Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: General Electric, Salesforce, Alibaba and more

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

General Electric — GE HealthCare Technologies begins trading as a separate company on the S&P 500 Wednesday. GE, in 2021, revealed plans to break up into three companies so it can focus on its aviation business. It plans to spin off its energy segment in 2024. Shares of GE were up about 2% in premarket trading.

Salesforce — Shares of the cloud giant rose about 2% in early trading after the company announced a restructuring plan that includes cutting its staff by about 10% and the closure of some offices.

Chinese ADRs – Shares of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. jumped after Ant Group received approval to expand its consumer finance business in a sign of progress in resolving regulators’ concerns. Alibaba, which owns 33% of Ant, and JD.com rose more than 6% in the premarket. Pinduoduo added 4.5%.

Microsoft — Microsoft shares dropped about 2% after UBS downgraded the tech giant to neutral from buy. UBS cited concern over the company’s Azure and Office businesses following a series of field checks.

Corning — Corning got a 2.5% lift after Credit Suisse upgraded the shares to outperform from neutral and raised revenue estimates, noting headwinds could change to tailwinds in 2023.

Target — The retail giant lost 1.3% after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to equal weight from overweight. The firm said Target’s “outlook has deteriorated” and the stock is not an attractive investment amid broader economic uncertainty.

Merck — Merck’s stock rose about 1.7% after being upgraded to buy from neutral by Bank of America. Analysts cited the company’s consistent revenue upside, as well as the substantial progress it has made strengthening its cancer drug Keytruda’s position and softening the impact of when it goes off patent

Pfizer — Shares of the pharma giant were down about 1.4% after being downgraded by Bank of America to neutral from buy. Among the reasons for the call was the uncertainty over the magnitude of the revenue decline for its Covid drugs, Comirnaty and Paxlovid.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Shares of the transportation and logistics company fell nearly 2% in early trading after UBS downgraded the stock to sell, predicting that earnings will be flat to modest in 2023 and will show a “real cyclical decline.”

AstraZeneca — The pharmaceutical giant saw a 1.8% lift in its shares after the European Medicines Agency validated its Type II Variation application for the treatment of a “non-small cell lung cancer.”

Honeywell — Shares of Honeywell slipped 1.8% in the premarket after being double downgraded by UBS to sell from buy. The firm said shares are at a premium and it’s anticipating an order slowdown.

Tesla — Shares gained 1% in the premarket. The stock dropped 12% Tuesday, a day after the electric-vehicle maker reported missing expectations on fourth-quarter delivery and production numbers.

 — CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Sarah Min, Michael Bloom and Fred Imbert contributed reporting