>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 13th of May 2015

>>> Up


>>> Down
*BMW CUT TO EQUALWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*BMW CUT TO EQUALWEIGHT VS OVERWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*CAMPARI CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT SOCGEN; PT LIFTED TO EU7.5
*KRONES CUT TO SELL VS HOLD AT BERENBERG
*MEDIASET CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT HSBC

>>> PT Change


>>> Initition
*HELLA KGAA HUECK RATED NEW BUY AT GOLDMAN, PT EU50.5

>>> Call
>> Stock
*M&S ADDED TO HSBC EUROPE SUPER 10 PORTFOLIO; TESCO REMOVED
*TERNA REMOVED FROM GOLDMAN CONVICITON SELL LIST, STAYS SELL

>>> US After Hours Summary: GEVO +16.7%, PDII +16.5%, HDP +11.3%, VSLR

After Hours Summary: GEVO +16.7%, PDII +16.5%, HDP +11.3%, VSLR -8.5%, EXAR -4.8%, GDDY -3.3% following earnings/guidance

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings: GEVO +16.7%, PDII +16.5%, HDP +11.3%, SYMX +10.9%, TUBE +10.8%, CARA +8%, RENT +6.6%, NEWR +6.1%, CAPR +6%, NVMI +5.6%, OPWR +5%, BIOC +3%, HCKT +1.8%, HMIN +1.6%, VJET +1%, MCK +0.5%, NVEE +0.4%, FOMX +0.2%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: FCSC +18.0% (received rare pediatric disease designation for FCX-007 from the FDA, to treat recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa), AMCF +8.7% (announced that its previously scheduled NASDAQ listing hearing was cancelled after co pays outstanding fees; announced business updates, including entery into a non-binding letter of intent with Three Pillars PetroChem), VRTX +7.2% (confirmed FDA Advisory Panel voted 12 to 1 to recommend approval of ORKAMBI to treat people with cystic fibrosis ages 12 and older), AXP +1.1% (Board authorizes repurchase of up to 150 mln shares, announces 12% dividend increase to $0.29)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings: VSLR -8.5%, EXAR -4.8%, GDDY -3.3%, LMNS -3.1%, PRSS -2.6%, VUZI -2.1%, CYCC -1.1%, Z -0.5%, SSRI -0.4%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: OREX -14.3% (hearing that partner Takeda is claiming breach of contract and seeking to have OREX pay for new cardiovascular outcomes trial of Contrave), SBLK -9.8% (announced plans to make a public offering of $150 mln of its common shares), CRDS -4.2% (announced a planned rights offering of common stock, to common and preferred shareholders; size not disclosed), AES -3.3% (announced a 60 mln share secondary common stock offering, by selling stockholder Terrific Investment Corporation), RICE -1.5% (announced a 6 mln share secondary offering, by a selling stockholder affiliated with Natural Gas Partners), PGH -1.3% (filed for a $1 bln mixed securities shelf offering) 

>>> Asian Update

Asian Mid-session Update: NZD volatile following RBNZ semiannual stability review; AUD slides on soft wage inflation


***Economic Data***
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 WAGE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 0.5% (6-quarter low) V 0.6%E; Y/Y: 2.3% (17-year low) V 2.4%E
- (JP) JAPAN APR BANK LENDING (INCL TRUSTS): 2.6% V 2.7%E; BANK LENDING (EX- TRUSTS): 2.7% V 2.7%E
- (JP) JAPAN MAR CURRENT ACCOUNT: ¥2.80T (biggest surplus since Mar 2008) V ¥2.06TE; ADJ CURRENT ACCOUNT: ¥2.07T V ¥1358BE; TRADE BALANCE: ¥671B V ¥527.5BE
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 3.7% V 3.7%E
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR IMPORT PRICE INDEX M/M: -2.4% V +0.3% PRIOR; Y/Y:- 17.1% V -17.1% PRIOR; EXPORT PRICE INDEX Y/Y: -2.0% V +0.9% PRIOR; M/M: -6.1% V -6.8% PRIOR
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND APR FOOD PRICES M/M: -0.3% V +0.1% PRIOR

***Index Snapshot (as of 02:30 GMT)***
- Nikkei225 -0.1%, S&P/ASX +0.4%, Kospi +0.7%, Shanghai Composite -0.4%, Hang Seng -0.1%, Jun S&P500 +0.2% at 2,099

***Commodities/Fixed Income***
- Jun gold -0.1% at $1,191/oz, Jun crude oil +1.0% at $61.20/brl, Jul copper flat at $2.93/lb
- (US) API Petroleum Inventories: Crude -2.0M (2nd straight draw) v 0e; Gasoline -1.6M v +0.5Me, Distillate -2.5M v +0.5Me
- (CN) China MOF sells 3-yr bond, avg yield 2.87%
- (JP) BOJ offers to buy ¥70B in JGBs with maturity less than 1-yr, ¥400B in 5-10yr JGBs
- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$700B in 3.25% 2025 Bonds; avg yield: 3.01%; bid-to-cover: 3.98x

***Market Focal Points/FX***
- Asian indices are mixed as the global bond market rout takes a breather on technical consolidation. Investors are also awaiting the upcoming China April trade data to gauge whether additional policy easing will be required. Industrial production, retail sales, and fixed investment figures will be out in early European hours.

