Berkshire takes stake in UnitedHealth, Sandisk reports Q4 beat; Morning Buzz

The major averages were mixed near noon as traders digest new hedge fund holdings following yesterday’s 13F filing deadline. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer sentiment fell back to 58.6 in the preliminary report for August amid renewed tariff and inflation angst.

On the global stage, traders are looking ahead to the high-stakes summit between President Trump and Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska. Expectations of progress on Ukraine and a potential thaw in global tensions are underpinning cautious optimism across equity markets.

Looking to commodities, gold prices are up fractionally following yesterday’s declines. Oil prices, meanwhile, are marginally higher.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists, and subscribe to the Fly By on YouTube.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• UnitedHealth (UNH) surged after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) disclosed a new $1.6B stake in the company
• Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) and Bank of America (BAC) were trading lower after Berkshire lowered its holdings in them
• Applied Materials (AMAT) reported upbeat Q3 earnings and revenue but provided a lower-than-expected Q4 outlook
• Sandisk (SNDK) reported better-than-expected Q4 results and provided guidance for Q1
• The U.S. is in talks to use Chips Act funds to acquire an Intel (INTC) stake, Bloomberg reports

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Target (TGT) downgraded to Underperform at BofA on sales and margin risks
• Salesforce (CRM) upgraded to Neutral at DA Davidson following underperformance
• Wingstop (WING) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James
• Cisco (CSCO) downgraded to Hold at HSBC, here’s why
• Applied Materials (AMAT) downgraded to Hold at Summit Insights and BofA after earnings

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• FuzzyPanda Research is short Red Cat (RCAT) as it believes “that the best time to short a paid stock promotion is when it finally has to deliver results”
• The 2024 cyberattack at UnitedHealth’s (UNH) tech unit impacted 192.7 million people, Reuters reports
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is offering clients a stake of Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management for $1M-$20M, Bloomberg says
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stopped the paperwork necessary to finalize the selling of electric vehicle credits, holding up $100M of revenue for Rivian (RIVN), WSJ reports
• Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and Bank of Montreal (BMO) have placed their Canadian payments joint venture up for sale, in a deal that may value the business as highly as $2B, Reuters says

4. MOVERS:

• Precigen (PGEN) advances after FDA approved the company’s Papzimeos, an immunotherapy for respiratory papillomatosis
• Hesai (HSAI) gains in New York after reporting Q2 results and securing a new lidar design win from Toyota (TM)
• Nu Holdings (NU) higher in New York after reporting quarterly results
• Metals Company (TMC) lower in New York after reporting Q2 results and announcing its cash balance is sufficient to meet its needs for at least 12 months
• ASP Isotopes (ASPI) falls after entering into a Joint Venture MoU with Fermi

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• BitFuFu (FUFU) reported Q2 results, with CEO Leo Lu commenting, “We delivered strong financial results in the Q2”
• Flower Foods (FLO) reported Q2 results and cut its guidance for FY25
• Globant (GLOB) reported Q2 results and provided guidance for Q3 and FY25
• Evolv (EVLV) reported Q2 results and raised its guidance for FY25
• Gambling.com (GAMB) reported Q2 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.20%, or 91.36, to 45,002.62, the Nasdaq was down 0.44%, or 94.99, to 21,615.68, and the S&P 500 was down 0.28%, or 17.79, to 6,450.75.