Midday movers: Costco, Boeing, and more

(Updated - December 15, 2023 12:04 PM EST)

Investing.com -- Main U.S. indexes rose Friday on continued optimism that interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year will help the U.S. economy rebound strongly.

Here are some of the biggest U.S. stock movers today:

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) stock rose 3.8% after the company's quarterly results topped estimates thanks in part to cost-focused shoppers snapping up its cut-price options for groceries, prompting the discount retailer to roll out a special dividend to shareholders.

Darden (NYSE:DRI) stock fell 1.4% after the restaurant company, which owns seafood chain Red Lobster, provided full-year guidance below expectations, expecting hard-hit customers to eat more at home.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) stock rose 3.7% after BofA Securities upgraded the chipmaker to ‘neutral’ from ’sell’. CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Thursday that the company has no plans to spin out its contract chip manufacturing business.

Alteryx (NYSE:AYX) stock rose 1% after Piper Sandler upgraded its stance on the analytics automation firm to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’, citing its revenue potential.

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) stock rose 5% and Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) climbed 3.4%, after Jefferies started coverage of the solar companies with ‘buy’ ratings, seeing in times of uncertainty “better risk/reward for companies with exposure to utility-scale, strong backlog and balance sheets.”

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) stock fell 1.5% despite the homebuilder beating quarterly revenue estimates as it sacrificed margins in order to generate this revenue beat.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) stock fell 12% after the children's publishing and media company reported a 4% decline in revenue in its important back-to-school quarter and also reduced its fiscal-year earnings guidance.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) climbed 3.4%, adding to recent gains. Analysts at UBS said they see further upside and raised their price target for the stock to $315 from $275 per share.

Broadcom (Nasdaq: NASDAQ:AVGO) climbed 3.3%. The stock is up 26% since it reported earnings on December 7th. Its price target was raised to $1250 by BofA this morning.

Additional reporting by Louis Juricic