April 8
RESTAURANTS
Kura Sushi USA Inc. dropped 14% to $62.61 apiece with a $736 million market cap. The Irvine-based sushi chain yesterday reported second quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations and updated guidance to sales between $333 million and $335 million, up from the previous range of $330 million and $334 million. TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles issued a Hold rating for Kura, saying updated outlook only slightly surpasses consensus, according to TipRanks. The company yesterday also announced Chief Financial Officer Jeff Uttz will leave to accept a new job within the restaurant industry (Nasdaq: KRUS).
HEALTHCARE
Shares in Glaukos Corp. rose 5% to $120.73 apiece for a market cap of $7 billion. The Aliso Viejo-based medical device company is scheduled to release first quarter results after the market closes on April 29. Citi yesterday raised the price target on Glaukos to $135 from $125 and kept a Buy rating on the shares, the Fly website reported (NYSE: GKOS).
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based WM Technology Inc., the software company behind cannabis platform Weedmaps, plummeted 48% to 36 cents apiece with a $63 million market cap. Yesterday, the company announced its voluntary delisting from the Nasdaq, citing constraints on the company’s ability to provide services to the cannabis market (Nasdaq: MAPS).
MARKETS/INDEXES
Major stock markets rose today after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, causing crude oil to drop 16% to $94.62 per barrel.
- The S&P 500 is up 2.4% to 6,772.79
- The Dow Jones rose 2.6% to 47,791.89
- The Nasdaq increased 2.8% to 22,6389.60
- The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond decreased 1.6% to 4.277%
- Gold is up 2.1% to $4,785.10 per ounce
–Yuika Yoshida
April 7
–Kevin Costelloe
April 6
AEROSPACE
Tustin’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. soared 21% to $2.98 apiece and a $242 million market cap (NYSE: SPCE). Shares are up 37% since March 30 when the space tourism firm said it would resume selling seats on upcoming flights for $750,000 apiece, after a two-year break in service.
RETAIL
Shares of Boot Barn Holdings Inc were up 8.1% to $146.18 with a $4.4 billion market cap (NYSE: BOOT). Analyst firm Jefferies upgraded its rating of the Western wear retailer on Monday from “Hold” to “Buy” and maintained its price target of $195.
The research note said that “the stock’s valuation has ‘meaningfully reset,’ while the company’s execution and underlying demand trends remain intact,” The Fly reported.
–Emily Santiago-Molina
April 3
The U.S. stock markets (NYSE and Nasdaq) are closed today in observance of Good Friday. The market will resume normal hours on Monday, April 6.
— Joseph Pimentel
April 2
HEALTHCARE
Evolus Inc. was down 5.7% to $4.06 apiece with a $265 million market cap (Nasdaq: EOLS). Analyst firm HC Wainwright this week reduced its full year earnings per share estimate for the Newport Beach-based aesthetics company, according to MarketBeat.
AUTOMOTIVE
Rivian Automotive Inc. rose 1.6% to $15.19 with a market cap of $18.8 billion (Nasdaq: RIVN). The Irvine-based electric vehicle maker today announced that it delivered 10,365 vehicles for the first quarter, surpassing Visible Alpha’s 9,678 estimate. Rivian also reaffirmed its 2026 delivery range guidance of 62,000 to 67,000 vehicles.
INDEXES
Gold fell 2.6% to $4,685.80 per ounce while crude oil shot up 11.4% to $111.52 per barrel after President Donald Trump said that the war in Iran will last another two to three weeks in a national address yesterday.
–Yuika Yoshida
April 1
TECHNOLOGY
Western Digital is up 12% to $301.73 apiece with a market cap of $103 billion (Nasdaq: WDC). Shares of the San Jose-based memory products maker, which has a large presence in Irvine, shot up after Bernstein upgraded its stock to Outperform this week, hiking its price target to $340 from $170, according to Investing.com.
RETAIL
Brea-based Reborn Coffee is up 9% to $2.15 apiece with a market cap of $16 million. The specialty coffee retailer recently opened a flagship location in Shenzhen, China, on the campus of Tencent Holdings, the world’s largest video game publisher and the parent company of WeChat. Year to date, the stock is up 44%. (Nasdaq: REBN)
Read more in the April 6 issue of the Business Journal
RESTAURANTS
Shares of Cerritos-based GEN Restaurant Group Inc. are down 15% to $1.56 with a market cap of $52 million. On Tuesday, the company said same-store sales, a key restaurant chain metric, dropped 11.6% in the fourth quarter due, in part, to reduced traffic from its core Hispanic customer as “they have been put under extreme pressure through the immigration enforcement,” CEO David Kim told investors (Nasdaq: GENK).
