These Stocks Moved the Most Today: Applied Materials, Walmart, Strategy, Warner Bros., and More

Traders working at the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE)

Key Points

• Applied Materials posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue, and solid current quarter forecasts.
• Warner Bros. Discovery climbed as Paramount Skydance, Comcast, and Netflix reportedly prepare bids for the entertainment company.
• Nvidia stock gained ahead of the AI heavyweight’s third fiscal quarter earnings on Nov. 19.

Stocks were mixed on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite rebounded from a brutal selloff as worries over tech’s lofty valuations took a pause.

These stocks made moves:

Applied Materials recovered earlier losses and rose 1.3%. The chip equipment maker reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue after Thursday’s close, and forecast solid results for the current quarter, which ends in January.

Walmart was flat after the company announced longtime CEO Doug McMillon will retire next year. John Furner, the current CEO of Walmart U.S., will succeed McMillon on Feb. 1, the company said.

Warner Bros. Discovery gained 4%. Paramount Skydance, Comcast, and Netflix are all preparing bids for the entertainment company ahead of next week’s deadline, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Warner Bros., Paramount, and Netflix didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Barron’s. Comcast declined to comment.

Netflix, meanwhile, fell 3.6% ahead of a 10-for-1 stock split on Monday.

Nvidia reversed losses from the premarket session and rose 1.8%. Amazon.com has privately joined Microsoft in supporting legislation that threatens to further curb the chip maker’s exports to China, the Journal reported. However, investor optimism ahead of Nvidia’s fiscal third-quarter report on Wednesday appeared to be lifting shares.

Fellow artificial-intelligence heavyweight Palantir Technologies was up 1.1%. The stock has surged more than 131% this year.

Tesla rose 0.6% to $404.35. Shares closed below $400 for the first time since mid-September on Thursday. The electric-vehicle manufacturer’s stock tumbled after shareholders approved a trillion-dollar pay award for CEO Elon Musk on Nov. 6.

Apple fell 0.2%. Compared with its Mag 7 peers, Apple’s relatively limited spending on artificial intelligence had shielded it from an earlier selloff in AI-exposed stocks.

Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, declined 4.2% even as the market turned higher. The stock has slumped along with falling crypto prices and worries about over Strategy’s ability to service preferred dividends and debt interest costs.

Gap fell 0.6% to $24.15, even after Jefferies upgraded the clothing retailer’s stock to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $30 from $22. The new price target implies shares can rise 24% from their level as of Thursday’s close at $24.29.

Cidara Therapeutics soared 105% following news that Merck will buy the biotech in an all-cash deal worth $9.2 billion.

MP Materials gained 1.9% to $58.64. J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold with a $74 price target, down marginally from $75.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com and Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com