Telecommunications company Cincinnati Bell  is ready to be  acquired by infrastructure asset management company Brookfield Infrastructure Partners  in a $2.6 billion transaction. According to the agreement, Cincinnati Bell  shareholders will receive $10.50 in cash for each share, at the close of the transaction.The transaction price represents a 36% premium to the closing per share price of $7.72 on Dec. 20 and an 84% premium to the 60-day volume weighted average price. Cincinnati Bell owns and operates a data transmission and distribution network in Cincinnati and Hawaii, catering to more than 1.3 million homes.

Advance Auto Parts  posted lower-than-expected second-quarter earnings and sales. The auto aftermarket parts retailer's adjusted earnings for the quarter came in at $2 a share, which fell short of the $2.22 a share expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Unadjusted earnings of $1.73 a share, was higher than the year-ago quarter’s $1.59 a share. Revenue for the quarter was $2.33 billion, lower than analysts' estimate of $2.4 billion.The figure was same as that of the year-ago quarter. Comparable-store sales were flat. Looking ahead, Advance Auto Parts  lowered its full-year outlook on net sales to between $9.65 billion and $9.75 billion (from prior guidance of between $9.65 billion and $9.8 billion).

Auto aftermarket parts retail giant Advance Auto Parts  announced that it was purchasing  DieHard battery unit from Transformco (owner of Sears and Kmart stores) for $200 million in cash. Following the acquisition, Sears  will be able to continue to sell DieHard auto batteries at its stores.Transformco will still be able to make products for the brand as long as they are not auto-related. Advance Auto Parts plans to sell DieHard auto batteries in its more than 4,800 stores.

Electric vehicle startup Rivian got a $1.3 billion funding round led by T. Rowe Price and includes Amazon.com, Ford and BlackRock as additional investors. The latest funding round is the fourth major investor cash received by Rivian in 2019.The company has apparently raised more than $3 billion since 2018. Rivian  expects to start delivering its first two vehicles, the R1T, an electric pickup truck, and R1S, an SUV, in late 2020.

Energy company Apache Corp. is going ahead with a 50-50 joint venture with France’s Total S.A, for an offshore drilling project in Suriname, a northeastern South American. The joint venture will explore Block 58, which has around 1.4 million acres in water depths ranging from less than 100 meters to more than 2,100 meters.Apache’s CEO and President John J. Christmann indicated that Total’s offshore operational experience and global presence  make it an ideal partner for the project. Along with the 50% working interest, Apache will also receive $5 billion of cash carry on the company’s first $7.5 billion of appraisal and development capital and a 25% cash carry on all Apache appraisals that exceed the $7.5 billion mark.  

This represents a 10% premium to the company’s peers, according to the analysts. The analysts, led by Bryan Spillane, are expecting the Kellogg’s organic sales to grow +2.3% in fiscal 2020, and net sales to rise by + 0.1%.The analysts are projecting operating profit growth (excluding the Keebler divestiture) of +6%. According to the analysts, Kellogg has taken measures to boost sales growth over the past two years, even as profits have lagged.

Its earnings, however, fell short of analysts’ estimates. The used-car retailer ‘s third-quarter revenue increased +11.5% year-over-year to $4.79 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimate of $4.68 billion. Same-store sales climbed +7.5%, beating analysts' expectation of  +6.2% . Strong conversion, bolstered by continued support from third-party lending partners, web traffic growth, and a favorable response to consumer initiatives boosted the results. Used vehicle sales rose +13.6% to $4.03 billion, which is higher than analysts’ estimate of $3.97 billion.

S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Boeing, due to uncertainty about when the timing of  737 MAX jetliner’s return to service. S&P downgraded its rating on Boeing to A-minus from A, and also lowered the short-term rating to A-2 from A-1.The rating agency cited uncertainty over when the 737 MAX will return to service, the risk to the supply chain from the planned production halt, and possible long-term impact to Boeing's competitive position as factors behind the downgrade. In March,  the 737 MAX  was grounded following two fatal crashes.

Colgate-Palmolive stock got a rating downgrade from analysts at Bank of America Securities. BofA Securities cut their rating on the shares of  the consumer products’ maker to neutral from buy. BofA analyst Olivia Tong lowered her price target on the shares  to $74 a share from $77 (as reported in Bloomberg ).Tong  also indicated that Colgate-Palmolive might  face even more challenging conditions next year, and that the situation could necessitate another year of outsized investment.  

However, the athletic footwear/apparel maker’s  gross-margin fell shy of estimates, partly due to U.S.-China tariff war. For its fiscal second quarter, Nike’s earnings came in at 70 cents a share,  which exceeded analysts’ forecasts of 58 cents a share.The figure was alo higher than the year-ago quarter’s  52 cents . Sales climbed +10% to $10.32 billion, compared to analysts’ estimates of $10.09 billion. The company achieved its first-ever billion-dollar quarter, on the back of strong market for limited-edition Jordan sneakers as well as interest in other brands including women’s soccer. Nike’s gross margin increased 20 basis points year-over-year to 44% in the quarter, missing analysts' estimates of 44.1%.

General Mills’ latest quarterly earnings surpassed analysts’ expectations, thanks to growth in demand for pet foods.  For the quarter ended November 24, the food company’s earnings (excluding items) came in at 95 cents per share, beating the 88 cents expected by analysts (based on IBES data from Refinitiv). Net sales increased to $4.42 billion from $4.41 billion, but fell short of analysts’ estimate of $4.43 billion (according to IBES data from Refinitiv).Sales at its pet segment climbed +16%, on the back of price increases and the recent rollout of Blue Buffalo products in Walmart stores. Last year, General Mills acquired Blue Buffalo Pet Products for $8 billion.  