- NZD was volatile since the start of the session after the release of semiannual financial stability report from RBNZ. NZD/USD initially fell 30pips below 0.7340 on announcement of lending curbs on property in Auckland to require 30% LVR on bank loans, then spiked up to 0.7420 once markets observed fewer comments on high exchange rate. Later in the session, Gov Wheeler specified that he does see NZD level unsustainable and unjustified, and NZD/USD fell about 50pips to 0.7360. AUD/USD traded to its lows below 0.7970 following the release of Australia wage prices that saw multi-year lows on annualized basis.

- USD/JPY edged lower by about 20pips in early going below 119.80 on reports of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in north Japan, however no tsunami warning was issued. Later in the day, USD/JPY hit a low of 119.70 in the wake of stronger than expected current account, which saw its biggest surplus in about 7 years.

- Shanghai Composite is one of the weaker indices in the region, following reports that regulators are moving to allow local government debt as collateral for borrowing to help stimulate investment demand. Separately, Fitch noted that high margin lending activity poses an indirect risk to banks and raises their exposure to volatility in the stock markets.

***Equities***
US equities / ADRs:
- MCK: Reports Q4 $2.94 v $2.75e, R$44.9B v $44.7Be; Authorizes $500M share repurchase (about 1% of market cap); +0.5% afterhours
- RENN: Reports Q1 adj -$0.03 v -$0.02 y/y, R$13.7M v $23.3M y/y; -2.4% afterhours
- GDDY: Reports Q1 Adj EBITDA $93.9M v $79.7M y/y, R$376M v $370Me; -3.3% afterhours
- OREX: Takeda asks Orexigen to pay for cost of a new heart trial - press; -10.5% afterhours

Notable movers by sector:
- Financials: Hang Seng Bank 11.HK +2.6% (sell shares in Industrial Bank); Yuzhou Properties 1628.HK -11.2% (issues new shares)
- Technology: Hoya Corp 7741.JP -2.8% (FY14/15 results)
- Industrial: China Railway Group 601390.CN +4.0% (awarded order); Isuzu Motors 7202.JP -2.2% (FY14/15 results)
- Materials: Angang Steel 000898.CN +10.0% (ThyssenKrupp to acquire stake)
- Energy: PetroChina 857.HK +0.9% (speculation to spin off pipelines)

>>> US Close Dow-0,20% S&P-0,30% Nasdaq-0,35% Russell-0,22%

Closing Market Summary: Influential Sectors Lead Stocks Lower

The stock market ended the Tuesday session on a modestly lower note, which masked an early drop that had the S&P 500 (-0.3%) down as much as 20 points at the start.

Equity indices endured a shaky open after the overnight session featured more selling in European and U.S. bond markets; however, that pressure abated shortly before the opening bell with the U.S. 10-yr note marking its low at 8:00 ET. At that time, the benchmark yield marked a session high at 2.36% and began its daylong retreat that ended at 2.26% (-3 bps). The ensuing rally in Treasuries fostered a rebound in equities with the S&P 500 returning above its 50-day moving average (2,089) after sliding beneath that level at the start.

The S&P 500 ended the day not far below its flat line, but only two sectors finished the day with gains. The energy space (+0.4%) outperformed throughout the day thanks to a 2.5% gain in crude oil ($60.59/bbl), which was underpinned by a 0.5% decline in the Dollar Index (94.55, -0.46).

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (-0.1%) settled just below its flat line even though high-beta transport stocks lagged notably. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 1.2% with all 20 components registering losses while the largest sector member—General Electric (GE 27.03, +0.11)—gained 0.4%.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors posted losses. The materials space (-1.0%) spent the day behind other groups while technology (-0.5%) and financials (-0.4%) prevented the broader market from turning positive. Similar to transport stocks, high-beta chipmakers displayed relative weakness throughout the day with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 0.9%.

As for large cap tech names, Microsoft (MSFT 47.35, -0.02) and Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.23, +0.02) outperformed while Google (GOOGL 538.73, -7.05) and Facebook (FB 77.46, -0.55) lagged. Also of note, Yelp (YELP 48.83, +0.21) settled lower by 0.4% after the Wall Street Journal contrasted the potential acquisition of the company with Verizon's (VZ 49.62, -0.18) purchase of AOL (AOL 50.52, +7.93) for $50/share or $4.40 billion. Recall that Yelp spiked 23.0% on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported the social media company is looking into a potential sale.

