Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Discover Financial Services — The financial services stock dropped more than 7% after posting mixed fourth-quarter results. Discover topped revenue expectations but posted a decline in earnings from a year ago as it took a large provision for potential loan losses. The company earned $1.54 per share versus $3.74 per share during the same period last year. Hertz — The automotive rental company’s stock climbed about 6% following an upgrade to overweight from Morgan Stanley earlier on Thursday. Analyst Adam Jonas lauded Hertz’s recent decision to sell off about 20,000 electric vehicles from its fleet, which he says will help boost the stock moving forward. Apple — Apple shares rose more than 2% after Bank of America upgraded the tech giant to buy . The bank’s price target points to more than 20% upside. BofA cited a rebound in iPhone sales due to AI for the change. Spirit Airlines — The budget airline fell 5% amid continued fallout from its blocked proposed merger with JetBlue earlier this week. On Thursday, Citi downgraded Spirit to sell from neutral, citing the failed deal, and cut its price target to $4 from $13, suggesting 35% downside from Wednesday’s close. Week to date, Spirit shares have lost nearly 60%. Alaska Air Group — Shares gained about 1% premarket, attempting to recover losses that have accumulated since a fuselage blew out from a Boeing 737-9 MAX plan on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month. Shares have plummeted nearly 14% so far this year. On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it’s making progress on its inspections of Boeing 737-9 MAX planes. Grab Holdings — Shares of the Singapore-based food delivery and ride-hailing app rose more than 3% following an upgrade to overweight from JPMorgan. Analyst Ranjan Sharma underscored improving delivery margins and a reasonably attractive valuation as reasons for the upgrade. Kinder Morgan — Shares of the energy infrastructure company fell less than 1% after Kinder Morgan’s fourth-quarter revenue came in lower than expected. The company reported $4.04 billion in revenue, below the $4.41 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG. Kinder Morgan’s earnings per share and distributable cash flow were also down year over year. Fastenal — The industrial supplies company added 4% after posting fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded analyst expectations. Fastenal reported earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $1.76 billion, versus the 45 cents per share on $1.75 billion expected by analysts, according to FactSet. Microchip Technology — Shares of the tech manufacturer rose 4% following an upgrade to outperform from peer perform at Wolfe Research. “After two successive quarters of cuts and the negative preannouncement, we believe a lot has been done to de- risk the stock heading into F3Q results,” wrote analyst Chris Caso. Humana — The health insurance company lost more than 14% on Thursday after guiding for full-year 2023 adjusted earnings of $26.09 per share. This was down from both its prior guidance of at least $28.26 and FactSet’s estimate of $28.29. Plug Power — Shares of the beleaguered fuel cell company dropped nearly 15% after Morgan Stanley reiterated its underweight rating and $3 price target. Plug will need to use a substantial amount of its $1 billion at-the-market equity program it announced after market close on Thursday. Alcoa — Alcoa was little changed in the premarket after the aluminum producer reported its fourth-quarter results. The company said it lost 56 cents per share, excluding items, which was less than it lost a year ago. Revenue was in line at $2.6 billion. — CNBC’s Brian Evans, Michelle Fox, Fred Imbert, Jesse Pound, Pia Singh and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.
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