Lamb Weston shares popped more than 8% on news that activist investor Jana Partners has built a stake in the frozen-potato product maker in an effort to push the company to explore a sale, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the activist acquired a roughly 5% stake in Lamb Weston and wants the company to improve its operations and capital-allocation strategy. Lamb Weston is the largest producer of french fries in North America and the second-largest in the world, and has a market cap of about $10 billion.

Shares of Lamb Weston are down roughly 29.5% year to date. The company has been hit by higher restaurant prices that have lowered demand for its potato products.

— Pia Singh

Spirit AeroSystems said it furloughed 700 workers for 21 days as the Boeing machinists strike drags on. The Boeing supplier warned that further furloughs and layoffs could be ahead if Boeing doesn’t settle its strike by November.

Boeing is in the process of acquiring Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselage for its planes, in an attempt to gain control over quality control. The strike has been hammering Boeing’s finances, prompting it to raise as much as $25 billion to shore up its short-term liquidity. The planemaker also struck a $10 billion credit agreement.

Spirit shares inched slightly lower in premarket trading.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

After ending Thursday’s session marginally lower, the S&P 500 clawed back some of its losses on Friday morning.

The 500-stock index added 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%. After notching a fresh closing high on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 73 points, or 0.2%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Housing starts and building permits both declined in September, painting a mostly downbeat look at the residential construction picture, according to a Census Bureau report Friday.

Private owned authorizations for permits totaled 1.428 million, 2.9% below the previous month’s downwardly revised total and down 5.7% from a year ago. The Dow Jones consensus had been looking for 1.45 million permits.

On starts, new construction totaled 1.354 million, a 0.5% decrease from the upwardly revised August figure though narrowly above the 1.35 million estimate.

—Jeff Cox

UBS upgraded shares of Datadog to buy from neutral after its latest industry checks point to “green-shoots” of potential spending improvement in the second half, as well as strong medium-term growth for its cloud infrastructure business.

“Even after the 10% month-to-date rally in the stock, we think the stock is a Buy given a) our improved view of Datadog’s current and projected demand backdrop, and b) the rally across the smid-cap growth stock peer group,” analyst Karl Keirstead wrote in a note Thursday.

Keirstead raised his price target to $150 from $125, suggesting the stock can move 19% higher.

Shares have gained about 4% year to date.

— Michelle Fox

Analysts are getting even more bullish on Netflix following its earnings beat for the third quarter.

At JPMorgan, analyst Doug Anmuth said Netflix remains a top pick in his eyes. Forecasting “more balanced” growth next year as the company’s ad tier scales up, he reiterated his overweight rating on the stock and hiked his price target — which reflects more than 23% upside from Thursday’s close.

“We believe NFLX’s global scale, strong engagement (~2 hours/day), & diversified content will push NFLX toward becoming the default choice for how users consume TV, film, & other long-form Content,” Anmuth wrote in a Friday note to clients.

Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne also reiterated his overweight rating on the name and upped his target, which implies more than 20% upside ahead, as of Thursday’s close. He called the results a “success” and sees even more room for growth.

Shares jumped more than 6% in premarket trading Friday on the heels of the streamer’s results. This year, the stock has risen more than 41%.

CNBC Pro users can read more here.

— Sean Conlon

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

Procter & Gamble — The stock fell 0.8% after reporting weaker-than-expected revenue. The household goods maker posted $21.74 billion in revenue while analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $21.91 billion. The company attributed the miss to lower demand in China. Adjusted  earnings per share of $1.93 topped estimates of $1.90 per share. 

Netflix — Shares popped 6.3% after the streaming giant exceeded Wall Street’s third-quarter expectations. Netflix reported earnings per share of $5.40 on revenue of $9.83 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast earnings of $5.12 a share on revenue of m $9.77 billion. The company also saw its ad-supported membership tier jump 34% quarter-over-quarter.

CVS Health – Shares tumbled 11% after the drug store chain announced longtime executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as CEO. CVS also guided for third-quarter adjusted earnings between $1.05 and $1.10 per share, less than the $1.69 a share expected from analysts polled by Fact Set.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Nvidia could be positioned for even more growth ahead, according to Bank of America.

Shares moved around 1% higher in the premarket after analyst Vivek Arya reiterated his buy rating on the chip giant and upped his price target, which reflects around 38.8% upside from Thursday’s close. That would add to the monstrous rally it has already seen this year, with shares surging more than 176% in 2024.

The analyst thinks recent events in the industry — such as Taiwan Semiconductor’s third-quarter results and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying earlier this month that demand for its Blackwell chip is “insane” – could increase the company’s competitive lead and generational opportunity.

CNBC Pro users can read more here.

— Sean Conlon

Shares of Apple rose 2% in Friday’s premarket trading session.

The moves came after the publication of a Bloomberg story reporting that sales of Apple’s new iPhone 16 in China are up 20% in their first three weeks compared with the iPhone 15, according to data from Counterpoint Research. So far, the data suggests that the launch of the iPhone 16 is faring better than that of its predecessor.

Shares of CVS Health sank 13% in premarket trading after the drug store chain replaced its CEO and gave disappointing guidance for its third quarter.

Longtime CVS Health executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as chief executive, the company announced Friday. It also said it expects adjusted earnings between $1.05 and $1.10 per share in the third quarter, less than the $1.69 a share expected from analysts polled by Fact Set.

CVS has struggled with higher medical costs and a drop in consumer spending. The company cut its full-year guidance in August and announced cost cuts of $2 billion over the next several years.

The stock is down more than 19% year to date.

— Michelle Fox, Jacob Pramuk

Netflix shares were up more than 6% after the streaming giant reported third-quarter results that beat analyst expectations.

The company earned $5.40 per share on revenue of $9.83 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $5.12 per share on revenue of $9.77 billion. A big driver for Netflix was a 35% jump in ad-supported subscriptions.

— Fred Imbert

Mainland China’s CSI 300 jumped 3.62% to close at 3,925.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up over 3.3% as of its final hour of trade.

China’s third-quarter GDP grew 4.6% compared to the same period last year, slightly above Reuters poll estimates but down from 4.7% in the previous quarter.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.18% to 38,981.75 while Topix was up slightly at 2,688.97.

Kospi slipped 0.59% to 2,593.85, while Kosdaq was down 1.55% to 753.22. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.87% lower to 8,283.2.

— Anniek Bao

European markets opened mixed on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 last dipping by 0.06% at 8:06 a.m. London time.

Major regional bourses and sectors were mixed, with autos stocks last adding 1.17% and mining stocks rising by 1.69%. Telecomms, healthcare and utilities were among the sectors that pulled back.

Stocks are on track to finish the week with gains, extending recent winning streaks.

The Dow and S&P 500 have climbed 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively this week. The Nasdaq Composite has ticked up by almost 0.2%.

All three are on track to notch their sixth straight winning weeks. That would mark the longest weekly positive streaks for the Dow and S&P 500 in 2024.

Small caps have outperformed this week, with the Russell 2000 adding more than 2%.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the stocks making notable moves in extended trading:

• Netflix — The streaming stock popped more than 4% after third-quarter earnings surpassed expectations. Netflix also said its ad-tier memberships jumped 35% quarter over quarter.
• Intuitive Surgical — Shares jumped about 5% after the maker of the da Vinci surgical robot released stronger-than-expected results for the third quarter. Intuitive Surgical earned $1.84 per share on $2.04 billion in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had predicted earnings of $1.63 per share on $2 billion in revenue.

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

Stock futures are near flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Dow and S&P 500 futures both traded around the flatlines. Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.1%.

— Alex Harring