Investing

Monday's 10 Premarket Winners and Losers Include Duke Energy, Moderna and Splunk

Paul Ausick

Published: February 14, 2022 8:13 am

Last Updated: February 14, 2022 9:12 am

The three major U.S. equities indexes closed lower Friday, as tensions rose regarding a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Crude oil prices jumped, and inflation concerns lingered, especially by how much and when the Federal Reserve would begin hiking interest rates and running off assets. The Dow Jones industrials closed down by 1.4%, the S&P 500 down by 1.5% and the Nasdaq by 2.8%. Among S&P 500 stocks, losers outnumbered winners by about four to one in Friday trading. Ten of 11 sectors closed lower, with the biggest declines coming in technology (3.1%), consumer cyclicals (2.9%) and communications services (2.2%). The energy sector was the day’s only winner, closing up 2.9%.

At around 7:00 a.m. ET Monday morning, S&P 500 futures traded down about 0.8%, the Nasdaq was down about 1% and the Dow traded down by 0.7%.

Crude oil settled at $93.10 on Friday and traded down by around 0.3% in early trading Monday at $92.78. The 10-year/two-year U.S. Treasury note spread ended the day at 0.42%, essentially unchanged from Thursday’s settlement. The 10-year note settled at 1.943% and the two-year at 1.516% on Friday. The yield curve had narrowed by about 2 basis points in early trading Monday.

Here are the five S&P 500 stocks that closed with the largest gains on Friday: Newell Brands (up 11.07%), Baker Hughes (up 6.2%), Occidental Petroleum (up 5.65%), Newmont (up 5.5%) and Coterra Energy (up 4.87%).

Friday’s biggest losers among S&P 500 stocks were Under Armour (down 12.49%), AMD (down 10.01%), Xilinx (down 9.99%), Epam Systems (down 9.418%) and Illumina (down 7.59%).

Here are the Monday premarket winners and losers. Not all are S&P 500 stocks.

Among Monday’s premarket leaders is Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), which traded up by around 7.7%. at $123.35 in a 52-week range of $105.45 to $176.66. The Wall Street Journal on Friday cited unnamed sources who claimed networking giant Cisco Systems had made a $20 billion offer for the cloud software company. That is a premium of about 11% to Spunk’s market cap at Friday’s close. According to the report, “the offer was made recently and the companies aren’t currently in active talks.”

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) traded up by about 0.8%, in a 52-week range of $65.67 to $98.45. Micron stock rose added more than 10% last week on no particular news. Recent strength in other semiconductor stocks, along with a manufacturing glitch with Western Digital’s 3D NAND flash chips, fed the gains.

Allegro Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGM) traded up about 2.9%, at $28.33 in a 52-week range of $22.05 to $38.28. The sensor and ASIC maker reported better-than-expected results earlier this month and issued upside guidance. Shares have traded down 3% so far in February.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) traded up by about 3.6%, at $15.91 in a 52-week range of $14.95 to $23.00. These are the company’s non-voting Class C shares that closed Friday at a discount of about 14.2% to the Class A (UAA) voting shares. Investors have narrowed that gap to around 9.4% in premarket trading Monday.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) traded up by about 0.7%, at $100.44 in a 52-week range of $85.56 to $108.38. The utility giant’s dividend yield of 3.95% makes it a good safe haven in uncertain times.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) traded down about 4.1%, at $89.70 in a 52-week range of $66.38 to $304.10. The biotech company’s COVID-19 vaccine last week received interim approval for use in Singapore and a boost from anti-vaxxers in Germany who have signed up for the two-dose regimen of Nuxavoxid.

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) traded down by about 2.8%, at $156.85 in a 52-week range of $117.34 to $497.49. Biotech stocks are taking a hit generally following a report from Bloomberg that inflows to health care funds have slipped from around $5 billion a month in early 2020 to around $800 million.

Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) traded down about 2.5%, at $225.20 in a 52-week range of $133.82 to $291.48. The lithium miner had no specific news and is scheduled to report quarterly results after markets close on Wednesday.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: CZR) traded down about 2.6%, at $81.54 in a 52-week range of $68.00 to $119.81. The casino operator had no specific news.

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX) traded down about 0.8% to $67.52, in a 52-week range of $42.36 to $79.77. The lumber supplier said Monday morning that it has agreed to sell to its partner, Resolute Forest Products, two 50% stakes in joint ventures between the two firms.

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