Category: Stock Market News

Nike Inc. was downgraded to hold from buy at HBSC based on what analysts call a “blurred visibility” in the U.S. market. HSBC maintained it $62 price target. Nike shares fell 1.1% in Tuesday premarket trading. Analysts say 60% of Nike sales happen in “undifferentiated” wholesale channels, though that should decline to 20% in five years. Sales in “better Nike experiences” like its direct-to-consumer channels, will rise from 40% to 80%. “That is very good for brand equity and full-price sales, but there could be hiccups along the way,” wrote analysts led by Erwan Rambourg. Still, analysts think Nike has the potential to produce high-single digit sales growth and mid-teens earnings in the medium term. Nike shares are up 17.3% for the year so far outpacing the S&P 500 index , which is up 16.2% for the period.

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Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc, which is owned by private-equity firm Roark Capital Group, said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. for $157 a share in cash, in a deal valued at $2.9 billion, including debt. The price is about a 38% premium over Buffalo Wild Wings’ 30-day volume-weighted average stock price as of November 13, 2017, the last trading day before news reports about a potential transaction. The company is expecting the deal to close in the first quarter of 2018. Once the deal is closed, Buffalo Wild Wings will operate as a privately-held unit of Arby’s. Buffalo Wild Wings stock jumped 6.5% in premarket trade on the news, but is down 5% in 2017 through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

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Pfizer Inc. and German-based Merck KGaA said Tuesday a phase 3 trial of a cancer treatment did not meet its primary endpoint of superior overall survival. Pfizer’s stock slipped 0.9% in premarket trade. The trial tested avelumab as a third-line treatment for unresectable, recurrent or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma patients whose disease progressed following two prior therapeutic regiments. The safety profile was consistent with that observed in the overall clinical development program. The companies said this was the first trial conducted with a checkpoint inhibitor compared with an active chemotherapy comparator rather than placebo. “Data from this study will provide valuable information for physicians treating this late stage disease,” said Luciano Rossetti, global head of R&D at Merck. “We remain committed to our ongoing gastric cancer program with avelumab including the JAVELIN Gastric 100 study in the first-line switch maintenance setting.” Pfizer’s stock had gained 9.3% year to date through Monday, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has run up 18.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied 19.3%.

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Shares of Apollo Endosurgery Inc. rocketed 28% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the medical device company said the Food and Drug Administration cleared its new flexibile endoscopic suturing system, OverStitch Sx. The company said late Monday that OverStitch Sx broadens endoscopic compatibility, when compared with its current version OverStitch, and is expected to provide optimal visualization and maneuverability. Apollo expects to introduce the Sx system in the U.S. and Europe in the first half of 2018. “The launch of OverStitch Sx will allow suturing technology to be available to nearly any physician with access to an endoscope,” said Apollo’s Chief Medical Officer Christopher Gostout. The stock had plummeted 67% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 had rallied 16%.

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Shares of Viking Therapeutics Inc. surged 18% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the company announced positive results from a mid-stage trial of a treatment for hip fractures. The biotech, which is working to develop toherapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders, said the Phase 2 trial of its VK5211 program for muscle and bone disorders met its primary goal. “The study achieved statistical significance at all doses with a clear dose-response and, in our view, provides compelling evidence of VK5211’s potent pharmacologic effect on muscle growth,” Viking Chief Executive Brian Lian, Ph.D., said in a statement. Viking shares have gained 154% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised another $100 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company had borrowed about $350 million in July in a funding round that valued the company at about $21 billion, as The Wall Street Journal has reported.

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Cyber Monday is expected to be the biggest online sales day ever with shoppers spending $6.59 billion, Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday. That was a 16.8% increase over the same time last year, the data analytics firm said in a statement. Shopper spent $1 billion more than on the same day a year ago, with top sellers including Nintendo Switch, PJ Masks and Hatchimals & Colleggtibles figurines, Apple AirPods , streaming devices like Google Chromecast and Roku, and video game Super Mario Odyssey. The holiday shopping season has driven $50 billion in online revenue so far, said Adobe, which is expecting it to be the first to break $100 billion in online sales.

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Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc, which is owned by private-equity firm Roark Capital Group, said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. for $157 a share in cash, in a deal valued at $2.9 billion, including debt. The price is about a 38% premium over Buffalo Wild Wings’ 30-day volume-weighted average stock price as of November 13, 2017, the last trading day before news reports about a potential transaction. The company is expecting the deal to close in the first quarter of 2018. Once the deal is closed, Buffalo Wild Wings will operate as a privately-held unit of Arby’s. Buffalo Wild Wings stock jumped 5.9% in premarket trade on the news, but is down 5% in 2017 through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

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The U.S. economy is expected to grow at 2.5% in 2018, up from this year’s rate of 2.2%, but then drop back to 2.1% growth in 2019, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday in its latest outlook. The Paris-based research body said the global economy will grow by 3.6% this year, 3.7% in 2018 and 3.6% in 2019. “The projections reflect slight improvements in the global economy since the previous Interim Economic Outlook in September 2017, but also concerns about long-term momentum,” the OECD said.

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Roark Capital Group has agreed to buy Buffalo Wild Wings in a deal worth $2.4 billion, Bloomberg News reported Monday night. Roark reportedly sweetened the deal by upping its offer to $157 a share, from its original bid of $150. Buffalo Wild Wings shares were unchanged after hours, after closing at $146.40; its shares are down about 5% year to date. The deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, Bloomberg said. Roark, a private equity firm, reportedly plans to merge the restaurant chain with another of its holdings, Arby’s, while keeping the two brands separate, and Arby’s Chief Executive Paul Brown will lead the combined company.

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