>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: RCPT +34.7%, TRNX +33.1%, VDSI +16.2%, RGC +15.3%, SANM +14.6%, ANAD +13.4%, MDCO +13.3%, MDCO +13.3%, EROC +11.8%, GIGA +11.7%, GIG +11.1%, APPY +8.9%, BWLD +6.9%, IDTI +6.8%, ALSN +5.8%, STAR +5.8%, UBS +4.9%, PTIE +4.6%, WMGI +4%, WMGI +4%, MPWR +3.8%, TMUS +3.6%, CNC +2.8%, DRRX +2.6%, AMGN +2.2%,COH +2.2%, PFE +2.1%, ANGI +2%, SIRI +1.8%, AN +1.8%, PES +1.7%, CBRX +1.4%, CNI +0.9%

Gapping down: TWTR -13.6%, AMKR -13.2%, KN -8.1%, SNY -7.8%, RGLS -6.6%, HASI -5.4%, KSS -4.9%, MERU -4.8%, ORC -4.7%, MAS -3.4%, CROX -3.3%, LVS -3.2%, FOLD -2.3%, AHGP -2.3%, WHR -2.2%, HLS -2%, JCP -1.4%, MTW -1.4%, GLPI -1.4%, M -1.3%, AGNC -1.3%, GK -1.3%, OMI -1.2%, JWN -0.9%, RVBD -0.8%

>>> Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk tweets 'Article in WSJ re Tesla sales is incorrec

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk tweets 'Article in WSJ re Tesla sales is incorrect. September was a record high WW and up 65% year-over-year in North America' (221.67)
  • Briefing Note: Yesterday, there was a WSJ report suggesting a Q3 sales decline (see 10/27 13:08). TSLA already reported earnings through the end of June. TSLA reports its Q3 (Sept) results Nov 5 after the close (Capital IQ consensus $0.00 / $895.6 mln). In TSLA's Q2 investor update, it said it expected to be able to deliver about 7,800 Model S vehicles in Q3. Without the planned factory retooling shutdown, Q3 delivery expectations would have been approximately 9,500 vehicles

>>> Parker-Hannifin beats by $0.22, reports revs in-line; guides FY15 EPS in-lin

Parker-Hannifin beats by $0.22, reports revs in-line; guides FY15 EPS in-line

Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $1.89 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.22 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.67; revenues rose 1.4% year/year to $3.27 bln vs the $3.28 bln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $7.45-8.05, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $7.67 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"We are increasing our fiscal 2015 guidance to reflect strong first quarter performance moderated by what we anticipate to be the expected negative effect of foreign currency. Macroeconomic readings indicate some uncertainty in demand levels, particularly internationally. However, savings resulting from the timely and solid execution of our restructuring activities give us confidence that we can achieve our earnings outlook and deliver a record year. Reflecting confidence in our outlook, last week the Board approved a 31 percent increase in the quarterly dividend and a new share repurchase authorization. Our goal is to repurchase $2 billion to $3 billion in shares in the next 24 months."

>>> Twitter: Color on qtr

--> Shares of TWTR are down approx 18% in pre-market trade and are testing important gap up levels of support at $42.

Twitter: Color on qtr

  • Topeka Capital notes, following what was supposedly a break-out 2Q, 3Q, was overall, an in-line quarter, and call commentary on 4Q guidance and on implied 4Q user growth was cautionary. For a stock trading at a high multiple, although supported by high growth, an in-line quarter and cautious comments are likely to result in share price volatility. Firm believes management is managing Street expectations and ad growth and user growth for 4Q are likely to exceed guidance. The pullback should be viewed as an opportunity to own the stock. PT reduces to $60 from $63.
  • FBR Capital notes valuing Twitter is subjective given the company's early stage of development. As the company has continually acted on a solid strategic view and capable execution of revenue generation, firm's confidence in Twitter's long-term potential has been enhanced over the past year. On review of 3Q14 results and the roll-over of our price target to a year-end 2015 basis, Pivot now value Twitter at $42 per share.
  • RBC Capital downgrades TWTR (To Sector Perform from Outperform). In order for TWTR to receive an Outperform rating, the company needs to prove two things: 1) That it can successfully increase its reach with advertisers -- very strong Ad Revenue growth over the last year and our survey results have provided clear evidence; and 2) That it can successfully increase its User base and Engagement levels -- here, the evidence is less clear. And that's the problem. After User trends improved in Q2 (U.S. MAU growth accelerated), they deteriorated in Q3 (U.S. MAU growth decelerated), and the Q4 Guide implies more deceleration, despite a much easier comp. Firm does not believe that TWTR is a broken story.
  • Wunderlich Securities notes co reported Q3 revenues and EBITDA that were 3% and 16% above estimates, respectively. The company issued Q4 revenue guidance of 81-85% Y/Y growth, slightly below consensus, but higher on an absolute dollar number, and EBITDA guidance of 245%-251% Y/Y compared to consensus of 224% Y/Y. MAUs continue to be a concern, with the company adding 13 million in Q3, in line with consensus, but only implying growth of 6-7 million in Q4.

