Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Citigroup — Shares fell 1% after the bank warned investors on Wednesday night of a possible quarterly loss due to the decline of the Argentine peso and restructuring charges. Citigroup is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter results Friday morning. Lyft — Shares declined more than 1% after Goldman Sachs downgraded Lyft to neutral from buy. While the firm forecasts a reacceleration in revenue and ride-volume growth, it said such an inflection is already reflected in estimates. Occidental Petroleum — Shares gained 1.1% after a Berkshire Hathaway filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed that the firm owns 34% of Occidental. The oil company also pre-reported lesser-than-expected production levels in the Gulf of Mexico compared to prior guidance. Nonetheless, the company is on track to stay with its guidance range. Chewy — The pet e-commerce stock climbed 2.5% on the back of an upgrade by Barclays to overweight. Barclays said Chewy could see outsized returns within the otherwise challenged e-commerce sector this year. Salesforce — The cloud-based software company jumped 1.3% after Baird upgraded shares to outperform from neutral. Baird cited Salesforce’s strong margins and favorable valuation. Crypto stocks – Bitcoin miners surged after the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light for spot bitcoin ETFs to begin trading in the U.S. Iris Energy and CleanSpark jumped 9% and 7%, respectively. Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms each added more than 6%. Crypto exchange Coinbase advanced 5% and bitcoin proxy Microstrategy rose 4%. Yum Brands — Shares fell 5% in light volume after being downgraded to equal weight from overweight by Wells Fargo. The bank expects slowing traffic and moderating price gains for the Pizza Hunt parent in 2024. American Airlines — American Airlines shares rose 1% after Jefferies upgraded the airline stock to buy from hold, saying the company is best equipped to defend against a softer 2024 macroeconomic backdrop. The firm also raised its price target to $18 from $16, implying 25% upside from Wednesday’s close. KB Home — Shares slipped 3% after the homebuilder reported a 4.5% decline in average home selling price during the fourth quarter, overshadowing better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the quarter. — CNBC’s Sarah Min, Alex Harring, Tanaya Macheel, Jesse Pound and Michelle Fox contributed reporting
