Occidental Petroleum and Berkshire Hathaway are in the spotlight today. Occidental’s stock gained approximately 1% following Berkshire Hathaway’s announcement of its acquisition of OxyChem, Occidental’s petrochemical division, for nearly $10 billion in cash. In contrast, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares saw a slight decline of about 0.2%.
Fair Isaac experienced a remarkable rally, with its stock surging by 19%. This surge came after the company introduced a new system that provides mortgage lenders with direct access to FICO scores. However, this positive news had a ripple effect on credit bureaus, with both Transunion and Equifax experiencing a drop of 11% each.
In the real estate sector, Curbline Properties saw its shares rise by more than 2% after announcing a share repurchase program worth up to $250 million. This move is expected to enhance shareholder value and reflects confidence in the company’s future prospects.
Meanwhile, Celanese, a materials company, also enjoyed a boost, with shares climbing over 2%. This uptick followed an upgrade from Citi, which raised its rating from neutral to buy. The bank noted, “Despite the sluggish macro backdrop, we see continued self-help levers supporting some earnings growth into next year and divestitures helping to clean up the balance sheet.”
On the downside, Lithium Americas saw its shares fall roughly 4% after a downgrade from Canaccord Genuity, which shifted its rating from speculative buy to sell. The downgrade was attributed to the anticipated limited benefits from the company’s recently revised loan agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. Canaccord expressed concerns, stating, “We believe that the recent run-up in the stock price is overdone and does not accurately reflect the valuation implications of the revised deal with the DOE.”
In technology, Western Digital shares surged nearly 5%, building on an impressive 8.8% rally from the previous session. According to a report from Nikkei, CEO Irving Tan announced that the data storage company plans to invest $1 billion in Japan over the next five years, indicating strong growth prospects.
Lastly, Bloom Energy faced a setback as Mizuho downgraded the energy company from buy to neutral, resulting in a stock decline of about 2%. The Wall Street firm cited limitations in Bloom’s internal production capacity and suggested that the stock may be due for a pullback after an impressive 254% rally in the third quarter.
— Reporting contributed by CNBC’s Alex Harring, Liz Napolitano, and Yun Li.
