General Motors, Google, Nvidia, Yahoo!: U.S. Equity Preview

Shares of the following companies may have unusual moves in U.S. trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and prices are as of 7:45 a.m. in New York.

Altera Corp. (ALTR US): The maker of programmable semiconductors said sales in the third quarter may drop as much as 3 percent from the second quarter, lower than an earlier prediction of revenue growth of at least 2 percent.

Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI US): The operator of Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants posted first-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 78 cents a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 87 cents.

General Motors Co. (GM US) rose 1.9 percent to $21.84. The automaker expects to grow at double the market pace in India this year, helped by the diesel variant of the Beat model, Karl Slym, managing director of the local unit, said in an interview in New Delhi. Separately, the shares were added to Citigroup Inc.’s “Top Picks Live” list.

Google Inc. (GOOG US) added 2.1 percent to $533. The company, which moved its Chinese search-engine service offshore last year to avoid the country’s online censorship rules, said China’s government renewed the company’s Internet license.

National Retail Properties Inc. (NNN US) fell 2.5 percent to $25.93. The Orlando, Florida-based real estate investment trust announced it has started a public offering of 8 million shares.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA US) rallied 5.5 percent to $13.90. The maker of graphics chips said fiscal 2013 revenue may be as much as $5 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $4.47 billion in a Bloomberg survey.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (PAY US) advanced 4.2 percent to $36.55. The electronic-payment technology provider reported adjusted third-quarter profit of 49 cents a share, topping the average analyst estimate by 5.8 percent.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO US) jumped 6.1 percent to $13.70. The company ousted Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz and announced a strategic review to help the most-visited U.S. Web portal revive growth and lure users who have defected to rivals in Web search and social networking.