Look for companies making headlines ahead of the bell. Utilities – Shares fell more than 8% after the gas measuring equipment maker gave weak revenue guidance for the current quarter. Applied Materials said it forecast first-quarter revenue of $7.15 billion, below the $7.224 billion estimate of analysts polled by LSEG. The company also reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and provided a strong outlook for adjusted earnings per share. Alibaba — S rabbits jumped more than 3% after the Chinese e-commerce giant beat profit expectations in its fiscal second quarter, although its sales disappointed as the company continued to grapple with weak consumer spending in China. Alibaba’s net profit rose 58% year-on-year, after the performance of equity investments. Revenue of 236.5 billion yuan came in 5% higher year-on-year but below analysts’ expectations of 238.9 billion yuan, according to LSEG data. Moderna – The biotech company’s shares fell 1.8%, continuing their decline since Thursday following news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known policy skeptic, had been announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. . Domino’s Pizza, Pool Corp. – Shares of the pizza chain jumped nearly 6% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced a new stake in Domino’s in a regulatory filing. Berkshire Hathaway bought more than 1.2 million shares, making the investment worth about $550 million at the end of September. Pool Corp. also gained 6% as the conglomerate bought about 404,000 shares of the swimming pool supplier’s stock, worth $152 million at the end of the period. Ulta Beauty – Shares fell 5% after Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has nearly liquidated its position in the beauty retailer, selling about 97 of its shares. Ulta was a new bet for Berkshire, which had just bought the stock in the second quarter. Palantir – The defense technology stock rose more than 2% after it moved its listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange. The company said it expects to be eligible to join the Nasdaq-100 Index once it is converted. – CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed reporting
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