Abercrombie & Fitch  re-iterated its guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in February. In the retailer’s reaffirming projections, comparable-store sales is in a range of flat to up +2%.Seventy basis points of that decline is attributed to currency fluctuations and expected China tariffs. CEO Fran Horowitz said that the company experienced record revenues in the U.S. over Black Friday week ( including the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday). In a separate event, Chief Financial Officer Scott Lipesky indicated at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Florida, that the company is willing to exit even the top-notch shopping centers if it wants to reduce its physical presence.

GameStop Corp. reported a steep decline in holiday sales.  The company’s sales from continuing operations for the nine-week holiday period ending January 4 plunged -27.5% to $1.83 billion.Comparable store sales fell - 24.7% during the same period. George Sherman, GameStop’s chief executive officer, said that accelerated decline in new hardware and software sales coming out of black Friday and throughout the month of December was well below the company’s expectations.

Credit card behemoth Visa Inc. is acquiring privately-held financial services API company Plaid for $5 billion.The purchase price is almost  double Plaid’s latest private valuation. Visa said it will finance the acquisition from cash on hand and debt issuance “at the appropriate time.” The transaction is expected to close in the next three to six months. Plaid’s technology helps developers share banking and other financial information more easily - something that could potentially bolster Visa's operations after the acquisition.

Netflix earned 24 nominations for the Oscars, becoming the first steaming service to get the most nominations for the prestigious movie awards. Among Netflix’s original content, Martin Scorsese’s epic “The Irishman” scored 10 nominations, “Marriage Story” got six, “The Two Popes” garnered three, and animation feature “Klaus” was on the best animated feature ballot. The streaming platform also earned nominations for two documentary features called “American Factory” and “The Edge of Democracy”, and one documentary short titled “Life Overtakes Me”. In early December,  Netflix said that 26.4 million accounts viewed "The Irishman" within the first week, and that it expected 40 million to watch it in the first 28 days.

Mastercard  received price-target raises from two Wall Street analysts. In a note to clients, Nomura Instinet analyst Bill Carcache boosted his price target for the credit card company’s shares to $354 from $324.The analyst  perceives  "high secular" growth in Mastercard’s  payment networks business. Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat increased price target on Mastercard  to $355 from $300.

Aerospace parts maker Woodward  is planning to merge with Hexcel (which makes lightweight materials for aircraft, space and defense equipment). Under the all-stock merger, current Woodward shareholders will own about 55% of the new company called Woodward Hexcel. Woodward shareholders will get to have the same number of common stock shares in the newly combined company as before.  The combined entity is valued at $6.4 billion. Woodward will be raising its quarterly cash dividend to 28 cents a share, as part of the deal. The combined company – set to be among the aerospace industry’s largest suppliers - will generate estimated net revenues of $5.3 billion (based on last year’s revenues), while  having around 16,000 employees, and operations in 14 countries.   Woodward Hexcel expects to save around $125 million in annual cost synergies by its second fiscal year. The new company plans to invest $250 million on research and development

Pharmaceutical companies Nektar Therapeutics and  Bristol-Myers Squibb have expanded their collaboration to develop an anti-cancer treatment. The treatment comprises Nektar’s bempegaldesleukin (bempeg) and Bristol-Myers' Opdivo (nivolumab).  The expansion would go beyond the three pivotal studies in first-line metastatic melanoma, first-line cisplatin-ineligible metastatic urothelial cancer and first-line metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) - to include additional trials in adjuvant melanoma and in muscle-invasive bladder cancer.  Nektar and Bristol-Myers will also begin phase 1/2 dose escalation studies in first-line RCC.  The two companies began the partnership in 2016.The cost-sharing conditions won’t change in the expanded accord. Bristol-Myers will  also fund a Phase 1/2 dose optimization and expansion trial assessing the combo in first-line non-small cell lung cancer. Nektar will be able to receive up to $125 million total once the fi

Urban Outfitters’ holiday sales came in below analysts' expectations. The lifestyle retail company’s same-store sales at its Free People and  Anthropologie  outlets increased +8% and +5% respectively during the 2019 holiday season.However, comparable-store sales at the company’s eponymous stores declined -1%.  The retailer's overall sales climbed just under +3% during the holiday season, lagging analysts' expectations. On Thursday, the company also reported lower-than-expected sales. Urban Outfitters’ also warned of a possible thinner-than-expected profit margins for the fourth quarter.

 It will remain one of the top three IT distributors in the Americas and Japan, according to Synnex. The other entity, Concentrix, will concentrate on customer experience in eight industries, including technology, financial services and media, and serve more than 125 of the Global Fortune 200 companies.The business generates annual revenue of about $4.7 billion, according to Synnex. After the separation, Synnex shareholders will own shares of both Synnex Technology and Concentrix. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Synnex’s adjusted earnings came in at $4.26 a share, exceeding analysts’ expectation of  $3.61 a share.

