>>> Clariant denies takeover talks with Evonik

Clariant denies takeover talks with Evonik

Swiss chemicals specialist Clariant AG [VTX:CLN] is not in talks with Evonik Industries AG [ETR:EVK] over a potential takeover, according to a Clariant spokesperson.

It has been reported that German-based Evonik Industries was considering a bid for Clariant which could value the Swiss firm at CHF 23 (EUR 21.93) per share or CHF 7.3bn (EUR 6.96bn) in total.

Clariant is happy with the firm’s current portfolio, as it is and believes it is the best owner for the company, the spokesperson said in response to questions regarding the market rumours. The spokesperson added that the rumours have been going on for over six months.

The company does not have any plans for large M&A transactions at the moment and, if anything, it would only be small bolt-on acquisitions with small-cap businesses, he added.

Today’s reports could be an attempt by Evonik to exert pressure on Clariant’s expectations for a higher offer price, a sector banker speculated.

Evonik Industries declined to comment on the market speculation.

(BofA-ML) Selloff seems overdone, creates enhanced opportunity

SOX down 4%, we think move is overdone
US semiconductor stocks (SOX) are down around 4% today on: 1) increasing noise
around emerging market demand weakness, as we recently noted in our Taiwan
conference note; 2) continued FX volatility; and 3) likely, end of quarter repositioning
in the semis sector where stocks/trading multiples have appreciated significantly in
the last year. This volatility could continue until start of earnings in mid-April, but we
believe the pullback could create particularly attractive opportunities in
fundamentally attractive stocks. We reiterate buy on NXPI, SWKS, AVGO, TXN,
QRVO, NVDA and INTC.

(GS) Semi sell off: MCHP part two or a bigger deal this time around?

* Semi sell off, MCHP part two or a bigger deal this time around? 
Semi & SPE stocks sold off sharply on 3/25 (SOX down 4.6% vs. S&P down 1.5%) with weakness attributed to TSM’s comments at a conference. TSM stated that customer inventory is now elevated due to FX-related disruptions in demand, and also noted that it expects to save several hundred million due to equipment reuse (vs. 2015 capex guidance of $11.5- $12.0 bn). We believe the key question is whether this sell off is a buying opportunity similar to MCHP’s negative preannouncement in October (when the SOX declined 11% before rallying 25% through year-end) or the start of a more protracted downturn in semi fundamentals and the stocks.

* We highlight important differences between March 2015 and October 2014. 
1) TSM is an industry bellwether, and its comments on fundamentalweakness came less than two weeks after a negative preannouncement by Intel (another bellwether). While Microchip is an important company in the MCU segment, this segment is relatively narrow vs. the broader industry.
2) Many semis cut numbers for 4Q but no others supported the view of an industry correction. This enabled investors to buy the dip with the belief that the semi fundamental upturn was intact (contrary to our view).

* The direction of stocks from here: In order for investors to have the confidence to buy this dip aggressively, we believe several bellwethers will need to assure investors that fundamentals are intact during the upcoming earnings season (in ~2-3 weeks). We have discussed this cycle that the majority of semi stock performance has been driven by multiple expansion (rather than estimate increases), with a few notable exceptions (Exhibit 1). We believe the market has justified multiple expansion based on the view that semis are no longer cyclical. As a result, we expect that protracted fundamental weakness would likely drive severe multiple contraction and we reiterate our Cautious sector rating on Semis.

* What about semi equipment? As occurred in Oct. 2014, SPE stocks got caught up in cautious semis news flow. We do not believe TSM’s comments on equipment reuse warranted a sell off in SPE stocks (LRCX down 7.6%) but
believe investors were also reacting to market debate concerning Samsung’s memory wafer capacity and an anticipated Intel capex cut to offset the cash flow impact of its revenue shortfall. Similar to October (when we used the sell off in LRCX as an opportunity to add the stock to the CL), we see the current sell off as overdone in the context of the impact to Lam’s actual fundamentals and we would be buying LRCX on the weakness.

>>> Fed's Lockhart (moderate, FOMC voter): Economy substantially stronger compar

Fed's Lockhart (moderate, FOMC voter): Economy substantially stronger compared to crisis period, ready to consider withdrawing accommodation and moving toward normalization 
- See only a low chance of having to cut rates again after rate lift off
- Once rate liftoff occurs, want the Fed to move deliberately
- Reiterates stronger dollar is already impacting the export economy and manufacturing

>>> SoftBank leads group in talks to buy up to $1 billion stake in India's Micro

SoftBank leads group in talks to buy up to $1 billion stake in India's Micromax: sources

(Reuters) - A group of investors led by Japanese mobile telecom firm SoftBank Corp is in talks to buy a 20 percent stake in Indian handset maker Micromax Informatics for up to $1 billion, two people aware of the discussions said.

The investment would value Micromax, an unlisted provider of affordable smartphones that competes with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, at around $5 billion, the people said. They did not want to be named because the talks aren't public.

