Check out the companies to watch before the market opens. Morgan Stanley — The bank’s shares fell more than 2% in premarket trading, even though the bank’s second-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations on the back of strength in trading and investment banking. The bank said profits surged 41% from a year ago, helped by a pick-up in Wall Street activity. Revenue rose 12% to $15.02 billion. Meanwhile, its wealth management business reported lower-than-expected revenue on lower net interest income. Bank of America — Shares rose nearly 1% after the bank reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. Profits came in at 83 cents a share, beating the 80 cents expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Revenues of $25.54 billion beat the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America also issued new guidance for rising net interest income through the fourth quarter. UnitedHealth — Shares rose slightly after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results. The health insurance giant earned $6.80 a share, excluding some items, on revenue of $98.86 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $6.66 a share on revenue of $98.84 billion. Shopify — The e-commerce company rose more than 3% after Bank of America upgraded the company to buy from neutral, citing sales growth and healthy margin expansion. Match Group — Shares jumped 7% on news that activist investor Starboard Value had acquired about 6.5% of the company. Starboard is urging the online dating company to improve growth and profitability or consider going private. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. — Shares were flat after the regional bank reported second-quarter revenue of $5.41 billion, in line with LSEG consensus estimates. Reddit — The social media stock fell 3.4% after Loop Capital downgraded Reddit to “hold” from “buy,” saying risks outweigh potential upside. EPAM Systems — Shares rose slightly after Jefferies upgraded the software engineering services company to “buy” from “hold.” The firm cited rock-bottom valuation and earnings, as well as undervalued AI opportunities. Dollar Tree — The discount retailer’s shares fell more than 1% after Piper Sandler downgraded it to neutral from overweight. The investment firm said proposals from both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump campaigns would hurt Dollar Tree. Charles Schwab Inc. — Shares fell more than 3% following second-quarter earnings.Adjusted earnings were 73 cents per share on revenue of $4.69 billion, slightly beating analysts’ expectations of 72 cents per share on revenue of $4.68 billion, according to FactSet. — CNBC’s Yun Li, Jesse Pound, Michelle Fox, Sarah Ming and Fred Imbert contributed to this report
Biggest movers in premarket trading: MS, UNH, BAC
