Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Thursday:
Agilent - Agilent will split into two separate publicly traded companies, one focusing on life sciences and diagnostics, the other on electronic measurement devices.
Rite-Aid - The drug store chain reported an unexpected second quarter profit and boosted its earnings outlook, based on continued sales growth and stronger profit margins.
ConAgra - The food producer missed Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines with its fiscal first quarter earnings, but still expects to post "good" earnings growth for this fiscal year. CEO Gary Rodkin said volumes in the company's consumer foods division were lower than expected due to "category and customer challenges".
Oracle - The software giant reported fiscal first quarter profit of 59 cents per share, three cents above estimates, although revenue was short of Street estimates. The company also issued weaker than expected guidance for the current quarter.
McDonald's - The restaurant chain raised its quarterly dividend by 5 percent to 81 cents per share, continuing its practice of raising its dividend yearly.
Apple - Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said the switch to the 64-bit A7 processor in Apple's iPhone 5S is a long term "game changer", and a good move by Apple to stay competitive.
Dr Pepper Snapple - Goldman Sachs downgraded the beverage maker's shares to "sell" from "neutral", pointing to broad-based weakness in the non-alcoholic beverage market.
Take-Two Interactive - The stock is soaring for a second day after the company announced record first day retail sales for its Grand Theft Auto V video game.
Walt Disney - Disney has bumped the release of the Pixar film "The Good Dinosaur" to November 2015, meaning that there will be no Pixar films released in 2014. That would be the first year since 2005 that no new Pixar film has been released. Separately, Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equalweight" from "overweight", saying growth is now tied to "difficult to predict creative success".
Time Warner - Morgan Stanley upgraded Time Warner to "overweight" from "equalweight", based on multiple drivers of expanding profit margins, among other factors.
Cisco Systems - Credit Suisse began coverage of Cisco with an "underperform" rating, based on worries about compressed profit margins.
Pier 1 Imports - The retailer reported second quarter profit of 19 cents per share, excluding certain items, missing estimates by two cents. Sales were also short, and Pier 1 cut its full year earnings estimates.
OfficeMax - Chief executive Ravi Saligram has decided not to be considered for the CEO post following the planned merger of OfficeMax and Office Depot .
Boeing- Boeing will close the Long Beach, CA assembly plant that produces its C-17 Globemaster III military cargo jet in 2015. That could result in as many as 3,000 job cuts.
Dish Network - The satellite television company won a court victory when a judge denied a Walt Disney request to halt use of Dish's "Hopper". That system lets users skip commercials when watching a recorded show.
Sony - The electronics giant set a goal of selling five million PlayStation 5 game consoles within five months of its planned February 22 launch.
JPMorgan Chase- JPM is likely to be the lead underwriter in a Chrysler IPO, according to CNBC's Kate Kelly. Separately, U.S. and U.K. regulators are expected today to announce a settlement into their civil investigations into the "London Whale" incident, in which JPMorgan suffered a multibillion dollar trading loss.
Wells Fargo- The bank is cutting 1,800 jobs in its mortgage business, due to a drop in mortgage refinancing volume.
—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow
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