Deutsche Bank's Lloyd Walmsley said that "renewed strength" in Facebook's core app should bolster its continued growth in 2020. Walmsley  cited improvements to Facebook’s newsfeed algorithms, the build-outs on features for its Marketplace and Groups sections and other product work as key drivers of the app’s strength. According to Walmsley, strengthening  engagement in core Facebook could become "durable" in 2020. The analyst also pointed out that products such as Marketplace, and recently  launched  Facebook Pay, could further add to the monetization of core Facebook. Deutsche Bank raised its target price to $270 from $260 and maintains a buy rating on the stock. 

While the semiconductor company issued a slightly lower-than-expected guidance for its current quarter, the latter represents a cyclical bottom according to the company. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, Micron’s adjusted earnings came in at 48 cents per share, beating the Street expectations of 47 cents. Revenue was $5.144 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $4.99 billion. Adjusted gross margin fell to 27.3% from 59% in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead, Micron projects current quarter revenue to be between $4.5 billion and $4.8 billion, the midpoint of $4.65 billion being slightly below analysts' forecast of $4.75 billion.The company expects earnings-per-share to range between 31 and 41 cents, the midpoint of 36 cents being lower than analysts’ expectations of 39 cents.  "With our strong execution and improving industry conditions, we are optimistic that Micron's fiscal second quarter will be the cyclical bottom for our financial performance," said C

The analyst cited competition from delivery services GrubHub and UberEats  and the company's decision to place a greater emphasis on off-premise orders(as report by Bloomberg ).Yum’s other brand KFC has  strong competition from Chick-fil-A and Popeyes. Analysts at Argus also lowered their 2019 earnings estimates for Yum to $3.75, compared to price forecast of  $3.80.

FedEx  missed earnings estimates for its fiscal-second-quarter, and also provided lower-than-expected guidance for the full fiscal year 2020. In the quarter ended Nov. 30, the courier delivery service company’s earnings came in at $2.13 a share,  lower than the year-ago quarter’s $3.51.The figure also missed the $2.60 expected by analysts polled by FactSet. FedEx’s adjusted earnings of $2.51 also fell below analysts’ estimate of $2.78. The second-quarter earnings were affected by charges of 19 cents a share each for expense related to integrating TNT Express and for aircraft-asset impairment. The company cited weak global economic conditions, increased FedEx Ground costs from expanded service offerings, the loss of business from a large customer, a continuing mix shift to lower-yielding services and a more competitive pricing environment as some of the factors behind declining operating results. This week, Amazon temporarily barred certain third-party sellers from us

Eli Lilly & Co. reaffirmed  its guidance for 2019 earnings, and expects revenues to continue to grow in the coming year. The pharmaceutical company has projected 2020 non-GAAP earnings in the range of $6.70 to $6.80 per share, which exceeds the Refinitv forecast of $6.63 per share.The group also re-iterated its 2019 full-year earnings guidance (which it had boosted in October) at a range of $5.75 to $5.85 per share. Eli Lilly is expecting revenues in the range of $23.6 billion to $24.1 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 7%. CEO David Ricks mentioned an expanding portfolio of new medicines focused on diabetes, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience as key drivers of growth for the company.  Ricks also cited “attractive commercial portfolio and limited patent exposure through the latter half of the upcoming decade” as factors that should enable the company to deliver sustainable volume-based revenue growth and drive further operating marg

The analyst cited the following factors behind his optimism for JNJ’s attractiveness in 2020: “(1) multiple regulatory actions aimed at controlling pharmaceutical pricing are more reflected, (2) pharma growth like accelerates in 2020, which historically has lifted the multiple and (3) the portfolio is now more balanced with consumer stabilizing and medical devices and diagnostics coming off six consecutive quarters of momentum improvement." Major growth drivers include the cooling off of pharma headwinds, strong performances by franchises such as Stelara and Darzalex, and pipeline drivers such as Tremfya and Spravato – according to Lewis.

According to analysts at Jefferies, Activision Blizzard is on track to experience a substantial boost in earnings, amid consumers’ growing engagement in  playing games on their smartphones. Jefferies analysts Alex Giaimo and Ken Rumph indicated that Activision's mobile gaming division is set to become a $1 billion business by 2023, adding 25 cents of incremental revenue. A survey commissioned by Jefferies reveals that 90% (of the 1,000 smartphone owners polled) play games on their phones, while 41% reported the time spent on mobile games had increased over the past year. Activision’s 'CoD Mobile' (Call of Duty) already garnered 100 million downloads, or four to five times annual console/PC sales, the analysts wrote.According to the Jefferies analysts, 'CoD Mobile' alone will contribute $300 million in gross bookings and 7 cents a share in earnings in 2020.  

  The analysts reiterated its buy rating on Nvidia, with a price target of $255, representing an upside of more than 12%. According to the Jefferies analysts, Nvidia has continued strength in data center business and gaming business .Training and inferencing solutions for conversational AI applications, and the adoption of RTX GPUs by game titles were cited by the analysts  as major drivers of growth. The analysts also mentioned that Nvidia is benefitting from the development over the past decade of the ecosystem with GPU processors, CUDA software stack, and domain-specific application libraries.

While that might have assuaged trade war fears, certain elements of the apparent truce still remain unclear for now. Thanks to the phase one agreement, China held off tariffs that were scheduled for Sunday on US goods.The US also withdrew from its prior plan of slapping 15% tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports by Sunday.  Reuters reported that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters that China would buy at least $16 billion more agricultural goods in each of the next two years,  adding to the 2017 baseline of $24 billion.