KLA-Tencor stock rises after KeyBanc upgrades to outperform

Shares of chip-equipment maker KLA-Tencor Corp. rose 5.2% in Monday morning trading following an upgrade from analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The analysts, led by Weston Twigg, now rate the stock at overweight and have a $134 price target on shares. “We believe KLA-Tencor is underappreciated and has the potential to break out in 2018 as the relative rate of capital expenditure growth between NAND and logic/foundry normalizes,” Twigg wrote. He thinks that the company has new products in its pipeline that could drive upside, especially in 2018. Twigg also predicts that the company will remain a strong cash generator and continue to deliver better margins than its peers. Shares of KLA-Tencor have gained 42% so far in 2017, compared with a 20% rise for the S&P 500 .

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Fifth Third to buy back $273 million worth of its shares from Morgan Stanley

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp rallied 1.4% in morning trade Monday, as part of a broad rally in bank stocks, after the Cincinnati-based bank disclosed at deal to buy back $273 million worth of its shares from Morgan Stanley . Based on Friday’s stock closing price, the buyback represents about 9.1 million shares, or 1.3% of the shares outstanding. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the buyback is part of its 100 million shares repurchase program, which was announced in March 2016. Fifth Third expects the repurchase from Morgan Stanley to settle on or before March 19, 2018. The bank’s stock has gained 12.9% year to date, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has run up 21% and the S&P 500 has climbed 20%.

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U.S. stock indexes open at records on tax cut expectations

U.S. stock indexes all rose on Monday, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq hitting intraday records. Growing expectations for the passage of corporate tax cut legislation has helped buoy equities. The S&P 500 rose 17 points to 0.6% to 2693. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 191 points, or 0.8%, to 24842. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 42 points, or 0.6%, to 6979.

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Liberty Global’s stock rallies after new $2 billion stock buyback program

Liberty Global PLC said it has set a new $2.0 billion stock repurchase program, which it plans to completed by the end of 2018. The program is with respect to the Class A and Class C shares. The TV and broadband company’s Class A shares rose 1.4% in morning trade to $33.02, while the C shares gained 1.5% to $32.13. The A shares have gained 7.9% year to date, while the C shares of tacked on 7.9% and the S&P 500 has rallied 20%.

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McKesson CFO James Beer to leave to join Atlassian

McKesson Corp. said Monday Chief Financial Officer James Beer is leaving the company, and will be joining enterprise collaboration company Atlassian Corp. in February 2018. The stock slipped 0.6% in premarket trade. The healthcare company said Beer has led financial functions at McKesson since 2013. McKesson will appoint Britt Vitalone CFO, effective Jan. 1. He is currently CFO of the company’s U.S. Pharmaceutical and McKession Specialty Health business. Separately, McKesson affirmed its fiscal 2018 adjusted earnings-per-share outlook of $11.80 to $12.50, which surrounds the FactSet consensus of $12.17. The stock has rallied 15.8% year to date through Friday, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has climbed 21.4% and the S&P 500 has run up 19.5%.

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Akamai Technologies stock soars after Elliott Management takes 6.5% stake

Shares of content-network firm Akamai Technologies Inc. were up 14.3% in premarket trading Monday, following a disclosure that activist fund Elliott Management, led by billionaire investor Paul Singer, had taken a 6.5% stake in the company. In a regulatory filing released late Friday, Elliott said that there were “numerous operational and strategic opportunities to maximize shareholder value” at Akamai and that the fund intended to “engage in a dialogue” with Akamai’s board of directors about those opportunities. Analysts at Oppenheimer wrote Monday that “Elliott has a strong track record of working with management teams to improve performance over the long term,” with expertise in more than 50 companies. The analysts, led by Timothy Horan, raised their price target on shares to $80 from $60. Akamai shares have fallen 13% so far in 2017, while the S&P 500 is up 20%.

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Activision Blizzard stock rises as BTIG predicts rally will continue

Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. rose 1.8% in premarket trading Monday after BTIG analyst Brandon Ross initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating. “We see Activision as the best way to play the broader theme of the consumer engagement flywheel in games and industry call options such as translating PC-based gaming intellectual property into mobile games and e-sports,” he wrote. Ross is upbeat about the potential for Activision to leverage the data it has on gamers in order to make better titles and drive increased monetization. He believes the company’s 2016 acquisition of mobile-game developer King Digital could help unlock “the next leg of growth at Activision and especially Blizzard.” A mobile Call of Duty game is in the works, but mobile titles from the Blizzard side of the business could play better in Asia, Ross wrote. The company didn’t announce any forthcoming Blizzard mobile games at its annual BlizzCon convention in November, but he believes “several Activision and Blizzard mobile titles are clearly in the making.” BTIG also initiated coverage of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. with a buy rating and Electronic Arts Inc. with a neutral rating. Activision shares have gained 85% this year, compared with a 20% rise for the S&P 500 Index .

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Post Office expects to deliver 3 billion pieces of mail this week

The U.S. Postal Service said it expects to process and deliver nearly 3 billion pieces of first-class mail this week, which should make it the busiest week of the holiday season. The Post Office also expects to deliver nearly 200 million packages this week. For the entire holiday season, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, USPS expects to deliver more than 850 million packages, which is up 10% from the same period a year ago. To help facilitate the surge in volume, the USPS said it will expand Sunday deliveries in some high-package volume locations during the holidays. The USPS expects to deliver more than 6 million packages each Sunday in December, and will deliver Priority Mail Express packages on Christmas Day in some locations. The USPS’s announcement comes at a time when shares of fellow package delivery companies United Parcel Service Inc. have gained 0.4% over the past 3 months and FedEx Corp. have rallied 11.6%, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.9%.

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Amazon stock rises as J.P. Morgan hikes price target

Shares of Amazon.com Inc. rose 0.7% in premarket trading Monday after analysts at J.P. Morgan raised their price target on the stock to $1,375 from $1,220. “We believe Amazon is set to outperform in 2018 with numerous major growth opportunities driving revenue, with better margin flow-through after compression in 2017,” wrote the analysts, led by Doug Anmuth. The hiked price target is based on a 0.9x retail gross merchandise volume multiple, which is above the firm’s multiple for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. due to Amazon’s faster growth. The analysts added that the 0.9x multiple “still implies a discount” relative to Home Depot Inc. , Lowe’s Cos. , and TJX Cos. . Amazon shares have gained 57% so far in 2017, while the S&P 500 [s” spx] is up 20%.

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Total System Services to pay $1.05 billion for payment-technology company Cayan

Total System Services Inc. said Monday it agreed to buy payment-technology company Cayan for $1.05 billion in cash. Cayan is owned by Parthenon Capital Partners. Total System expects the deal to “modestly” add to revenue growth and adjusted earnings per share in the first full year after closing, which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2018. “The addition of Cayan’s unified commerce solutions puts us in a strong competitive position to jointly offer a broader set of value-add products and services to our partners and merchants,” said Total System Chief Executive M. Troy Woods. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has run up 58.7% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 19.5%.

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