Sony pulls plug on 'The Interview'; Oracle finally gets a lift from the cloud; Rite Aid soars

Kathy Cherpelis

Sony (SNE) tops our list of stocks to watch this morning.

The company's movie studio is pulling the plug on the planned Christmas release of "The Interview" after major theater chains abandoned plans to show the film amid terror threats. Meanwhile, U.S. officials reportedly concluded that North Korean government was involved in the hacking of Sony's corporate computer systems. Shares of Sony were higher on the news in early trading

Hertz (HTZ) shares jumped after billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed he raised his stake in the rental car company once again. Icahn's stake now stands at 11.3%

Oracle (ORCL) rose ahead of the bell. The business software maker's earnings and revenue topped estimates for the first time this year thanks to growth in its cloud service business.

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Rite Aid (RAD) shares jumped in pre-market trading. The drugstore raised its outlook for the year after reporting third quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street views as strong sales of prescription drugs helped drive growth.

ConAgra Foods (CAG) also on investors’ watch list. The maker of Chef Boyardee and other packaged foods posting earnings that were in-line with analysts' estimates.  However, revenue missed forecasts and was down 1.7% from a year earlier as the company took a big write-down on its private-label business.

Carnival (CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) cruise lines shares remain in focus this morning along with the stocks of other companies that stand to benefit from President Obama's surprise announcement to open up U.S.  relations with Cuba.