Market Insider

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: 3M, UPS, Microsoft & more

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address at Facebook's F8 Developer Conference on April 18, 2017 at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
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Check out the companies making headlines midday Thursday:

Facebook — Shares of the social media giant jumped more than 5.5% after the company reported better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter. Facebook said monthly active users — a key metric for the company — topped expectations at 2.38 billion.

3M — The Dow Jones Industrial Average component fell 13% after its quarterly earnings and revenue missed analyst estimates. 3M reported adjusted earnings of $2.23 per share on revenue of $7.863 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a profit of $2.49 per share on sales of $8.025 billion. The company also cut its guidance for 2019 and announced layoffs for 2,000 workers.

American Express — American Express shares rose 1.6% after an analyst at Morgan Stanley upgraded it to overweight from equal-weight. The analyst cited strong revenue growth moving forward for the upgrade.

United Parcel Service — Shares of the shipping giant dropped 8.1% after missing its earnings and revenue missed Wall Street forecasts. Snowstorms and heavy flooding in the Midwest disrupted operations last quarter, and UPS said it incurred roughly $80 million in extra costs to deal with those severe weather conditions.

Southwest Airlines — The airline's shares rose 0.8% after the company's quarterly results beat analyst expectations despite taking a hit from the prolonged grounding of Boeing's 737 Max jets. The grounding, coupled with the impacts of the U.S. government shutdown, forced Southwest to cancel more than 10,000 flights last quarter.

Comcast — Comcast shares climbed 2.6% after reporting first-quarter earnings that surpassed expectations. The media company reported adjusted earnings per share of 76 cents versus 68 cents expected in a Refinitiv survey. CNBC also reported, citing sources, that Comcast is in talks with Disney to sell its 30% stake in Hulu.

Tesla — Tesla shares fell 4.3% after posting disappointing first-quarter results. The automotive company reported a loss of $2.90 on revenue of $4.54 billion. Refinitiv estimates expected a loss of 69 cents on revenue of $5.19 billion. The company noted weakening demand for electric vehicles.

Microsoft — The tech giant's stock climbed 3.3% on the back of stronger-than-forecast quarterly numbers. Microsoft reported earnings per share of $1.14 on revenue of $30.6 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a profit of $1 per share on sales of $29.84 billion. The company's results were driven by a strong performance in its cloud computing business, which saw sales grow by 41%.

—CNBC's Isabel Soisson and J.R. Reed contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.