The Spotify logo on a smartphone arranged in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022.Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines in midday trading.Wayfair — Shares of the furniture retailer jumped 24.1% on Monday after Wayfair received upgrades from multiple Wall Street firms, include a double upgrade to overweight from underweight at JPMorgan. The company announced on Friday that it would lay off about 10% of its global workforce as part of a cost-cutting plan. JPMorgan cited Wayfair management’s “newfound commitment to controlling expenses” in its upgrade note.Apple – Apple shares rose 3.2%, as China’s reopening gave hope to investors that it would give the tech and electronics business a lift. Morgan Stanley called the stock a top pick, saying the reopening has “important implications” for demand as well as supply.Meta — Shares of Meta climbed 2.4% after Citi reiterated its buy rating on the social media company, saying that while there’s limited macro visibility, they believe the market is stabilizing.Spotify — Spotify gained 3.1% after the company sent an internal memo to staff on Monday announcing plans to lay off 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 employees. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek admitted the streaming giant was “too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”Skechers — Skechers popped 3.7% after Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. The firm said there were potential upsides that Wall Street could be overlooking.Salesforce — Salesforce shares advanced 3.9% following news that activist investor Elliot Management has reportedly made a multibillion-dollar investment in the company. The announcement comes a few weeks after Salesforce announced it would cut 10% of its staff and close some offices.Qualcomm — Shares of the semiconductor manufacturer rose 6.7% after Barclays upgraded its rating from overweight to equal weight. The firm cited Qualcomm’s exposure to data centers, personal computers, and headsets as reasons for its more optimistic rating.Western Digital — Shares jumped 7% after Bloomberg reported that merger talks between Western Digital and Kioxia are advancing. Western Digital would spin off its flash business and merge it with Kioxia in a separately traded company, the report said.Xylem — Shares of water technology stock Xylem sank 8.2% on news that the company is acquiring Evoqua Water Technologies in an all-stock deal valued at roughly $7.5 billion. Evoqua shares jumped more than 14% following the announcement.— CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Tanaya Macheel, Jesse Pound, Carmen Reinicke, Pia Singh, and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.