MARKETS/INDEXES
The markets rallied and oil dropped on Wednesday after President Trump signaled that the war with Iran might end soon.
- The S&P 500 is up 1.17% to 6,605.03
- Nasdaq is up 1.67% to 21,950.40
- Gold is up 2.7% to $4,804.70
- Crude oil is down 1.16% to $100.20 a barrel
–Nancy Luna
MARCH 31
AEROSPACE
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic in Tustin rose 15% to $2.49 per share for a market cap of $182 million after saying that it is on track to resume commercial flights toward the end of this year, while ticket price has gone up to $750,000 apiece. (NYSE: SPCE)
ENVIRONMENT
Irvine-based Clean Energy Technologies fell 11% to 96 cents apiece for a market cap of $12 million after signing a non-binding letter of intent with a Canadian power company to evaluate and advance the deployment of the company’s proprietary High Temperature Ablative Pyrolysis technology for waste-to-energy applications. (Nasdaq: CETY)
INDEXES
Major stock markets rose after President Trump apparently signaled flexibility on the future of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz waterway along the Iranian coast.
The S&P 500 rose 2.1% to 6,477.27
Dow 50 up 1.6% at 45,948.84
Nasdaq increased 2.9% to 21,398.61
MARKETS
The price for a barrel of oil fell 2.7% to $100.13 amid apparent signs of easing tensions in the Middle East
Price of gold was up 2.2% at $4,657.00
EMPLOYMENT
Experian told state officials that it plans to permanently lay off 35 people in Costa Mesa on May 22.
Primo Brands told state officials it plans to lay off 23 people in Santa Ana as of July 1.
Waymakers told state officials it plans to lay off a total of 70 people in Irvine and Fountain Valley as of June 30.
NSI-Lynn Electronics told state officials it will permanently close its facility in Anaheim as of May 22, affecting 52 people.
–Kevin Costelloe
March 30
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine’s Veritone Inc. fell 6.8% to $1.72 apiece and a $156 million market cap (Nasdaq: VERI). Shares of the AI firm are down 34% since announcing its preliminary, unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter on March 26.
MANUFACTURING
Shares of American Vanguard Corp., a Newport Beach provider of products to protect crops, jumped 17% to $2.42 with a $73 million market cap (NYSE: AVD). Volume is more than double the daily average of 289,691.
MARKETS/INDEXES
Crude oil was up 3.1% to $102.74 a barrel.
The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond decreased 2.39% to 4.334%.
–Emily Santiago-Molina
March 27
ENERGY
Shares of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. rose 6.5% to $2.51 with a market cap of $549 million (CLNE). The Newport Beach-based company, known for providing natural gas as an alternative fueling solution for vehicles, has seen its shares rise 18% since March 20.
DEFENSE
Mobix Labs Inc.’s shares dropped 8% to 35 cents and a $36 million market cap (Nasdaq: MOBX). Trading volume was 5.7 million shares, significantly below its usual average of 67.3 million.
MARKETS/INDEXES
The S&P 500 fell 1% to 6,412.97, and the Nasdaq also dropped 1.4% to 21,099.59 during midday trading, both six-month lows as Middle East tensions drag on the markets, according to Reuters.
Crude oil jumped 4% to $98.23 a barrel as Iran blocked two Chinese ships.
— Joseph Pimentel
March 26
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine’s Lantronix Inc. was down 5.4% to $5.75 apiece and a $228 million market cap (Nasdaq: LTRX). Shares of the computer networking products maker are still off 7.8% since announcing its partnership with Unusual Machines Inc. “to develop next-generation autonomous drone components integrating edge AI compute” on March 19 (NYSE American: UMAC). The stock initially dropped 13% the day after the news.
This past weekend at the 38th Annual Roth Conference in Dana Point, CEO Saleel Awsare spoke of Lantronix’s drone business ramp and its expectation to increase drone revenue to $8 million to $12 million in the current fiscal year, according to MarketBeat.
RETAIL
Shares of Lanvin Group Holdings, parent company of Anaheim’s St. John Knits, fell 9.1% to $1.37 with a $191 million market cap (NYSE: LANV). The stock has fallen 28% since the luxury retail operator reported preliminary 2025 revenue decreased 18% year-over-year on March 17.
Lanvin Group hit an all-time low of $1.03 per share on Feb. 9.
MARKETS/INDEXES
The S&P 500 was down 1.1% to 6,521.37 and Nasdaq decreased 1.7% to 21,558.44 during midday trading.
Gold fell 3.8% to $4,379.20 per ounce.
Crude oil jumped 5% to $94.87 a barrel.
The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond increased 1.89% to 4.41%.
–Emily Santiago-Molina
March 25
