The exterior of Sweetgreen’s Naperville location
Source: Sweetgreen
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
JetBlue Airways — JetBlue Airways declined 1.3% in premarket trading after the company said it would end its partnership in the northeastern U.S. with American Airlines and focus on Spirit Airlines. Shares of American Airlines declined about 0.9%, while shares of Spirit Airlines popped 2.3%.
Meta Platforms — The social media giant added about 2% in premarket trading after the launch of Threads, a direct competitor to Twitter. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on his Threads account early Thursday that 10 million people had signed up for the platform in seven hours after launching.
Sweetgreen — Sweetgreen jumped more than 4% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The firm cited the salad chain’s growing foot traffic, as well as its plans to automate operations.
Keurig Dr Pepper — Shares added nearly 2% after being upgraded by Morgan Stanley to overweight from equal weight. The Wall Street firm said the stock’s valuation was too low amid highly visible refreshment beverage trends.
Bank of America — Shares of Bank of America were little changed in premarket trading after the bank announced that it was hiking its quarterly divided to 24 cents per share from 22 cents. The increase of roughly 9% puts the bank’s dividend yield at about 3.3%, based on Wednesday’s closing price. The hike comes days after Bank of America said it was discussing with the Federal Reserve differences in the results between the central bank’s stress test and an internal version of the test.
Microsoft — Microsoft added 0.8% in the premarket. Morgan Stanley hiked its price target on the tech giant, saying artificial intelligence could bring the market valuation of the firm to above $3 trillion.
Plug Power — Plug Power shares rose 1.8%. Citi initiated coverage of the firm with a buy rating, saying it could become one of the largest green hydrogen suppliers in the world.
Textron — Citi initiated coverage of aircraft maker Textron with a buy rating, saying the stock is ready for a comeback this year. Shares rose nearly 0.9% in premarket trading.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Michelle Fox and Jesse Pound contributed reporting