Check out the companies making headlines before the market opens. Ulta Beauty – The cosmetics retailer’s shares rose a whopping 13% in premarket trading after a regulatory filing revealed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway acquired a stake valued at $266 million in the second quarter. The bet is relatively small for Berkshire, whose stock portfolio is worth more than $300 billion, so it’s possible Buffett’s surrogates Ted Weschler and Todd Combs are behind the stake. Walmart – The stock rose 7% after the retailer beat Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations and raised its full-year forecast, citing healthy consumers. The company reported adjusted earnings of 67 cents per share on revenue of $169.34 billion. Cisco Systems – Shares rose 6% after the networking company beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter estimates and announced plans to lay off 7% of its workforce. The company said it is executing a restructuring plan that will add $1 billion in pretax charges to its financial results. Tapestry – The owner of Coach and Stuart Weitzman saw its stock rise 5% on strong quarterly results. Earnings came in 4 cents above estimates. Tapestry also beat revenue estimates. Nike – The athletic apparel company’s stock rose more than 4% after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management said it bought the stock in the second quarter. Pershing Square owned more than 3 million Nike shares at the end of June, according to a securities filing. Snowflake – The cloud stock fell 4% after Wells Fargo downgraded its rating to Equal Weight from Overweight. Wells Fargo said Snowflake’s premium multiple was becoming increasingly difficult to justify amid headwinds. Lumentum Holdings – The optics provider’s shares rose more than 14% on better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Earnings were 6 cents per share, beating FactSet’s estimate of 2 cents per share. Revenue also beat expectations. Alibaba – The Chinese internet giant fell about 4% after Alibaba missed expectations last quarter. LSEG said revenue was 243.24 billion Chinese yuan ($34.01 billion), below the 249.05 billion yuan expected by analysts. Net income of 24.27 billion yuan missed the consensus estimate of 26.91 billion yuan. Deere – The farm equipment maker rose 2.5%. Deere beat Wall Street estimates for its fiscal third quarter, reporting earnings of $6.29 per share on revenue of $11.39 billion. That beat analysts polled by LSEG’s estimate of $5.63 per share on revenue of $10.84. Robinhood – Robinhood gained 2% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to “buy,” citing an attractive entry point following the recent sell-off and earnings revisions. Nucor – Shares of the steelmaker rose about 1% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the shares to “overweight,” citing strong earnings growth potential in 2025 and 2026. Dutch Bros – Shares of the coffee chain rose 3% after UBS upgraded its rating to “buy” from “neutral.” The bank said concerns about Dutch Bros’ slowing growth appeared overdone and sees “invigorating growth potential” for the stock. – CNBC’s Yun Li, Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
