The stock market limped out of last week with significant losses, hampered like they were for several days throughout the week by poor earnings on the retail front. The S&P 500 finished down more than 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.1%.
The result was the third straight weekly decline for both indices, and nothing in the futures market is indicating a big reversal for Monday. Still, at least a few stocks are reporting news that could have them heading higher today, including Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB) and Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC)
Here’s why investors should have these stocks on their radar today:
Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (ANAC)
Anacor Pharmaceuticals is shooting roughly 55% higher in Monday’s premarket action amid Pfizer Inc.’s (NYSE:PFE) announcement that it’s buying the company in an all-cash deal.
ANAC shares’ performance are in line with the deal’s premium, which at $99.25 per share is 55% higher than Friday’s close.
Anacor is a mid-cap biopharma outfit that currently has a toenail fungus treatment, Kerydin, already on the market. However, the gem of the deal is expected to be Anacor’s eczema treatment, crisaborole topical oinment, 2%, which currently is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with an expected completion date of Jan. 7, 2017.
PFE is hoping to gain more momentum in 2016, with shares up 3% year-to-date after moving into the black in April.
Tribune Publishing Co (TPUB)
Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI) is throwing more money at its problems.
Fellow media company Tribune Publishing rejected a previous acquisition offer from Gannett for some $815 million, or $12.25 per share. The offer seemed due from the start, though; per Crain’s Chicago Business:
“After it received no formal response to its April 12 offer, Gannett followed up on the proposal on April 18 in another letter to Tribune Publishing, reiterating the offer. Despite a terse private response from Tribune Publishing on April 22, Gannett went public with its offer on April 25.”
Gannett has boosted its bid, with early reports saying it’s now offering $15.50 per share of TPUB stock, and it likely will include the assumption of all debt, as was the case with the original offer.
GCI is looking to tack on growth in any way it can, as it suffers declining revenues amid dwindling print operations. Tribune Publishing tpubis stuck in the same boat.
But today, anyway, TPUB is getting another boost. After gains of more than 50% in the wake of Gannett’s first offer, Tribune shares are set to start Monday’s trading 27% higher.
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)
Yahoo shares are ticking up a couple percent higher amid sources saying that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B) Warren Buffett is putting together a group led by Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert to buy out the troubled internet stock.
There currently are no details about any potential deal, but the news certainly won’t be music to anyone’s ears at Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), which joined TPG and YP Holdings in submitting bids for YHOO.
Buffett’s interest appears to be just one in several bits of news that show the Oracle of Omaha is looking to get a bit more tech-friendly. A new filing shows that Berkshire has taken on a new 9.8 million-share stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and has increased its holdings in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).
Yahoo shares are roughly 10% higher year-to-date, mostly on M&A speculation.
Kyle Woodley is the Managing Editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley.
