>>> US Gapping down


Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:

  • CVNA -6.5%, (also commences 10 mln share follow-on public offering of Class A common stock -- includes 4 mln by selling stockholders), SHW -4.6%, MAS -3.4%, MMM -3%, SAN -2.9%, AMTD -2%, TRV -2%, BIIB -2%, CNC -1.9%, TVTY -1.1%, MLI -1.1%

Other news:

  • EPZM -15% (announced that U.S.-based enrollment of new patients into tazemetostat clinical trials is temporarily on hold)
  • AGO -4.9% (dips lower in after hours trade after Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn voices concerns at the Sohn conference)
  • INCY -4.6% (following FDA advisory committee meeting for baricitinib)
  • JOE -3.9% (speculation that JOE will be next Kerrisdale short target)
  • CASA -3% (files for 7.35 mln share common stock offering by holders including Chief Executive Officer and other officers and directors; announces partial lock-up release)

Analyst comments:

  • HSIC -1.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)
  • SWKS -0.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho)

>>> US Gapping up


Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:

  • CDNS +13.2%, SANM +12.3%, WFT +8.1%, SRCI +6.8%, EDU +6.1%, ATI +5.9%, SLM +4.5%, WHR +4.4%, HLX +4%, CAT +4%, SAP +3.7%, HOG +3.6%, MDR +3.6%, CBI +3.1%, RUSHA +3%, VZ +2.9%, UTX +2.6%, CR +2.2%, FITB +1.9%, ZION +1.8%, AMP +1.5%, JBLU +1.5%, PHM +1.3%, KO +1.2%, LMT +1.2%

M&A news:

  • MITL +8.8% (to be acquired by an investor group led by affiliates of Searchlight Capital Partners in an all-cash transaction valued at approx. $2.0 billion; MITL shareholders to receive $11.15 per share in cash)
  • TRMB +4.9% (Trimble to acquire privately-held Viewpoint from Bain Capital in all-cash transaction valued at $1.2 billion - expected to be completed in Q3; expects first quarter revenue to be above the high end of the range of prior guidance)
  • SHPG +4% (Shire plc: Takata (TKPYY) close to agreement to acquire SHPG following improved offer to GBP 47.00/share, according to Bloomberg)

Other news:

  • EVLV +33.3% (Amazon said to have held acquisition talks with Evine Live (EVLV), according to TechCrunch)
  • TNDM +3.5% (entered into distribution agreements with Australasian Medical & Scientific and New Zealand Medical & Scientific to commercialize Tandem's t:slim X2 Insulin Pump in Australia and New Zealand)
  • ALNY +2.9% (announces new results from the APOLLO Phase 3 study )
  • CYTK +2.8% (presents data from the Phase 2 clinical study of reldesemtiv in patients with spinal muscular atrophy)
  • ZYME +2.6% (Zymeworks announced that Celgene (CELG) exercised its right to expand its collaboration agreement for the research, development, and commercialization of bispecific antibody therapeutics using Zymeworks' Azymetric platform)
  • LQ +2.2% (ticking higher after Sohn announces SohnIdeaContest winner -- Andrew Walker of Rangeley Capital with LQ submission)
  • NWL +2% (announced its first quarter 2018 earnings results will be released Friday, May 4; Starboard filed its definitive proxy statement as announced before the open), TSRO +2% (positive top-line results from Quadra trial of ZEJULA)
  • EBAY +1.7% (eBay and PayPal finalize new payments agreement)
  • PRTA +1.7% (after today's 25 point / 69% decline)
  • BSX +1.3% (announces one-year data from INTREPID study on advanced, levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease)
  • AMZN +1.2% (Glenview Capital's Larry Robbins said at Sohn that rumors of Amazon moving into pharma are untrue)
  • BA +1.1% (Boeing and Ryanair (RYAAY) final order for 25 additional high-capacity 737 MAX 8 airplanes worth $3 bln at current list prices)
  • NTEC +1% (presents data collected from two Phase 1 studies of its proprietary Accordion Pill Carbidopa/Levodopa )

