Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., speaks during the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Monday, May 7, 2018. The Build conference, marking its second consecutive year in Seattle, is expected to put emphasis on the company’s cloud technologies and the artificial intelligence features within those services.
Grant Hindsley | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Microsoft — Microsoft shares rose 2.4% in midday trading after the software giant confirmed that it will build more than 120,000 custom HoloLens augmented reality headsets for the U.S. Army. The contract will be worth $21.9 billion over 10 years and is considered a key revenue-generating achievement after years of research and development on the futurist product.
QuantumScape – Shares of the lithium-battery producer ticked up 9% after the company revealed that it met the requirements to close a $100 million investment by Volkswagen. The auto company is set to test QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal cells in their labs in Germany.
Western Digital – Shares of the chipmaker jumped 4.8% after it and Micron Technology are said to be exploring a deal to buy Japanese semiconductor firm Kioxia for about $30 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Ford — Ford slipped 1.5% after it said it’s planning for more downtime at several U.S. factories as a global shortage of semiconductors continues to interrupt production. The company said Wednesday that it would halt manufacturing at several plants throughout the U.S. and one site in Canada. Those locations produce an array of autos, including popular F-150 pickups and vans to the Ford Explorer SUV and Ford Escape crossover.
Nio — The China-based electric vehicle maker saw its shares rise about 2.7% after the company said it delivered 7,257 vehicles in March. That marked a 373% increase over the same month last year.
Wingstop – The restaurant company’s shares rose 6.4% after the company recently released preliminary results for its first quarter. The preliminary results showed that Wingstop’s domestic same-store sales are up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis, with digital sales surging by 63.6%.
CarMax — Shares of CarMax dipped more than 6% after the company missed revenue estimates in its quarterly report. The car company made $5.16 billion, below estimates of $5.17 billion, according to Refinitiv. CarMax also announced it would acquire the remaining part of Edmunds that it didn’t already own, in a cash-and-stock deal valuing the auto information provider at $404 million.
Micron — Shares of the chipmaker rose 4.6% after the company beat on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Micron earned 98 cents per share on revenue of $6.24 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 95 cents per share on revenue of $6.21 billion, according to Refinitiv. Micron also gave strong-than-expected third quarter earnings and revenue guidance.
— CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald, Tom Franck and Rich Mendez contributed reporting.
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