Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Toyota — The stock added 1.3% before the bell upon news that the automaker planned to reduce its holdings in automotive components manufacturer Denso to 20% from more than 24%. Toyota plans to redirect this capital to improve its efforts in electric vehicles. AstraZeneca — The pharmaceutical company gained almost 2% in premarket trading after TD Cowen listed the stock as a top pick for 2024. Analyst Steve Scala’s price target implies a potential upside of 35.9% from Tuesday’s close. “AZN’s outlook is one of the strongest in pharma, yet the valuation is on par with the pharma sector average,” he wrote. Hormel Foods — Shares lost nearly 2% after the food processing company posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that came in below analyst expectations. Hormel reported adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share on $3.2 billion of revenue, lower than the 44 cents per share on revenue of $3.26 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Foot Locker — Shares jumped 12% after the footwear retailer posted third-quarter earnings and sales Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations and said it expects better same-stores sales this year than it previously did. Adjusted earnings came in at 30 cents per share on revenue of $1.99 billion. Analysts were expecting 21 cents per share on revenue of $1.96 billion, according to LSEG. Petco — Shares of the pet retailer plummeted 17% after reporting a third-quarter loss of 5 cents per share. Analysts had anticipated the company would earn 2 cents per share on revenue of $1.51 billion, according to a LSEG survey. The company’s revenue of $1.49 billion also disappointed. Dollar Tree — Shares of the discount retail chain shed as much as 2% in early morning trading. Despite reporting earnings of $1.02 per share, excluding items — which was more than the $1.01 analysts polled by LSEG were expecting it would earn — the company’s revenue of $7.31 billion fell below expectations of $7.4 billion. Workday — Shares of Workday, an enterprise cloud provider, rallied nearly 10% after the company posted strong third-quarter results. Workday’s adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share on $1.87 billion of revenue were above the $1.41 per share on $1.85 billion of revenue analysts were expecting, according to LSEG. NetApp — The data infrastructure stock rose more than 11% after reporting fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.58 per share on $1.56 billion of revenue, higher than the $1.39 per share on $1.53 billion of revenue analysts polled by LSEG were expecting. The company also raised its guidance for both its third-quarter and full-year earnings. CrowdStrike — Shares of the cybersecurity company gained 2.7% after it reported positive third-quarter earnings and raised its fourth-quarter forecast. CrowdStrike earned 82 cents per share after adjustments on revenue of $786 million. The results topped estimates of 74 cents per share on revenue of $777 million expected by analysts, according to LSEG. The company also expects higher earnings and revenue for its fourth quarter. General Motors — Shares of the automaker jumped 9% in premarket trading after GM announced a $10 billion stock buyback plan and hiked its quarterly dividend by 33%. The company also reinstated its guidance following the auto workers strike. Okta — After selling off on word of an October cybersecurity breach and a subsequent downgrade by JMP Securities , shares of the software company trimmed losses Wednesday morning. The stock was off about 2% before the bell. The company, which was slated to report its third-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, posted its results early. Its adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share on $584 million of revenue was higher than the 30 cents per share on $563 million of revenue analysts polled by LSEG had been expecting. Phillips 66 — Shares of the oil company added about 6% before Wednesday’s opening bell after Elliott Management announced it had taken a $1 billion stake in the company. The U.S. hedge fund also plans to seek as many as two board seats, sources told CNBC’s David Faber. — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
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