Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:
Cisco Systems — The technology hardware company's stock dropped 7.3% after Cisco gave a disappointing forecast for the quarter ahead, although the company delivered first-quarter earnings and revenue just above Wall Street's expectations. Cisco estimates its second quarter earnings will come between 75 cents a share and 77 cents a share, below the 79 cents a share analysts surveyed by FactSet expected. Multiple firms lowered their Cisco price targets, with Jefferies saying the company still has below market valuations.
Viacom — Shares of Viacom gained 1.9% after the media company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Viacom earned 79 cents per share in the third quarter, 4 cents above estimates per Refinitiv. Its revenue also beat estimates. The company said it got a boost from an increase in domestic advertising revenue.
HP, Xerox — Shares of HP and Xerox climbed 3.1% and 2.8% respectively after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Carl Icahn bought a $1.2 billion stake in HP and is pushing for the personal computer maker's merger with printer maker Xerox. Xerox made a roughly $33 billion cash-and-stock offer for HP last week.
Kraft Heinz — Shares of Kraft Heinz fell 5.9% following a downgrade from Goldman Sachs to sell from neutral. The firm kept its 12-month price target at $29 per share, lower than the current share price, implying Goldman is expecting the stock to go down in the next year. Goldman has worries about Kraft's ability to stabilize earnings during its turnaround.
Tyson Foods — Shares of Tyson Foods gained 1.7% after China lifted a ban on U.S. poultry meat imports on Thursday. China had banned all American poultry and eggs since January 2015 because of an avian influenza outbreak. The resumption came as the two countries work to finalize a limited trade deal that involves Chinese purchases of American farm products.
Dillard's – The department store chain's stock climbed 14.2% after Dillard's reported a third-quarter profit of 22 cents a share when analysts expected a loss, although the company's $1.39 billion of revenue was just below the $1.41 billion of revenue analysts surveyed by FactSet expected. Dillard's saw same store sales growth come in flat, which was better than the previous quarter's 2% decline.
– CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald, Yun Li and Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.