Movers & Shakers: Meta’s stock up on report of more layoffs, and WeightWatchers telehealth deal gives it access to promising obesity drug market

These were among some of the more prominent stocks on the move in Tuesday trading:

Stock gainers

Biopharmaceutical company ADial Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s stock ADIL soared 22%, after the company issued an update on its regulatory strategy for AD04, its lead compound for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
WW International, also known as WeightWatchers WW, saw shares rise nearly 15% after the weight-management company reported fourth-quarter results and confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that it had agreed a deal to buy Sequence, which offers telehealth appointments with doctors, for $106 million in cash and stock. Crucially, the deal will give it access to obesity drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, that have become highly popular.
Visteon Inc.‘s stock VC rose 3% after the car-parts maker said its board authorized a share buyback program of $300 million that will expire Dec. 31, 2026. The maker of hardware and software for cars said it expects to fund the buybacks using cash on hand and future cash flow generation.
Dick’s Sporting Goods’s stock DKS jumped 9% after the retailer beat analysts’ earnings estimate for the fourth quarter and delivered better-than-expected full year earnings outlook.
Dish Network‘s stock DISH rose about 7% in a rebound from its Monday close, where it finished the session at a 14-month low. The stock led gainers in the S&P 500 SPX.
Meta Platforms‘s stock META rose slightly after a report from Bloomberg late Monday that it is poised to lay off thousands more staff members, starting later this week. Late last year, the social media giant cut 11,000 jobs in a bid to flatten its structure after a sharp drop in advertising revenue.
Squarespace‘s stock SQSP was on the rise after reporting fourth-quarter revenue and providing a fiscal first-quarter forecast that beat Wall Street estimates.

Stock decliners

Cara Therapeutics’s stock CARA CARA sank 31% after it posted disappointing fourth-quarter results. The biopharmaceutical company reported a loss of 56 cents per share, narrower than the same period last year of a loss of 63 cents per share, but wider than Wall Street expectations of a loss of 34 cents per share.
Social media and dating app Grindr shares GRND sank 7%after reporting lower net income in the fourth quarter. The company’s revenue rose to $54.5 million from $45 million a year earlier but net income dropped to $5.2 million compared with $6.5 million a year earlier. Executives said they expect a 25% revenue increase in fiscal 2023 from about $195 million in 2022.
RV maker Thor Industries ‘s stock THO fell 3.8% after the company missed its second-quarter profit target and cut its 2023 earnings forecast to $5.50 to $6.50 a share from $7.40 to $8.70 a share previously. Wall Street analysts currently expect Thor Industries to earn $7.53 a share, according to estimates compiled by FactSet. The company’s second-quarter profit was 49 cents below consensus.
Shares in cloud-computing firm Nutanix NTNX were down 7.5%after it warned in fiscal second-quarter results that it may not be able to file its 10-Q as scheduled due to an issue with “certain evaluation software from one of its third-party providers.” The results however beat revenue expectations of $465 million, posting a revenue increase of $486.5 million from $413.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Sector spotlight

Airline stocks were mostly higher, after the Justice Department blocked JetBlue Airway’s Corp.’s planned takeover of Spirit Airlines Inc. SAVE. The news was expected after JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that he was expecting to be sued. The news propped up the stock of United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL, Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL Attorney General Merrick Garland said the deal would have pushed up airfares.