Take a look at the companies making headlines in midday trading. Sarepta Therapeutics — Shares of the biopharmaceutical company soared 33% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved expanded use of the company’s gene therapy Elevidys to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The FDA traditionally approved the therapy for patients 4 years and older who are able to walk, with accelerated approval for those who are unable to walk. Hertz Global — Shares of Hertz Global rose more than 10% after the car rental giant expanded its bond offering to $1 billion. The company initially planned to raise $750 million to renew its fleet. Asana — Shares of Asana rose 10.5% after the software company announced a $150 million stock buyback program. Asana’s stock repurchase program is expected to end on June 30, 2025. The stock fell more than 2% for the week and was headed for its first weekly loss in nine weeks. One chart technician noted that Nvidia recently formed a “bearish engulfing” stock pattern, which typically indicates that previous upward momentum is waning. Nvidia stock is still up more than 150% year to date. Gilead Sciences — Shares of the pharmaceutical company rose 8.5% from the previous day and were up about 2%. Gilead announced Thursday that its twice-yearly vaccine to prevent HIV was 100% effective in a late-stage trial. LendingTree — Shares of LendingTree fell 2.4% after Bloomberg reported that hackers are auctioning consumer data stolen from online lending platforms. LendingTree was the victim of a cyberattack against cloud computing company Snowflake. Palo Alto Networks — Shares of Palo Alto Networks rose 2.4% after DA Davidson initiated a buy rating and named the company a top pick. DA Davidson said that the company is unique in multiple areas of cybersecurity and its total addressable market may more than double between 2023 and 2028. It fell 3% after a surge in the trading day. According to Reuters, the gaming industry has approached the company about a potential acquisition. While Boyd’s shares fell during Thursday’s trading session, the stock rose about 1% on Friday. Spirit AeroSystems — Shares of Spirit AeroSystems rose 6% after Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Boeing was close to a deal to buy back the supplier. —CNBC’s Alex Harring, Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han, Hakyung Kim and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
