Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX) announced its acquisition of Gen-Probe (NASDAQ:GPRO) in a cash deal valued at $82.75 a share, which represents a 20% premium over the company’s Friday close.The company expects the deal to add $0.20 per share to adjusted EPS in its first year after the closing of the deal.Hologic expects to fund the deal through cash, and added term loans.
News Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NWSA) board offered a statement of support for Rupert Murdoch, saying its chairman has the resolve to lead the firm despite the slew of allegations he’s been attacked with by the UK parliamentary panel. The support comes as the firm creates a list of 52 employees involved in illegal phone hacking and gathering of private information.Currently, the media company’s shares are trading over a half a percent lower to $19.74 in the early session.
This eighteenth trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors disappointed with the April jobs report from the Labor Department. Hi.
On Thursday, Avon Products (AVP) declared its quarterly dividend of 23 cents per share, maintaining the amount paid to shareholders last quarter. Based on the current stock price, investors can expect a yield of about 4.5% going forward.
In trading on Friday, electric utilities shares were relative leaders, about flat on the day. Leading the group were shares of Dynegy (DYN), up about 5.1% and shares of ITC Holdings (ITC) up about 1.6% on the day.
This morning, Citigroup raised its price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management (NLY) to $15 per share following strong first quarter results. With the higher price target, Citigroup increased its EPS estimates and reiterated its hold rating.
This morning, Keybanc initiated coverage on shares of Huntsman (HUN) with a buy rating as the company should see earnings growth as economic conditions improve in North America. With the new coverage, Keybanc set a price target of $20 per share.
5-1-12-Jetblue (NASDAQ:JBLU) filed 46.69 million shares on behalf of shareholders, the firm said Tuesday.As of March 15th, Jetblue had 283.3 million shares outstanding and a market cap of $1.35 billion.Jetblue shares are down 8.7% year-to-date while the S&P midcap 400 is up 13%.
Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK) said yesterday the IRS was reviewing the controversial perk that allowed the firm’s CEO Aubrey McClendon to buy a small stake in every oil or gas well the company drilled.Chesapeake believed resolving the matter won’t have a serious impact on the company.Specifically, the IRS said it was examining the Founders’ Well Participation Program as part of audits of CHK’s 2008, 2009 income tax returns.Chesapeake said it has been in talks with IRS and said a resolution probably wouldn’t have a material impact on the company.SmarTrend alerted subscribers to take profits in Chesapeake Energy on March 29, 2012 at $22.89, since then the stock fell 19.5%. We are now watching for any positive developments that could result in a new uptrend signal.
This is what’s in the news for Wednesday, May 2, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Facebook’s $3B a year advertising business revolves around convincing marketers to buy new forms of ads to create buzz around their brands, but some major advertisers wonder if they’re getting their money’s worth. Reuters reports a German court ruled that Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) infringed Motorola Mobility’s (NYSE:MMI) patents and ordered Microsoft to remove its Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Windows 7 operating system software from the German market. Reuters also reports GM (NYSE:GM) had proposed taking a controlling stake of more than one-third in Isuzu Motors, worth about $3B, but now seeks a smaller holding after the Japanese truck maker said it wanted to remain independent, sources say. Bloomberg reports Oil fell from the highest level in five weeks as growing crude stockpiles in the U.S. and uncertainty before elections in three European countries raised concern that global demand may weaken. Finally, Bloomberg also reports Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said a proposed Federal Reserve rule that seeks to limit links between banks could lower U.S. economic growth by as much as 0.4 percentage point and eliminate up to 300,000 jobs.
