Deere, Foot Locker and Spotify Rise Premarket By Investing.com

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com — Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Friday, August 20th. Please refresh for updates.

• Deere (NYSE:DE) stock rose 1.4% after the company beat expectations for third-quarter revenue and lifted its full-year earnings forecast on strong demand for its farm and construction equipment.

• Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) stock rose 8.6% after the athletic retailer reported better than expected second-quarter results, with comparable stores sales up 6.9%. 

• Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) stock rose 2.3% after the streaming company unexpectedly announced a stock repurchase program of up to $1 billion beginning in the third quarter.

• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) stock fell 0.3% after the drugs maker announced that Alex Gorsky will step down as CEO after nine years, handing over the role to company veteran Joaquin Duato. 

• Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) stock fell 0.2% after the EU executive said Friday it would investigate the life sciences company for completing its $8 billion takeover of cancer detection test maker Grail without first securing EU antitrust approval. 

• Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) stock fell 0.8% after RBC downgraded its stance on the utility company to ‘sector perform’ from ‘buy’ after its recent hot streak, saying it has gained more than 8% since the end of June.

• BJs Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) stock rose 1.6% after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) added the retailer to its top stock list, seeing more upside after the company’s strong quarterly performance and its membership growth.

• PetCo (NASDAQ:WOOF) stock rose 2.6% after Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) upgraded the newly listed pet care company to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ , adding that the stock can still rise a further 40%.

• Buckle (NYSE:BKE)stock rose 4.7% after the fashion accessories retailer beat expectations with its quarterly earnings and revenue, helped by  more in-person shopping.