Take a look at the businesses making headlines earlier than the bell. Microsoft — Shares have been up about 2% after the tech large elevated its quarterly dividend by 10.7% to 83 cents per share. The brand new dividend is payable Dec. 12. The corporate additionally accepted a brand new $60 billion share repurchase program. SolarEdge Applied sciences — Shares fell greater than 6% after Jefferies downgraded the photo voltaic firm to underperform from maintain. The agency sees rising home competitors and excessive stock ranges abroad placing stress on SolarEdge. Intel — The inventory jumped roughly 7% after the chipmaker introduced it’s making a separate entity for its foundry enterprise , a construction that may enable the unit to have its personal board and lift outdoors funding. Dell Applied sciences — The private computing and know-how inventory added 2% after Mizuho Securities initiated protection with an outperform score. The agency mentioned Dell is a market chief with a strong provide chain and is gaining share in synthetic intelligence servers. Shopify — Shares of the e-commerce inventory gained 2.6% after Redburn Atlantic upgraded Shopify to purchase from impartial. Shopify ought to proceed gaining market share because the U.S. social e-commerce market seems poised for explosive development over the subsequent few years. Flutter Leisure — Shares ticked barely larger after Flutter Leisure, the web sports activities betting firm behind FanDuel, mentioned it is shopping for Playtech Plc’s Italian playing enterprise Snaitech S.p.A. for €2.3 billion, or $2.56 billion, in money. AppLovin — The cell software program firm rose greater than 2% after UBS upgraded shares to purchase from impartial. “We have now been warming to APP’s execution on the gaming alternative for some time … and consider the [e-commerce total addressable market] may drive upside to our above St. estimates,” UBS mentioned. Gannett — Citi upgraded the newspaper firm to impartial from promote, sending shares larger by 4%. “In 1H24, Gannett made stable progress slowing the speed of topline declines. If traits proceed, the agency might generate flattish income development in 4Q24 or early 2025. This may occasionally end in a number of enlargement,” the financial institution mentioned. — CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Sarah Min, Sean Conlon and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
