>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up:
  • SALE +51%, MXWL +19.3%, SDRL +14.8%, SVU +9.8%, AGX+9.2%, TOPS +5.8%, AUPH +5.7%, MTL +4.1%, QUOT +3.8%, KMI+3%, AXON +2.8%, YELP +2.6%, HMY +2.3%, RIO +2.2%, WDC+2%, AKER +1.9%, GOLD +1.8%, TNXP +1.6%, GFI +1.4%, FSLR+1.2%, AU +1.2%, PNRA +0.9%, SBGL +0.9%, GRPN +0.8%, NADL +0.7%
Gapping down:
  • CYTX -24.4%, BEAT -6.1%, SLP -5.2%, SEAC -3.3%, UAL -3.2%,MTSC -2.8%, PNC -2.6%, PLUG -1.6%, STM -1.6%, FRO -1.3%,UNFI -0.9%, ABB -0.7%, MU -0.5%, WFM -0.5%

FT : Altice edges towards flotation of US business

Altice is getting closer to an initial public offering of its US business.

The acquisitive telecoms, content and media company on Tuesday filed a registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed IPO of a minority stake of Altice USA. Its one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the US.

Altice has not yet determined the number of shares to be offered nor the price range for the offering. JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are named as the joint bookrunners.

Altice, which is listed in the Netherlands and controlled by billionaire telecoms entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, confirmed in December that it was exploring the possibility of floating a minority stake in its US operations, following an aggressive expansion in the US in the past few years.

The listing of a minority stake would allow Mr Drahi to expand further into the US by giving it public stock that could be used to help finance more acquisitions.

Altice has taken advantage of record-low interest rates to fuel its expansion, pushing the group’s net debt to a level of €50.4bn at the end of 2016.

Barcap) : dialog semi opportunity here

DIALOG SEMI (OW, EUR51 PT) ---> OPPORTUNITY HERE (FROM OUR ANALYST) :
local broker downgrade pressuring shares this morning with them speculating Dialog will lose business with Apple, a la Imagination’s announcement last week. As we highlighted in our preview this morning, we think this couldn’t be further from the truth and there remain multiple differences between the two situations… 1) Imagination is digital (all 1s and 0s… many more engineers available for such development)… Dialog is analog/power (very hard to find such expertise). 2) Digital design cycles are much shorter than analog… so even if you could find appropriate engineers, it takes longer to catch up. 3) Dialog have been doing custom work with Apple for 10 years… but the chip includes Dialog’s own IP which is protected; given the tight integration between Dialog’s and Apple’s two chips, it would be even harder for Apple to start from scratch. 4) finally and most simply, Dialog’s content/price has been going up consistently over the past few years and will continue to do so in 2017/18… hardly a sign that Apple is unhappy with Dialog’s product. Their visibility is improving, not deteriorating. Link to this morning’s preview… pg. 16 : {https://live.barcap.com/go/publications/email?CL2303553&m=1488006006023&v=DTPHAnYZK8Bc6a3XBABqROoIMKqHDqVIt3EH_wGEA0S4dFEwvOcW8KpVy_kPnXM4}
[11 April 2017, 09:43:59] DIRK URFELS: barc

(Lampe) Sell Dialog, ‘Strong Evidence’ Apple Planning Power Chip

Dialog Semiconductor drops as much as 18% after Bankhaus Lampe downgrades stock to sell from hold, citing “strong evidence” that Apple is developing its own power management chip and intends to replace the one made by Dialog at least in part.
  • Lampe says has been observing much stronger interest in engineers of analogue and power management chips from Apple in its hiring activities for a little over a year
    • Says about 80 engineers at Apple are already working on a PMIC with specific plans to employ it in the iPhone by as early as 2019, citing unidentified industry sources
  • Sees “a few similarities” with Imagination Technologies, customer diversification seems more important than ever
  • Stock no longer trading at a discount to broader semiconductor peer group, which is needed due to the single client risk
  • Sees risk for a disappointment in the outlook for 2Q
  • NOTE: Apple accounts for ~74% of Dialog’s revenue, according to Bloomberg data

>>> Altice USA IPO could amount to USD 2bn, valued at USD 25bn-USD 30bn – report

Altice USA IPO could amount to USD 2bn, valued at USD 25bn-USD 30bn – report (translated)
11 APR 2017
Altice NV [AMS:ATC], the Netherlands-based telecommunications giant, is considering an initial public offering of USD 2bn for its cable television unit in the United States, French daily Les Echos reported.
The report cited banking sources as saying that investment funds BC Partners (the owner of this news service) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which holds a nearly 31% share in Altice USA, could sell between 5% and 10% of the shares in the business.
The IPO, expected to be launched in the summer, could value Altice USA at between USD 25bn and USD 30bn, the report went on to say.