Analyst comments:

  • DISCA +3.1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank)
  • IQ +2.5% (initiated with a Buy at Citigroup)
  • BP +1.3% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
  • HD +0.8% (initiated with Outperform ratings at Wells Fargo)
  • LOW +0.7% (initiated with Outperform ratings at Wells Fargo)

>>> US Early premarket gappers


Early premarket gappers

Gapping up:

  • SANM +15.2%, CDNS +13.6%, SRCI +6.8%, EDU +5%, TRMB +4.9%, SLM +4.5%, HLX +4%, SAP +3.6%, TNDM +3.5%, RUSHA +3%, ZYME +2.6%, ATI +2.5%, LQ +2.2%, CR +2.2%, HOG +2.2%, UTX +2.2%, ZION +1.8%, PRTA +1.7%, NWL +1.6%, AMP +1.5%, PHM +1.3%, KO +1.2%, AMZN +1.1%, CAT +1.1%, BP +0.8%, ABX +0.6%

Gapping down:

  • CASA -5.7%, CVNA -5.5%, INCY -4.9%, AGO -4.5%, JOE -3.9%, EPZM -2%, AMTD -1.6%, LLY -1.6%, TVTY -1.1%, EROS -0.9%, CNC -0.9%, QSR -0.9%, WHR -0.5%

TechCrunch : Amazon has now passed 100 million subscribers for its Prime loyalt

Amazon has now passed 100 million subscribers for its Prime loyalty shopping program, underscoring its growth as an e-commerce, cloud services and streaming media behemoth. But it’s also looking beyond the internet, at more traditional ways to reach consumers.
An industry source claims that Amazon is interested in making a buy in TV home shopping. Specifically, we’re told there have been acquisition discussions between Amazon and Evine Live, which operates a pay-TV home shopping channel of the same name. Another source also heard Amazon was one of several companies potentially interested in buying Evine.
The stage of these alleged discussions is not clear, nor is the price that Amazon would potentially pay. Evine is traded on Nasdaq, and its current market cap is $53 million, at the lower end of its one-year range.
The TV channel was previously the subject of a more public acquisition offer: a group headed by Segel Vision offered to buy it for an enterprise value of $175 million last year, but it eventually walked away after Evine rebuffed the offer multiple times. When TechCrunch reached out to Segel, co-founders Jim Morris and Marvin Segel wrote, “we do not know of any other interest in EVINE,” noting the company’s lackluster financial performance. “This is not the stock movement of a company being looked at.”
Spokespeople for Amazon and Evine declined to comment on rumors and speculation. Separately, we have received no response to messages sent to the CEO of Evine, Bob Rosenblatt, and COO/CFO Tim Peterman.
Evine is a distant third in the world of home shopping channels after QVC and the Home Shopping Network. Yet it still has broad potential reach, with its channel available in 87 million homes across the U.S., in addition to a website and apps. Its business is based on selling a range of merchandise, sometimes in partnerships with celebrities. The company last quarter reported revenues of $193 million with net income of $6.4 million. The latter may sound like a modestly small figure, but it was the first time Evine had posted a net income since 2007, with a rocky stock price to match. (Yet Evine insiders have remained bullish, making dozens of share purchases in the past 12 months, with limited selling.)
Evine has grown up amid some big shifts in the two worlds in which it operates, commerce and media. Two notable trends are that many consumers have switched off their TVs and moved away from shopping in physical stores, turning their attention online (and to their mobile screens) to be entertained and to buy things.
Amazon is both a big benefactor and pace-setter of that trend: the company has become a formidable presence in all things e-commerce and has, in more recent years, been stepping up its game in content, leveraging its cloud services infrastructure to stream third-party media in areas like video and music, as well as its own original programming, bringing a core audience to it all via its Prime subscription service.
There was once a time (before the internet grabbed hold) when home shopping TV helped define the idea of “shopping from your sofa.” But the $2.1 billion acquisition last year of HSN by QVC, creating North America’s third largest e-commerce retailer, was seen by some as a way for the combined companies to “battle Amazon.” The founder of Evine and its former CEO Mark Bozek (who was the basis of the Bradley Cooper character in the film Joy) also clearly identified the Amazon challenge/threat not just for home shopping but retail overall. (Bozek left Evine in 2016 and is now working on a new startup called Live Rocket.)
Yet Amazon’s might is not the full story. Today, e-commerce still accounts for only around nine percent of all retail sales in the U.S., according to figures from the Census Bureau. It’s on the rise, but that proportion speaks to a strong opportunity for online companies that want to capture customers who are not already regular Amazon shoppers and might be more likely to watch broadcast rather than on-demand TV. (Amazon’s Whole Foods buy, you could argue, also helped it target a more traditional channel, with a big move into physical stores.)
Evine is not the leading player in its space, but it has some key pieces in place — such as deals to broadcast into a multitude of local pay-TV markets, and an audience of TV viewers who are already watching and buying from Evine and channels like it — for a larger player to come in and use that infrastructure to build inroads to audiences that might not otherwise be reaching. It could also give those who sell on Evine a potentially much bigger audience to access through its digital channels.
QVC-style programming is an area that Amazon has tried to break into previously using its existing digital platforms. Back in 2016, Amazon launched “Style Code Live,” where users could watch a show with fashion and beauty tips and instantly buy the products. That effort was shelved in 2017 with no explanation for the cancellation, but it shows that the company does have an interest in the area.
Coincidentally, several months ago, reports surfaced that Amazon was looking at acquisitions of smaller, niche-interest television stations to complement its advances in streamed video surfaces.
Another interesting side note: Earlier this year Amazon took a $600 million investment into a company called StarTek, a call center operator and engagement outsourcing specialist that provides services in the cable TV, telecom and retail industries. The investment was little reported at the time, and when we asked about it, StarTek would only say that the deal was related to “commercial services” provided to Amazon.
Evine has been through several iterations: It was founded back in 1990 as Value Vision, went public in 1991 and at one time counted NBC as an investor, which had a significant enough stake to rebrand the company as ShopNBC. NBC eventually sold its stake and the company rebranded as ShopHQ, and then Evine in 2015 as part of Bozek’s attempted turnaround of the company.