(Re-Code.net) Susan Wojcicki Wants to Sell You YouTube Video Subscriptions

YouTube is in the early stages of exploring new subscription services, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told Re/code’s Peter Kafka and Liz Gannes at today’s Code/Mobile conference.

Wojcicki wouldn’t offer specifics, but suggested that one option could be an ad-free service.

“YouTube right now is ad-supported, which is great because it has enabled us to scale to a billion users; but there’s going to be a point where people don’t want to see the ads,” Wojcicki said in an onstage interview. Consumers generally “will either choose ads, or pay a fee, which is an interesting model. … We’re thinking about how to give users options.”

In 2013, YouTube let individual content owners sell subscriptions to their stuff, but it has done little to promote that option since then. Wojcicki said she was interested in pursuing other subscription models as well.

Wojcicki, who took over as YouTube CEO last February, discussed a variety of topics during the interview, including YouTube’s relationship with parent company Google, YouTube’s efforts to keep its content creators happy and how YouTube is adapting to its growing mobile-user base.

When asked how being a part of Google benefits YouTube, Wojcicki joked, “We get free food. They changed it all to healthy snacks.”

“Really, having the ad sales has been one benefit,” she said. “I think it’s important to point out that when YouTube was acquired by Google, it was still a pretty nascent business, and most of the people were hobbyists. … So I think what we’ve gotten is a long-term consistent investment. As well as free food.”

After taking the lead at YouTube, she told Kafka in an earlier interview, she focused on understanding the ecosystem of content creators on the site, and better promoting these creators so they can make money. One of these creators is, presumably, PewDiePie, who recently was rumored to be considering ditching YouTube as his distribution network. (If PewDiePie doesn’t mean anything to you, that’s okay; I had to look him up as well. But the Swedish video game vlogger has over 31 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, which makes him a priority in YouTube’s content-partner-relationship goals.)

Kafka asked Wojcicki how YouTube would handle it if a creator like PewDiePie were to leave YouTube at the end of the year. “Would you change the ad split, or write a check, [basically] ‘Don’t go, stay’?”

Wojcicki said it “depends on the creator,” but underscored the strategy of promoting and investing in content partners. “Every creator’s going to try to be a little bit different … and we certainly talk to all of our creators.”

“We’re always watching, always trying to innovate,” she continued. “It’s similar to the ad market in a lot of ways: There are always new ad platforms coming out, but at the end of the day people say, I’m going to go to the one that generates the most revenue for me.”

Still, the most compelling insight from Wojcicki was around the potential subscription service for YouTube content. Wojcicki is no stranger to the ad business: Prior to YouTube, she led Google’s advertising and analytics team, overseeing products like AdSense, AdWords and DoubleClick. (She was also a very early employee of Google, and famously let founders Larry and Sergey run a fledgling Google out of her garage back in the day).

“We’ve been thinking about other ways it might make sense for us [at YouTube]. We’re early in that process, but if you look at media over time, most of them have both ads and subscription services,” she said.

As Wojcicki said earlier in the interview, Google attracts more than a billion visitors per month, and an increasing number of them are coming from mobile. Google doesn’t break out YouTube’s financials, but eMarketer has said the site generated $5.6 billion in ad revenue last year.

One nugget that Wojcicki shared was that 50 percent of YouTube views are now coming from mobile devices. She also said that the site is growing 50 percent each year in terms of watch time (although, she conceded that YouTube watch time still doesn’t come close to the average amount of time consumers watch TV each day).

When it came to questions around other subscription services — specifically, YouTube’s long-promised music subscription service — Wojcicki was once again noncommittal, and wouldn’t say whether it would launch this year.

“We’re working on it,” she said. “You’ll be one of the first to know!”

NYT : Apple Pay Already a Huge Hit, Cook Says

Apple’s new mobile wallet, Apple Pay, is just a week old but has grown enormously, according to Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive.

At a tech conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., Mr. Cook said that one million credit cards had been activated on Apple Pay in the first three days that the mobile payment system was live.

That is remarkable momentum. The mobile app offered by Starbucks Coffee, which allows customers to make payments in its stores, has long been considered the most widely adopted mobile payment system in the United States, with more than 12 million active users. But it can be used only in Starbucks stores.

For its system, Apple teamed up with many merchants, including Whole Foods, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Macy’s and Nike. But some retailers are holding out on Apple Pay. Over the weekend, Rite Aid and CVS, which are part of a group that is working on a competing mobile payment system, disabled Apple Pay from working with their stores.

Mr. Cook suggested it would be only a matter of time before those retailers came around.

“In the long arc of time, you’re only relevant as a retailer and merchant if your customers love you,” Mr. Cook said.