Similar to technology, the influential health care sector (-0.5%) presented a headwind throughout the day. The sector finished among the laggards even as the biotech group settled near the broader market with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 351.79, -0.50) reclaiming its 50-day moving average (349.96).

Today's participation was a bit light with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the Treasury Budget and JOLTS:
  • The Treasury budget showed a surplus of $157.00 billion in April 2015, up from a surplus of $106.90 billion in April 2014 and roughly in-line with the consensus estimate that called for a surplus of $155.00 billion 
    • The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the April surplus cannot be compared to the $52.90 billion deficit recorded in March 
  • The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for March showed that job openings decreased to 4.994 million from a revised rate of 5.144 million (from 5.133 million)
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while April Retail Sales (consensus 0.2%) and April Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the Business Inventories report for March (consensus 0.2%).
  • Nasdaq Composite +5.1% YTD 
  • Russell 2000 +2.4% YTD 
  • S&P 500 +2.0% YTD 
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.4% YTD

(BFW) *AXEL SPRINGER MADE UNSOLICITED APPROACH FOR AOL LAST YEAR: FT



http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/97225f0e-f89a-11e4-be00-00144feab7de.html#slide0
BFW 05/12 19:40 *AXEL SPRINGER MADE UNSOLICITED APPROACH FOR AOL LAST YEAR: FT
fastFT: Axel Springer made approach for AOL last year on.ft.com/1FiIZIF
2015-05-12 19:37:14.965 GMT

Axel Springer made approach for AOL last year
on.ft.com/1FiIZIF
fastFT @fastFT
 
Sent With: SocialFlow
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tweet on the Twitter web site.

Twitter profile information as of May 12, 2015

Description: Market-moving news and views 24-hours a day.

Tweets: 29,444  Following: 92  Followers: 23,034  Tweeting Since:
11/3/2012  Twitter Verified

-0- May/12/2015 19:37 GMT

(BFW) Pop Emilia Romagna 1Q Net EU45.2m; Est EU46.6m


Pop Emilia Romagna 1Q Net EU45.2m; Est EU46.6m
2015-05-12 17:36:10.319 GMT


By John Simpson
(Bloomberg) -- Loan loss provision down to lowest in 10
qtrs, bank says in statement.
* Net interest income EU314.1m, 0.3% higher y/y
* Bank says cost of credit expected to be “significantly
better”
* Operating profit EU555m, up 2.7% on previous quarter, down
4.9% y/y

For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
John Simpson in Toronto at +1-416-203-5726 or
jsimpson12@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrea Snyder at +1-202-624-1831 or
asnyder5@bloomberg.net
John Simpson

(BFW) Banco Popolare Having Informal Talks on Possible M&A: CEO


BN 05/12 17:27 *BANCO POPOLARE HAVING INFORMAL TALKS ON POSSIBLE M&A: CEO
Banco Popolare Having Informal Talks on Possible M&A: CEO
2015-05-12 17:31:19.337 GMT


By Sonia Sirletti
(Bloomberg) -- Banco Popolare CEO Pier Francesco Saviotti
says nothing concrete so far for M&A, speaking on conference
call with analysts.
* Co. “keeps dialogue with everyone,” too early to hire
advisers
* NOTE: Banco Popolare 1Q Net Income EU208.8m; Est EU163.9m
Profit Link

Link to Company News:{BP IM <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sonia Sirletti in Milan at +39-02-8064-4206 or
ssirletti@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniele Lepido at +39-02-8064-4266 or
dlepido1@bloomberg.net

AOL’s Low Takeout Premium Still Shareholders’ Best Bet: Real M&amp;A


AOL’s Low Takeout Premium Still Shareholders’ Best Bet: Real M&A
2015-05-12 17:48:51.556 GMT


(For a Real M&A column news alert: SALT REALMNA <GO>.)

By Tara Lachapelle
(Bloomberg) -- The takeover premium Verizon Communications
Inc. is offering may seem low to AOL Inc. shareholders. But it’s
probably the best they’re going to get.
Verizon offered to buy the digital-advertising company for
$50 a share in cash, just 24 percent higher than its average
price in the previous 20 days. AOL’s stock rose above the offer
price Tuesday, signaling that investors view it as low. The $4.4
billion transaction values the business at about 11 times
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization,
making it also one of the cheapest U.S. deals this size in 2015,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While AT&T Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. have been seen as possible
suitors for AOL, competing bids may be unlikely. AT&T is in the
midst of trying to win approval for its $66 billion purchase of
DirecTV, the country’s largest satellite-TV service. And
Armstrong said last month on CNBC that a merger with Yahoo is a
"dead notion."
“With respect to the purchase price, we find it a bit
light,” James Cakmak, a New York-based analyst for Monness,
Crespi, Hardt & Co., wrote in a report Tuesday. “Other bidders
may come into play, but we believe the likelihood is low at this
point.”
Before the deal was made public, analysts were projecting
AOL shares would climb to around $48 on their own in the next 12
months, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Verizon’s offer
gives shareholders a chance to cash out sooner and at a slightly
higher price.
AOL traded at $50.50 on Tuesday at 1:41 p.m. in New York.