>>> What to look at today - 11th of April 2017

Dow +0.07% S&P +0.07% Nasdaq +0.05% Russell +0.18%
US Market closed slightly +ve, Geopolitic & Oil continue to be the main catalyst before US banks kick of of Q1 earnings this week.  stock market dipped into negative territory around midday on rumors that China deployed about 150,000 troops in two groups to its border with North Korea. Equities recovered shortly thereafter, but never quite made it back to their best levels of the day. This rumor of Chinese troop movement has been gaining traction with Asian media in recent days, and it has been noticed by U.S. investors during an abbreviated week, which is likely to see reduced participation. That was the case on Monday with only 794.0 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor (200-day average: 1.1 billion).  energy group (+0.8%) finished atop the day's leaderboard thanks to a solid performance from crude oil. The commodity finished 1.6% higher at $53.06/bbl following further production complications in Libya. The country's largest oilfield was shut down on Sunday after a group blocked a pipeline linking it to an oil terminal. consumer discretionary (+0.4%), industrials (+0.2%), consumer staples (+0.3%), real estate (+0.7%), and utilities (+0.2%) sectors also outperformed the broader market.  financials (-0.3%) and telecom services (-0.3%) groups settled at the bottom of the day's leaderboard while the health care (-0.2%) and technology (-0.2%) groups performed only modestly better. US After Hours SALE +49% on buyout news, MXWL +40% on SDIC equity investment. Asian equity markets are largely lower, led by near 1% drop in Hong Kong where sentiment soured on energy, tech, and gaming sectors. Australia is resilient with a modest gain, as most mining and financials names turned higher. US and European futures are also lower, while FX majors appear to be succumbing to renewed risk-off flows - USD/JPY is down over 30pips from the highs below 110.60, while AUD and NZD were slightly lower against the greenback late in the day. Traders tuned in to Fed Chair Yellen's discussion at University of Michigan mostly to hear familiar rhetoric. Yellen said the Fed's estimate of neutral fed funds rate is not very high, reiterating intentions to continue to gradually raise interest rates.

Nikkei -0.27% Hang Seng -0.79% CSI -0.06% Shanghai +0.22%

eur$ 1.0584 CNH 6.9052 CNY 6.9016 JPY 110.59 GBP 1.2416 CHF 1.0091 RUB 57.1183 WTI$ 52.87 -0.40%

S&P -0.15% EuroStoxx -0.73% FTSE -0.19% Dax -0.51% SMI -0.35%

Macro :
- Yellen Says Fed’s Focus Has Shifted to Sustaining Economic Gains
- Lower Corporate French Tax Rate Could Benefit Legrand: Citi

Keep an eye on :
- AKZA NA : PPG Offer for Akzo Nobel Is ‘Unacceptable’, FD Cites Akzo CEO
- ATC NA : Altice USA May Aim at Raising Up to $2b in IPO: Echos
- ENEL IM : Enel CEO Starace, Chair Grieco Top Treasury’s Board Nominee List
- ENI IM : Saudi Said to Weigh Gas Ventures With BP, Chevron, Eni: Reuters
- GIVN VX : Givaudan 1Q Revenue Beat Company-Compiled Consensus: Liberum
- DEC FP : JCDecaux Appeals on Velib Loss to Paris Administrative Court
- MC FP : LVMH 1Q Sales Beat Estimates; Rev. Organic Growth 13%
- MC FP : LVMH Rally May Have More Room to Go Following Sales Beat: RBC
- MAU FP : Maurel & Prom Says Henin Resigned From Role as Board Chairman
- PNRA US : 3G Capital Said to Weigh Rival Bid for Panera Bread: NYP
- REP SM : Repsol 1Q Est. Upstream Production 694 Kbep/D: Filing
- SIKA VX : Sika 1Q Sales CHF1.39b, Up 9% in Swiss Francs
- WFM US : Whole Foods Surges as Much as 12%, Option Volume Spikes, Jana Reports 8.3% stake