Earnings news provided the major theme during Wednesday's midday trading. Strong results boosted shares of Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG), while Land's End (NASDAQ:LE) advanced on a raised outlook. Meanwhile, shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell in the wake of its quarterly report.
Despite the focus on company financials, some other types of headlines gained attention as well. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) closed its acquisition of Slack. AT&T's (NYSE:T) Xandr unit reportedly could find a new home. And Lexaria Bioscience (NASDAQ:LEXX) reported some good pre-clinical results related to COVID treatment.
Interpublic reported a quarterly profit of $0.70 per share. This beat expectations by $0.27 per share, thanks to 23% revenue growth. IPG jumped 11% in Wednesday's midday trading to set a new 52-week high.
Lands' End also got a boost from earnings-related news, The clothing retailer raised its forecast for the year, saying that Q2 results have been tracking ahead of expectations. The company now sees Q2 revenue of $380-$385M, above the current consensus of $350.5M.
On the news, LE jumped nearly 15% in intraday trading. The advance also allowed shares to reach a fresh 52-week high. LE has doubled since the beginning of the year and is up 415% since the same period last year.
Dragged down by the earnings report, NFLX fell 4% during Wednesday's intraday action.
Salesforce has officially made its massive work-from-home bet. The company finalized its $27.7B acquisition of Slack. The deal, originally announced in December, cleared antitrust hurdles last week. CRM gained fractionally during Wednesday's midday trading.
To another M&A headline, this one dealing with a potential sale. According to a report in Axios, India's InMobi might represent a buyer for AT&T's struggling Xandr unit. T ticked up 0.8% on the news.
Meanwhile, Lexaria posted a massive gain on news of strong pre-clinical results. The company said the data, compiled as part of a study on rats, point to the potential for its DehydraTECH drug delivery system for a possible COVID-19 therapy.
Spurred by the news, LEXX jumped 44% in midday action.