Tech Convergence

This deal differs from many other recent big acquisitions,
in which buyers are justifying paying higher valuations by
touting big cost-cutting opportunities. Instead, Verizon is
looking to take AOL’s automated, or “programmatic,”
advertising technology and pair it with mobile content. This
would give Verizon a new avenue in which to grow as its heft on
the wireless side makes it challenging to get clearance from
regulators to buy more subscribers.
“The goal isn’t to slash apart AOL,” Sachin Shah, a
special situations and merger arbitrage strategist at Albert
Fried & Co., said in a phone interview. “Everything is
converging and this is how Verizon converges. If this works out,
they’re going to buy more content.”
Tim Armstrong, who has turned AOL around from an antiquated
Internet dial-up company, is going to stay running the business
when it becomes a piece of Verizon. The largest U.S. wireless
provider plans to start a mobile-video streaming service
featuring live TV, original shows and pay-per-view to help it
compete with companies such as Netflix Inc. Americans are
increasingly spending more time online than watching television
the traditional way.
Programmatic-ad buying -- which uses high-powered machines
to buy and sell ad space -- may generate $20.4 billion by 2016,
or 63 percent of digital-display ad sales in the U.S., up from
45 percent in 2014, according to EMarketer. In addition to AOL’s
ad business, it owns news sites Huffington Post and TechCrunch.

For Related News and Information:
Verizon Agrees to Acquire AOL in Deal Valued at $4.4 Billion
You’ve Got Merger. What Twitter is Saying About Verizon-AOL
Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO>
Top deal stories: DTOP <GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Tara Lachapelle in New York at +1-212-617-8911 or
tlachapelle@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Beth Williams at +1-212-617-2307 or
bewilliams@bloomberg.net
Phil Serafino

(BN) *VIVENDI TO MAKE TENDER OFFER OF EU7.60 A SHR FOR CANAL PLUS


BN 05/12 16:12 *VIVENDI SAYS WOULD IMPLEMENT SQUEEZE-OUT IF GETS 95% OF CANAL
BN 05/12 16:11 *VIVENDI DOESN'T PLAN CANAL PLUS SQUEEZE-OUT AFTER OFFER
BN 05/12 16:10 *VIVENDI TO FILE CANAL OFFER WITH AMF `WITHIN THE COMING WEEKS'
BN 05/12 15:57 *VIVENDI : CANAL PLUS 1Q EBITA EU165M VS EU175M
BN 05/12 15:56 *VIVENDI SAYS CANAL PLUS HAD 1Q REV. OF EU1.37B
BFW 05/12 15:54 *VIVENDI TO MAKE TENDER OFFER OF EU7.60 A SHR FOR CANAL PLUS
BN 05/12 15:54 *VIVENDI ALREADY OWNS 48.5% OF CANAL PLUS
BFW 05/12 15:53 *VIVENDI TO MAKE PUBLIC TENDER OFFER FOR CANAL PLUS
BN 05/12 15:53 *VIVENDI TO MAKE PUBLIC TENDER OFFER FOR CANAL PLUS
BN 05/12 15:52 *VIVENDI 1Q EBITA EU218M; EST. EU213M
BFW 05/12 15:51 *VIVENDI 1Q ADJ. NET EU136M; EST. EU124M
*VIVENDI TO MAKE TENDER OFFER OF EU7.60 A SHR FOR CANAL PLUS
2015-05-12 15:54:07.955 GMT

--STEVE RHINDS

-0- May/12/2015 15:54 GMT

>>> ITT Educational shares now down 46% to fresh multi-year lows following this

ITT Educational shares now down 46% to fresh multi-year lows following this mornings SEC fraud charges

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against ITT Educational Services Inc., its chief executive officer Kevin Modany, and its chief financial officer Daniel Fitzpatrick. The SEC alleges that the national operator of for-profit colleges and the two executives fraudulently concealed from ITT's investors the poor performance and looming financial impact of two student loan programs that ITT financially guaranteed. ITT formed both of these student loan programs, known as the "PEAKS" and "CUSO" programs, to provide off-balance sheet loans for ITT's students following the collapse of the private student loan market. To induce others to finance these risky loans, ITT provided a guarantee that limited any risk of loss from the student loan pools.