4 stocks to watch on Friday: EL, CORZ, META, ALK

Stock index futures rose on Friday as investors looked forward to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Here are four stocks to watch:

• Estée Lauder (EL) shares gained 2.5% in extended trading as HSBC upgraded its rating to Buy from Hold and also upped its price target to $99 from $80. The change in recommendation comes a few days after Deutsche Bank raised the personal care stock to a Buy rating after having it set at Hold, citing improving fundamentals for the firm.
• Core Scientific (CORZ) stock rose 7.3% in premarket trade after media reports said that the hyperscaler CoreWeave (CRWV) is in talks to acquire the data center infrastructure company. Although no figures have been revealed, a transaction could be finalized in a few weeks. The development comes after last year, when CoreWeave attempted to acquire Core Scientific for about $1B, but that deal was rejected.
• Meta (META) shares were up 0.9% in premarket trade as the European Commission said that the company may face daily fines if limited changes that the company has proposed to its pay-or-consent model do not comply with an antitrust order issued in April. META and the EU have had their fair share of tussles, with the regulator fining Meta (META) €200M for allegedly breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act, or DMA.
• Alaska Air (ALK) shares will be under the radar after the group said it has identified a cybersecurity incident in its unit. Its unit, Hawaiian Airlines, had faced the incident, which affected certain information technology systems, on June 23. The firm said it has yet to determine if the event has materially impacted its financial condition or results of operations.