(Le Monde) Ports africains : Vincent Bolloré en garde à vue


Ports africains : Vincent Bolloré en garde à vue
Selon les informations du « Monde », le milliardaire breton est entendu sur des soupçons de corruption en Guinée et au Togo.

Il aurait sans doute préféré aller pêcher la crevette à Beg-Meil, dans le Finistère, qui l’a vu grandir et où il se trouvait lors de la perquisition du siège de son groupe en avril 2016. Mais deux ans plus tard, ce mardi 24 avril, c’est dans les locaux de la police judiciaire, à Nanterre, où il était convoqué comme mis en cause, que Vincent Bolloré était attendu.
Selon les informations du Monde, le milliardaire breton a été placé en garde à vue dans le cadre d’une information judiciaire ouverte notamment pour « corruption d’agents publics étrangers » et portant sur les conditions d’obtention en 2010 de deux des seize terminaux à conteneurs opérés par le groupe Bolloré sur le continent africain, l’un à Lomé, au Togo, l’autre à Conakry, en Guinée.


Les magistrats soupçonnent les dirigeants du groupe d’avoir utilisé leur filiale de communication Havas pour faciliter l’arrivée au pouvoir de dirigeants africains en assurant des missions de conseil et de communication sous-facturées. Et ce, dans un seul objectif : obtenir les concessions portuaires des lucratifs terminaux à conteneurs.

Plusieurs autres cadres du groupe étaient eux aussi en garde à vue ce mardi : le directeur général du groupe Bolloré, Gilles Alix, et Jean-Philippe Dorent, responsable du pôle international de l’agence de communication Havas.