Boeing  faces a $5.4 million penalty for allegedly installing faulty parts on 178 of its 737 Max aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA indicted that the faulty parts were produced by Southwest United Industries in late June and early July of 2018, and then shipped to Spirit AeroSystems which then delivered them to Boeing. According to the agency, Boeing failed to adequately oversee its suppliers’ compliance with the company’s quality assurance system. Last year, Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft model was grounded following two fatal crashes that killed hundreds of passengers.What’s more, emails exchanged among Boeing employees (revealed this week) showed them questioning the safety of the aircraft .

The guidance excludes 22 cents a share related to debt and impairment write-offs, store closings and other costs.Analysts polled by FactSet were projecting full-year earnings of $4.88 a share. CEO Michelle Gass indicated that Kohl’s continues to see momentum in areas such as digital business, active, beauty and children’s, and solid performance in footwear and men’s, while there was weakness in women’s which they are “working with speed to address.”

Tech behemoth Microsoft Corp. got a $195 price target from analysts at Wedbush.  Wedbush analyst Dan Ives and his team boosted price target on Microsoft shares to $195 from $185.

Chevron  shares got a rating downgrade from  Bank of America analysts, on valuation concerns.  Analysts at Bank of America lowered their rating on the oil behemoth’s shares to underperform from neutral, on what they perceive are fully valued at current levels. Calling his own view as  “ counter-consensus”, Leggate  argued that a discounted-cash-flow-based valuation suggests that the shares are fairly valued at current levels, assuming a $60 Brent crude base. The analyst anticipates Chevron’s major growth driver, the Permian Basin, to hurt its cash margins, since U.S. production is leaning towards gas and natural-gas liquids. Furthermore, Leggate   indicated that ever since oil prices crashes in 2015, Chevron has increasingly focused on reducing spending and engaging in share buybacks .The analyst views the share buybacks as a sign of “ underinvestment” that compromises visibility on new projects needed to sustain free cash flow growth and bolster

Square got a rating boost from Bank of America (BofA) this week. Bank of America analyst Jason Kupferberg boosted his rating on the mobile-payments company to buy from neutral.  Kupferberg thinks that Square shares now have attractive prices for investors seeking to add the stock to their portfolios or bulk up their current holdings (as reported in Bloomberg). The BofA analyst also suggested that Square's revenue guidance for 2020 looks "conservative" .

A SunTrust analyst initiated coverage of online/mobile gaming company Zynga with a buy rating.  Analyst Matthew Thornton said in a note to investors that Zynga offers “ pure-play exposure to the large and fast growing global mobile game market" on the back of its growing and diversified gaming portfolio and highly experienced management team and Board. Thornton also mentioned Zynga’s pipeline of at least 7 games, including FarmVille, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and others,  as well as a strong balance sheet  including more than $1.4b in cash as major strengths of the company.Small Giant, Gram Games) which he believes should augment organic growth with M&A in what he mentions  is a highly fragmented market," "Our own conversations with private mobile game publishers suggest to us that a sale to Zynga (under the current team) is generally viewed as a desirable outcome," Thornton  said.

Hydrogen fuel cell systems company Plug Power announced a $172 million contract with a "Fortune 100" company. Plug Power's stock price surged +14.78% on Monday on news of the deal with the unnamed material handling company.Plug Power indicated that the contract (along with other factors like growth in the European market and  new sales channels' developments ) would be critical towards achieving its 2024 target of $1 billion in billings.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan resumed coverage of Under Armour this week. This time, the  J.P. Morgan analysts gave a neutral rating on the sports and casual apparel maker’s stock . EBIT estimate is $298 million at J.P. Morgan, compared to $311 million estimate of the Street.  

Goldman Sachs moved Citigroup to its Conviction List. Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Ramsden  mentioned adding Citigroup to the Americas conviction list, on what the analyst perceives as a “realistic path" to a 12.4% return on tangible common equity in 2020 – which places the estimate 70 basis points ahead of market expectations (according to Ramsden ).Goldman cited Citi’s ability to control costs and achieve strong loan growth. 

Bank of America shares got a rating boost from analyst at Baclays.  Analyst Jason Goldberg  raised his rating on the banking stock to overweight from equal weight , with a $43 price target. In his note to investors, Goldberg indicated that significant improvements of Bank of America’s consumer banking ( its largest revenue source), and tailwinds from recent technology advancements  are not fully appreciated by investors. Goldberg  also  expects further market share gains on the wholesale front.He added,"In addition, we expect expansions to remain contained, asset quality to stay benign and share repurchase to continue".  

On Monday, J.B. Hunt Transport got a rating downgrade from analysts at Bernstein.  Bernstein  analysts lowered their rating on the freight transport company to market perform from outperform, citing expectations of near-term headwinds.Bernstein ‘s outlook factors in near-term intermodal growth expected to be tougher in the new year than it was in 2019, on what it perceives as softness of the freight market. Bernstein  has a price target of $124 on the shares, which represents 6% potential upside from the stock’s Friday closing price. The Street’s consensus estimate of price target on JB Hunt shares is $113. Trends in global transport are apparently getting affected by factors such as  environmental concerns (e.g.