Mr. Cook also spoke about his desire to protect consumer privacy. The tougher security in Apple’s new mobile software system, iOS 8, drew criticism from law enforcement officials, who said the new encryption methods would hinder investigations.

But Apple simply wants to stay out of it, Mr. Cook said.

“There’s been some comments from some law enforcement types that said, ‘Hey, this is not good, we don’t have the flexibility we had before,’” he said. “If law enforcement wants something, they should go to the user and get it. It’s not for me to do that.”

He added that if a company were to design a way for the police to gain access to a user’s data, it could end up in the wrong hands.

“I wouldn’t ever do this, but if you design something where the key is under the mat, the bad guy can get that, too,” he said.

Earlier Monday, Mr. Cook appeared at the Capitol in his home state, Alabama, to talk about the company’s participation in ConnectED, President Obama’s program to expand access to technology for schools. Mr. Cook said Apple would contribute $100 million worth of technology, including iPads, MacBooks and Apple TVs, to 114 schools across 29 states.

In his talk, Mr. Cook also challenged Alabama to do more to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people.

(Exane) Numericable : Just the beginning - Bouygues Telecom next ?

* Green light received with no major surprise on remedies
* The deal could close in one month
* Good Q3 results confirm a favourable market shift to superfast broadband (SFBB)
* Just the beginning
...we expect Numericable to continue consolidating the market and buying Bouygues Tel. for EUR6.5bn, which would create EUR9/share of value. We reiterate our Outperform rating with a EUR52 target price.

see full note attached

(BFW) Numericable Likely to Bid for Bouygues Telecom Post-SFR: Exane

Numericable Likely to Bid for Bouygues Telecom Post-SFR: Exane
2014-10-28 07:47:28.370 GMT


By Sam Chambers
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Numericable probably will continue
to consolidate French telco mkt. by acquiring Bouygues Telecom
for EU6.5b after completing merger with SFR, Exane says.
* Deal would create EU9/shr in value for NUM holders: Exane
* NOTE: Iliad’s failure to acquire T-Mobile USA will raise
French consolidation hopes, analysts said
* NOTE: Iliad’s failure to acquire T-Mobile USA will raise
French consolidation hopes, analysts said</li></ul>
* Remedies imposed on NUM/SFR deal are in-line with
expectations and any new wholesale offers are unlikely to
jeopardize forecasted synergies, Exane says
* Says the first of two planned capital increases may
start as soon as this week; could potentially trigger
NUM’s inclusion in MSCI Standard during the Nov. review
* Reiterates outperform with a PT of EU52 (8% upside)
* Reiterates outperform with a PT of EU52 (8% upside)</li></ul>
* NOTE: NUM shrs rose 5.5% yday after co. reported 3Q sales
ahead of ests. and was granted conditional regulatory
approval for its merger with SFR
* NOTE: NUM has 6 buys, 5 holds, 3 sells with avg PT EU43.8
(9% downside)


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

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sam Chambers in London at +44-20-7673-2021 or
schambers7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net

>>> ONGC will aggressively look to acquire 'producing assets' overseas to help m

ONGC will aggressively look to acquire 'producing assets' overseas to help meet 2018 production targets - Newswire
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the state-run Indian energy major, said it will "aggressively" seek to acquire energy assets overseas that are already producing output, according to a newswire report on 27 October.

D.K. Sarraf, ONGC's chairman, was cited by Reuters as saying that the company is now on the lookout to buy overseas assets that are already producing output to meet its targeted output of 400,000 barrels per day from its overseas assets by 2018.

With global oil prices down at USD 83 per barrel, valuations on oil assets abroad have become attractive for ONGC. Sarraf
said that ONGC wants to buy "producing assets" overseas, since it would not be possible for the company to ramp up production from "exploration block" assets to help meet its short-term production target.

But Sarraf also said in the report that ONGC remains interested in buying overseas exploration assets that could help the company meet its 2030 production target. Between 2013 and 2030, ONGC intends to invest USD 180bn to raise its oil and gas output from both domestic and overseas assets, the report noted.

It was recently reported in the press that ONGC will look at opportunities in the former Soviet Union, Africa (Nigeria and Angola in particular), Latin America, the US and Canada, as part of its planned INR 11tn (USD 180bn) Perspective 2030 growth strategy.

It was also previously reported that ONGC was looking at an offer from Russia’s Rosneft to invest in its Vankor and Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye oilfields as well as other assets in the Arctic.

>>> Smiths Group seeks new FD as Peter Turner steps down

Smiths Group seeks new FD as Peter Turner steps down

The Board of Smiths Group plc announces that Peter Turner has informed it of his intention to step down as Finance Director to pursue opportunities outside the Group. Peter will remain in his role for the next six months while a search for his successor is undertaken. The Board thanks him for his contribution and years of service.

The announcement can be read in full :