Recours judiciaires
M. Dorent s’est ainsi occupé d’une partie de la campagne présidentielle guinéenne en 2010 pour le compte du candidat Alpha Condé, rentré de son long exil parisien au cours duquel il s’était lié d’amitié avec l’ancien ministre des affaires étrangères Bernard Kouchner et avec Vincent Bolloré. Cette même année 2010, M. Dorent a aussi eu la charge d’une partie de la communication du jeune président togolais, Faure Gnassingbé. Alors candidat à sa propre réélection, le fils de Gnassingbé Eyadema, resté plus de trente-sept ans à la tête de ce pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest, est toujours au pouvoir.

Lire aussi : Bolloré : la saga du port maudit de Conakry

Les conseils de M. Dorent et de son groupe Havas pour ces campagnes électorales ont-ils facilité l’octroi à Bolloré Africa Logistics des concessions portuaires de Conakry obtenues quelques mois après l’élection de M. Condé, et de Lomé l’année précédente ? Interrogé il y a plusieurs mois, le président guinéen Alpha Condé ne semblait guère inquiet des suspicions pesant sur l’obtention en 2011 de la concession du port de Conakry par le groupe Bolloré. « Bolloré remplissait toutes les conditions d’appels d’offres. C’est un ami, je privilégie les amis. Et alors ? », disait-il au Monde au printemps 2016.

En novembre 2010, Alpha Condé accède à la magistrature suprême à la suite de la première élection libre du pays, qui sort de cinquante-deux ans de régime autoritaire. Une élection omineuse pour le groupe français Necotrans, spécialisé dans la logistique portuaire en Afrique. Dès mars 2011 en effet, la convention de concession du terminal à conteneurs du port de Conakry, octroyée en 2008 pour une durée de vingt-cinq ans à sa filiale Getma, est rompue. Alpha Condé confie la gestion du port à son « ami » Vincent Bolloré. Une bataille judiciaire est alors engagée en France par son rival Necotrans, qui finira en redressement judiciaire et dont une partie des actifs seront rachetés pour une bouchée de pain par Bolloré à l’été 2017.

« C’est un fantasme que de penser qu’un coup de main à la campagne d’un candidat à la présidentielle qui faisait figure d’outsider comme Alpha Condé permettrait l’obtention d’un port », balayait il y a plusieurs mois M. Dorent, interrogé par Le Monde.

Au Togo, le groupe Bolloré a remporté en 2009 – quelques mois avant la réélection de M. Gnassingbé l’année suivante – la concession du terminal à conteneurs du port de Lomé pour une durée de trente-cinq ans. Une décision elle aussi contestée, cette fois par un autre concurrent. Jacques Dupuydauby, ancien associé de Bolloré au Togo, a multiplié les recours judiciaires pour dénoncer les conditions dans lesquelles il considère avoir été évincé.

Selon les informations du Monde, la police a saisi de nombreux documents à l’occasion de perquisitions réalisées en avril 2016 au siège du groupe Bolloré à Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine). Ceux-ci laissent apparaître les pratiques du groupe Bolloré au Togo et en Guinée et corroborent l’hypothèse d’une sous-facturation des prestations d’Havas au bénéfice des dirigeants de ces deux pays.

Lire aussi : Necotrans, le naufrage d’un empire français en Afrique

La garde à vue de M. Bolloré intervient une semaine à peine après que l’industriel breton a créé la surprise en cédant la présidence du conseil de surveillance de Vivendi à son fils Yannick, patron du groupe de publicité Havas.

Alors que le magazine Challenges évoquait il y a deux semaines la convocation à venir de M. Bolloré et plusieurs dirigeants du groupe, l’avocat de ce dernier, Olivier Baratelli, avait affirmé dans un communiqué que « face à une concurrence exacerbée, c’est la seule expérience du groupe Bolloré, son réseau industriel, son expertise portuaire depuis plus de 30 ans, sa position de leadeur sur le continent africain et les investissements très importants qu’il y réalise (plus de 2 milliards d’euros sur les huit dernières années) (…) qui lui permet de se voir attribuer, seul ou en partenariat, des concessions portuaires ».