forecasts. Shopify – Shares of Shopify rose about 1.3% after JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave the e-commerce company an overweight rating, calling the battered stock “the kind of online sales you don’t want to miss.” The company said Shopify’s product breadth, ease of use and scale are unique competitive advantages that will drive its growth. DXC Technology – shares fell slightly after Reuters reported that Apollo Global and Kyndryl Holdings were jointly bidding for the IT services company. Reuters said the two companies’ bid for the information technology company ranged from $22 to $25 per share. Apollo fell 1.7% and Kyndryl fell about 0.7%. Southwest Airlines Co. shares fell about 5.6% after the airline announced it was willing to meet with Elliott. The activist management company owns a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest and has previously said it would push for leadership changes at the airline. Calavo Growers – Shares of Calavo Growers rose more than 8% after its second-quarter results beat expectations by a wide margin. CEO Lee Cole said “improving prices and margins in our core avocado business and tomato portfolio” contributed to the better-than-expected results. The company’s guacamole business also improved from the previous year. Academy Sports and Outdoors – The retail stock fell more than 3% after a disappointing first quarter and Bank of America downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. On an adjusted basis, Academy earned $1.08 per share, while analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.21 per share. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Lisa Kailai Han, Pia Singh, Sarah Min and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
