Walgreens, Lyft, Alibaba rise premarket; Meta Platforms, Virgin Orbit fall

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Tuesday, March 28th. Please refresh for updates.

• First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) stock rose 2%, PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) stock rose 0.8%, and Western Alliance (NYSE: WAL) stock rose 0.9% as these regional banks benefit from the easing tensions surrounding the sector.

• Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) stock rose 1.7% after the pharmacy chain’s quarterly profit beat expectations on greater contribution from its fledgling healthcare business that operates doctor clinics among others.

• Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) stock rose 5.2% after the ride-hailing company announced a new head, with former Amazon executive David Risher set to succeed co-founder Logan Green as its chief executive officer.

• Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) stock rose 0.3% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the entertainment giant has closed down a small unit responsible for using the metaverse as part of a restructuring push.

• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock fell 0.3% after WSJ reported the Facebook owner is planning to lower bonus pays for some employees, and assess staff performance more frequently.

• Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) stock fell 0.1% after the software company reached an agreement with Elliott Management where the activist investor ends its boardroom challenge while the company focuses more on boosting profits and efficiency.

• Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) ADRs rose 9.5% after Bloomberg News reported the Chinese online retail giant is planning to divide its business into six new business units, with each of the units exploring fundraising or initial public offerings.

• Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ: VORB) stock fell 10% after the cash-strapped rocket maker extended an unpaid furlough for most of its employees as talks seeking new funding continued.

• Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC) stock fell 0.6% after JPMorgan downgraded its stance on the energy firm to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’, seeing below-average upside potential.

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