>>> Telefonica hires TAP Advisors to work on potential towers spinoff - report

Telefonica hires TAP Advisors to work on potential towers spinoff 

Spanish telecoms group Telefonica has retained TAP Advisors as it considers options to monetise its phone towers assets, according to a newswire report citing unidentified individuals.

Bloomberg reported that Spain's largest telephone group is drawing up a plan that might result in an initial public offering of the infrastructure, and could include some of its assets in Latin America, Germany as well as Spain.

A final decision has yet to be taken by the EUR 53bn market cap company, it said.

The group is looking to raise funds amid weaker profit growth in Spain and currency weakness in Latin America. Bloomberg said that spinning off the infrastructure assets would follow a similar move made by Telecom Italia earlier in 2015; also, America Movil, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, set up a separate company in the Spring for its towers business.

The report referred to an earlier article by Bloomberg that tipped Cellnex Telecom as being potentially interested in acquiring some of the Spanish group's portfolio of 60,000 towers

>>> Google’s new quantum computer is '100 million times faster than your PC'

Company website :
{http://www.dwavesys.com/}

Telegraph Article :
Google’s new quantum computer is '100 million times faster than your PC'
Google and Nasa have been working on a lightning-fast quantum computer that is 3,600 times faster than a supercomputer at solving complex problems


New Scientist Article :
Experts doubt Google’s claim about its quantum computer’s speed

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: CIEN -11%, FSLR -8.8%, CMTL -4.3%, MEI -4.3%, .

M&A news: FTI -1.4% ((following report that company may merge with Technip (TKPPY), later refuted by Technip)

Other news: AIXG -29.6% (announcing order reduction and impact on revenue and earnings), AXDX -10.2% (prices 5,588,236 shares of common stock at $17.00 per share), ITCI -3.6% (announces additional data from the first Phase 3 clinical trial of ITI-007; met the primary endpoint demonstrating statistically significant superiority over placebo at Day 28 as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale), PBR -3.4% (confirms that Moody's Investors Service shifted Petrobras' rating from Ba2 to Ba3, with a negative outlook), WES -3.3% (extended its commodity price swap agreements with Anadarko (APC) for the DJ Basin complex and Hugoton system from January 1 through December 31, 2016), CSTM -3.2% (subsidiary Wise Alloys reported that it will explore alternatives to refinance its existing Asset Based Lending facility), SPWR -3.2% (in symp with FSLR), ANIK -2.9% (announces that the FDA's Office of Combination Products has assigned CINGAL to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research as the lead center for premarket review), PE -2.7% (upsizes and prices offering of 12.35 mln shares of common stock by co and stockholders at $18.00 per share), CSIQ -2.5% (in symp with FSLR)

Analyst comments: BTI -1% (downgraded to Sell at Goldman), SNY -0.5% (downgraded to Underperform at Exane BNP Paribas
)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: AMSC +16.9%, FORD +7.2%, OLLI +6%, NSR +3.2%, (announces completion of MarketShare Partners acquisition and provides FY16 guidance ), GEF +2.3%, MNR +1.1%

M&A news: BLT +81.8% (to be acquired by affiliates of American Securities LLC and P2 Capital Partners for $10.00/share), LOJN +44.3% (CalAmp goes public with offer to acquire LoJack), GPRO +2.7% (mentioned as possible acq target for AAPL in FBR note), VLTC +1.3% ( to acquire all of Flanders Holding's right, title and interest in a real estate parcel located in Flanders, New York, for ~$2.8 mln)

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: AU +6.5%, HMY +5.3%, GFI +0.8%, RIO +0.8%

Other news: QTNT +5.7% ( enters into a construction contract with MW High Tech Projects, for a new product development and manufacturing facility in Edinburgh, Scotland), XOMA +4.8% (entered into a settlement and amended license agreement with Pfizer (PFE), MNOV +3.9% (announced positive findings from a clinical trial of mn-166 in alcohol use disorder),PSEC +2.9% (following insider purhcases), RPTP +2.9% ( results from a Phase 2/3 clinical trial evaluating RP103 for the potential treatment of Huntington's disease, called CYST-HD), NVGN +2.8% (named James Garner as CEO effective February 1), CMG +2% (The NYPost speculates that the CDC could soon close its investigation of the E. coli investigation at Chipotle (CMG)), AMD +1.7% (still checking), SUNE +1.5% (announced that it has signed a 10-year agreement with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator)

Analyst comments: CYBR +3.5% (upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JP Morgan), TREE +3.2% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill), JCP +1.7% (upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at Nomura), TRMB +1.4% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer), NVCN +1.2% (initiated with a Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann), PRGO +1% (upgraded to Buy at Argus)

FT Lex : Glencore: whatever it takes

Glencore: whatever it takes

Risks remain but managers at the miner-cum-trader are at least getting the message right


Two months ago, Glencore’s shares fell 30 per cent in a day after analysts at Investec suggested the company’s equity could shrink dramatically if weak spot prices for the commodities it produces persisted. The reasoning was that almost all of the company’s operating earnings would be eaten up by the costs of servicing its debt. Applying a price-earnings multiple of 15 to whatever was left after taxes implied a market capitalisation of $6bn. Spot prices have worsened since then — copper, for instance, is down another 15 per cent. Yet Glencore’s equity value is more than $20bn.
The company has intensified its efforts to cut costs and debt. On Thursday, it said that “capital preservation” measures would add up to $13bn from a previous target of $10.2bn. The extra is coming from lower capital expenditure, the likelihood of more forward sales of output and higher proceeds from disposals. As a result, net debt will drop to $18-19bn by the end of 2016; earnings for 2016 (before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) will be about $7.7bn, well above market consensus of around $6.5bn.
Plenty could still go wrong. The company can expect little help from commodity prices. Divestments are in train but not yet completed. An unforeseen event — think of the tailings dam burst at BHP’s Brazilian iron ore mine — could easily blow the finances off course. And Glencore is not going to be in a position to buy assets at the bottom of the cycle, as less leveraged players may. Conversely, lower input costs are reducing both capital and operating costs. The strong dollar is a boon for a company with no operations in the US, and margins in the trading business are proving more resilient than expected.
It is not just about the earnings, though. Six months or so, investors thought Glencore managers had their heads in the sand. Since then, they have cut its dividend, tapped shareholders for cash and followed up with a Mario Draghi-style “whatever it takes” message. The shares are still well below the 125p at which the group recently raised equity — but they are no longer just options on the company’s survival.

(Finanz&Wirtschaft) AMS is trouble with Apple in the house

The Austrian chipmaker said to have lost more important orders for iPhone, iPad & Co.. Orders from Apple had been moved - because AMS have plated price expectations.
The chipmaker AMS has reportedly serious difficulties with its main customers: Apple.
The Austrians, whose shares are listed on the Swiss stock exchange, are said to have partly lost an important contract as a supplier of microphones, it's from well-informed, business-related circles. In addition, a firmly planned order for Apple chargers will move. In the field of optical sensors Apple Hole now a discount rivals. Both times is with exaggerated ideas on price have snubbed the Apple buyers AMS leadership.
It should be all in all involve an endangered order volume with Apple by considerably more than € 100 million: one-fifth of the AMS-sales.An official confirmation of this information was not getting. Apple generally does not comment on the relationship with suppliers. Also AMS is condemned to silence; the company may not even officially confirm that Apple is part of the clientele.