Automatic Data Processing (Nasdaq: ADP) is a human resource outsourcing firm, offering clients payroll, benefits administration, compliance and other services.There could be some good news, however, as the stock hit two levels this week that could act as support and help propel it higher. In August, the stock dipped down to the $128 level before rallying up above the $150 level in early October.

SecureWorks Corp. raked in $133.1 million in revenues in its fiscal third quarter, beating analysts’ estimate of around $130.6 million. For the current quarter ending January, the information security services company expects to generate revenue in the range of $132 million to $133 million.As for full-year results, it expects revenue  to come in around $520 million to $521 million. However, SecureWorks reported a loss of -$3.7 million in its fiscal third quarter - that’s a loss of -5 cents on a per share basis.  For the full year, SecureWorks projects a loss range of  -1 cent per share to  -45 cents per share.

Salesforce posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, and solid growth in revenues. At 61 cents per share, excluding certain items, the cloud-based software company beat analysts’ estimate of  50 cents per share (according to Refinitiv).Revenue soared +26% from the year-ago period to touch $3.39 billion – higher than analyst’s expected $3.37 billion (according to Refinitiv). The company cites expansion in its Sales Cloud and Service Cloud businesses as significant contributors to its growth.

Paychex Inc. announced Monday that it plans to acquire privately held firm Oasis Outsourcing Acquisition Corp. for $1.2 billion. Payroll services company Paychex hopes that the acquisition of Oasis will bolster its own professional employer organization (PEO) strategy and potentially augment its client base.Paychex expects the transaction to potentially create "a number of revenue and cost synergies”. Paychex might finance the acquisition through a combination of cash and existing credit facilities or new debt.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation's decision to acquire WildHorse Resource Development for nearly $4 billion in cash and stock came as a surprise to many investors, especially given the recent oil rout. However, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Doug Lawler, labeled this deal as one of the most exciting events in the recent history of the company, in terms of it could potentially transform the company. So how would this deal help Chesapeake Energy? First, the acquisition of WildHorse is expected to strengthen and accelerate the delivery of Chesapeake's near-term strategic priorities of margin improvement, sustainable free cash flow generation, and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.0.The increased scale of its operations, coupled with its ability to drill longer through its capital-efficient drilling mechanism, will help the company in yielding stronger drilling returns as well as eliminate additional oilfield service and supply chain costs. 

As of this year so far, Qualtrics seems to have an edge over SurveyMonkey in terms of revenue growth: In the first half of 2018, revenue of Qualtrics grew +41.7% to reach $184.2 million; in comparison, SurveyMonkey’s revenue grew +14%  to $121.2 million over the same period. SAP buying Qualtrics is the latest on the list of major mergers & acquisitions this year witnessed in the tech/software space.A few weeks back, IBM announced plans to acquire open-source software maker Red Hat for $34 billion.

The German-based European multinational software corporation, SAP SE, in an official statement on Sunday declared that it is set to acquire the survey software company, Qualtrics, for $8 billion. This deal, the second highest acquisition in the history of SAP (after the $8.3 billion acquisition of travel and expense software company Concur in 2014), would be an all all-cash deal and has been approved by the boards of both companies and also by Qualtrics shareholders. Qualtrics, which competes with SurveyMonkey, is a bigger and more profitable organization compared to Survey Monkey and has been growing at a faster rate. Founded in 2002, it reported a revenue growth of 41.7% to $184.2 million in the first-half of 2018.

Software firm Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS) has been able to remain above its 52-week moving average and could be using the trendline to bounce after reporting earnings. Citrix reported earnings on Thursday morning and the company beat on the top and bottom lines.Earnings came in at $1.40 per share and that was 15 cents above the consensus of $1.25. We see on the weekly chart that Citrix has been trending higher over the last two and a half years and a trendline has connected the lows over the last 15 months.

Even as crude prices rally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General thinks that the oil market is adequately supplied.  Following U.S. sanctions on Iran, market investors seem to be pricing in expectations of a supply shortage (Iran being the OPEC's third-largest oil producer)."The projections for 2019 clearly show a possible rebuild of stocks," speaking on his outlook for next year. What’s more, OPEC in a separate analysis projected dampened growth in oil demand for oil in 2019 due to trade wars and emerging markets’ crises/volatility.

After acquisition talks for game developer Zynga (ZNGA) were reported early Tuesday, a sudden 10+% spike in the stock caused a trading halt.The halt was lifted midday and trading resumed, and the share price closed the market Tuesday at $4.36, up +12.37%. Zynga, headquartered in San Francisco, is known for mobile-based games FarmVille, Words With Friends, CSR Racing, and more.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff are buying Time Magazine for $190 million from Meredith Corp. Time Magazine will be held in the Benioffs' family investment portfolio and will have no connection to Salesforce, according to Time editor in chief Edward Felsenthal.Meredith Corp., which had acquired Time Inc. last November, said that the deal with the  Benioffs will be completed in the next 30 days. Meredith is also planning on selling three other former Time Inc. titles - Fortune, Money, and Sports Illustrated - that Benioffs will not be buying.  

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