FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Top Midday Stories: Semiconductor Stocks Down After Trump-Xi Summit; Microsoft Gets Investment From Ackman

By

All three major US stock indexes were down while US Treasury yields were up in late-morning trading Friday, as investors consider developments from President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In company news, major semiconductor shares were down after the US-China summit failed to produce any major semiconductor agreements, Yahoo Finance reported. President Trump said China has not approved purchases of Nvidia's (NVDA) H200 AI microchips yet because "they want to develop their own," Bloomberg reported Friday. Nvidia shares were over 3% lower, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel (INTC) and ASML (ASML) shares were down 3.3%, 6.3% and 4.6%, respectively.

Bill Ackman said Friday on X that his hedge fund, Pershing Square, has made a significant investment in Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft shares were up 3.5%.

Applied Materials (AMAT) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings late Thursday of $2.86 per diluted share, up from $2.39 a year ago, and above the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.68. Revenue was $7.91 billion, up from $7.10 billion a year ago, and above the FactSet consensus of $7.68 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company said it expects adjusted EPS of $3.16 to $3.56 on revenue of $8.45 billion to $9.45 billion. Analysts expect $2.89 and $8.14 billion, respectively. The firm expects its semiconductor equipment business to grow more than 30% in 2026, up from its previous guidance of over 20%, according to the transcript of the company's earnings call. Applied Materials shares were little changed.

Shares of Cerebras Systems (CBRS) were down 4% Friday after rising over 98% in the previous day following its Nasdaq debut.

Blackstone (BX) and CD&R are in the preliminary stages of exploring offers to acquire Magnum Ice Cream (MICC), Reuters reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Blackstone shares were down 3.0%, while Magnum was up 9%.

Price: $227.99, Change: $-7.75, Percent Change: -3.29%

Related Articles

Wire

Aardvark Therapeutics' Investigational New Drug Application for ARD-101 Put on Clinical Hold by FDA

Aardvark Therapeutics (AARD) said late Thursday the US Food and Drug Administration placed a full clinical hold on its investigational new drug application for ARD-101 to treat hyperphagia associated with Prader-Willi Syndrome.The hold applies to all ongoing clinical studies under the IND, the company said, adding that it is in discussions with the FDA for resolution of the clinical hold and to fix a path forward for the drug candidate.The company also plans to unblind clinical data from the HERO and OLE trials to assess the totality of efficacy and safety data, according to the company.The company said it had $91.2 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, adequate to fund operations into mid-2027.

$AARD
Wire

Sky Harbour Q1 Loss Narrows, Revenue Rises; Shares Fall After Hours

Sky Harbour Group (SKYH) reported a Q1 loss late Thursday of $0.16 per diluted share, narrowing from a loss of $0.19 a year earlier.Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of $0.13.Revenue in the three months ended March 31 rose to $8.73 million from $5.59 million a year earlier.Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $9.8 million.Sky Harbour shares fell 4.9% in after-hours trading.

$SKYH
Wire

KinderCare Learning Q1 Adjusted Earnings Fall, Revenue Rises; Shares Drop After Hours

KinderCare Learning (KLC) reported Q1 adjusted earnings late Thursday of $0.04 per diluted share, down from $0.23 a year earlier.Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a loss of $0.01.Revenue in the three months ended April 4 rose to $672.5 million from $668.2 million a year earlier.Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $669.1 million.The company boosted full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $0.15 to $0.25 from the previous forecast of $0.10 to $0.20. It affirmed the revenue outlook of $2.7 billion to $2.75 billion.Analysts expect EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $2.71 billion.KinderCare shares fell 6.2% in after-hours trading.

$KLC