Midday Fly By: Disney slips despite Q1 beat, Devon to combine with Coterra

The major averages were broadly higher near noon as a dramatic reversal in the of gold eased. Wall Street is kicking off February with gains as solid factory data bolstered optimism. Data showed manufacturing activity expanded the most since 2022. While gold was down 4.5% near midday, it pared most of an earlier plunge. 

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Disney (DIS) reported better-than-expected Q1 results and provided its outlook for Q2 and FY26
• Oracle (ORCL) expects to raise $45B-$50B of gross cash proceeds in 2026
• Nvidia’s (NVDA) plan to invest $100B in OpenAI has stalled, The Wall Street Journal reported, though Bloomberg later reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s new OpenAI investment will be “huge”
• Devon Energy (DVN) and Coterra Energy (CTRA) agreed to merger in an all-stock transaction, implying a combined enterprise value of $58B
• Tyson Foods (TSN) reported Q1 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• William Blair upgraded Palantir (PLTR) to Outperform after 30% pullback
• Humana (HUM) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley
• McDonald’s (MCD) upgraded to Buy at BTIG after talks with franchisees
• Scotiabank downgraded Fortinet (FTNT) on less share optimism for 2026
• Best Buy (BBY) downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Ford (F) held discussions with Xiaomi (XIACF) over a partnership to help Chinese carmakers gain a foothold in the U.S., FT reports
• Alibaba (BABA) has delivered more than 100,000 units of the Zhenwu 810E, an ASIC for AI training and inference, surpassing those of its domestic rival Cambricon, SCMP reports
• A consortium led by KKR (KKR) is close to a deal to purchase ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, a global data center provider based in Singapore, in a deal that values the company over $10B, WSJ says
• Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking FCC approval to launch 1M satellites that will orbit the Earth and harness the sun to power AI data centers, Reuters says
• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will likely allow its shareholders to vote on its Netflix (NFLX) agreement in March, CNBC says

4. MOVERS:

• Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) gains after announcing it will acquire Peakstone Realty Trust (PKST) for $21 per share
• Perspective Therapeutics (CATX) increases after pricing 39.58M shares at $3.79
• Yext (YEXT) declines after announcing its CEO has withdrawn his previously announced proposal to acquire all shares of the company
• Eldorado (EGO) falls after announcing it will acquire Foran in a C$3.8B transaction
• XPeng (XPEV) lower after announcing 20,011 vehicles were delivered in January

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• Aptiv (APTV) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for FY26
• Revvity (RVTY) reported Q4 results, with CEO Prahlad Singh commenting, “We finished 2025 on a strong note”
• Napco Security (NSSC) reported upbeat Q4 results and raised its quarterly dividend
• Opera (OPRA) raised its Q4 revenue view
• Twist Bioscience (TWST) reported Q1 results and raised its guidance for FY26

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.89%, or 432.99, to 49,325.46, the Nasdaq was up 0.66%, or 154.36, to 23,616.18, and the S&P 500 was up 0.56%, or 38.55, to 6,977.58.