One of the people said a deal would likely involve the sale of some 20 percent of Micromax by existing investors, raising $800 million to $1 billion. Micromax, controlled by its founders, counts private equity firms Sequoia Capital and TA Associates among its investors.

Micromax entered the Indian mobile handset market in 2008 and is credited with fuelling the rise of smartphones in the country. In February, research firm Canalys said Micromax overtook Samsung in the fourth quarter as the leading supplier in India's booming smartphone market, though Samsung later challenged the finding.

Micromax declined to comment. A SoftBank spokesman in Tokyo declined to comment.

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: MAGS +13.6%, FIVE +5.6%, RHT +5%, NVFY +5%, CMC +4.5%, DOVR +3.8%, CAG +3%, LTBR +2.8%, ACN +2.7%, FNV +2%, WGO +0.8%, INOV +0.7%, WOR +0.6%, RCI +0.6%, PVH +0.5%

M&A news: FSGI +1.3% (Atlantic Capital Bancshares announces merger agreement with First Security Group), GIS +0.9% (Bloomberg real M&A column discusses possibility of more M&A in the food space)

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: AU +7%, HMY +4.8%, GFI +3.6%, AEM +3%, AG +3%, NEM +2.9%, GOLD +2.6%, GG +2.6%, SSRI +2.5%, GDX +2.3%, HL +2.2%, ABX +2%, FCX +1.5%

Select oil/gas related names showing strength: REXX +6%, SFY +5.3%, WTI +4.2%, PWE +4%, SDRL +3.4%, STO +3.2%, MRO +3.1%, SDRL +3%, GDP +2.9%, WLL +2.6%, RIG +2.4%, PBR +2.2%, CRR +2.2%, COP +2.1%, HAL +2%

Other news: CNAT +41.5% (announces top-line results from its Phase 2 double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of emricasan in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; trial met its primary endpoint), CRDC +16.7% (management committed to a corporate restructuring and layoff in which Cardica will be reducing its headcount by 15 people from 63 to 48 across all departments except research and development), VNR +3.9% (terminated, effective immediately, the Equity Distribution Agreement dated as of November 26, 2013 by and between the Company and Managers), VICL +3.1% (expanded its infectious disease portfolio with the addition of a novel antifungal, ASP2397, in-licensed from Astellas Pharma),TKMR +2.5% (presents preclinical results demonstrating super-additive effects on plasma triglyceride lowering by silencing of ApoC3 and ANGPTL3 genes), ROVI +2.1% (confirms that yesterday, the Northern District Court in Oakland, California held a hearing in its ongoing Netflix (NFLX) case), MDT +1.4% (highlights new data in JAMA Surgery demonstrating cost savings and reduced patient hospital stays following minimally invasive surgery), SLB +1.4% (resolved a previously disclosed investigation by the FOJ into past violations of U.S. sanctions ), MKC +0.9% (authorized new $600 mln share repurchase program)

Analyst comments: SBGL +2.9% (upgraded to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform at CIBC), AWAY +2.7% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer), PTX +2.4% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer), GPRO +2% (upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird), ALR +1.6% (upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman
)

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: SNDK -11.9%, PSUN -4.2%, CMGE -3.5%, VRNT -2.8%, ASND -0.7%, OTIV -0.7%, LULU -0.5%, KITE -0.4%


Select Airline related names showing weakness: DAL -4.4%, LUV -3.3%, UAL -3.1%, ALK -3.1%, JBLU -2.6%

Select SNDK peers and semi names trading lower after SNDK released guidance: MU -4.1%, QRVO -3.8%, STM -3.3%, ARMH -3.3%, NXPI -3.1%, SWKS -2.5%, AMD -1.9%, EMC -1.1%, LLTC -1%

Other news: SCMP -12.8% ( announces a proposed underwritten public offering of shares of its class A common stock by selling stockholders), VG -11.8% (cont weakness), FF -10.1% (disclosed it received a notice from Procter & Gamble (PG) terminating a purchase agreement), NVAX -8.4% (announces it has priced an underwritten public offering of 24,137,931 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $7.25 per share), NLST -7.4% (confirms that a jury verdict has been reached in its case against Diablo Technologies in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ), NBG -4.4% (cont vol in Greece), DPLO -4.1% (prices 8,540,109 shares of common stock at $29.00 per share; shares sold by co and selling shareholders), GTN -3% (prices 12 million shares of common stock at $13.00 per share), GWR -2.3% (entered into a $2.8 bln credit facility; co also lowered Q1 revenue guidance), CFG -0.9% (Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed to sell 135 million shares of CFG's common stock at $23.75 per share)

Analyst comments: EXAS -5.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman), ASML -3% (downgraded to Sell at Deutsche Bank), Q -2.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey), COTY -2.5% (downgraded to Sell at B. Riley & Co), UBNT -2.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie), NVO -1.2% (downgraded to Neutral at Bryan Garnier), NSC -1% (downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James), AEG -2.5% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank), UNP -1.6% (downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen), MYGN -0.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman
)