A report that Germany has decided to get involved with the ongoing, stalemated talks between the European Central Bank and Greece helped push U.S. markets higher today.
A rally in the German bund and stability in the U.S. bond market was also helping to push stocks higher. Meanwhile, oil prices rose to a level not seen since last December.
The only fly in the ointment was that Wednesday’s rally was coming on light volume, but nonetheless, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.33% higher, while the S&P 500 ended up 1.2% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.25%.
The top stocks amid this broadly higher market — Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI) and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) — really had analysts talking. Here’s why.
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)
NFLX rose more than 3% today after the board of directors announced a decision to increase Netflix’s share authorization to 5 billion shares — a step toward a massive stock split.
In response, Netflix soared as high as $692.79 before finishing at a record-high close of $671.10. That makes NFLX the second-highest-priced stock in the S&P 500, so a split would likely be loudly welcomed by new money from shallow-pocketed individual investors.
Johnson Controls Inc (JCI)
JCI stock shot up nearly 4% after announcing that it was considering parting ways with its auto seating and interiors business — via either a sale or a spinoff — to concentrate more exclusively on building efficiency (air conditioning units) and power solutions (batteries) businesses.
At this point, no clear buyer has been named for the business. However, one name that analysts were throwing around was Spain’s Grupo Antolin … though the difficulty with that potential sale is that Antolin still is in the process of buying the seating business of Canada’s Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA).
JCI has chosen Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and Centerview Partners to be their financial advisers on such a transaction.
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY)
CY was a hot stock today after Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) announced it was agreeing to Cypress’ bid for $20.25 a share. The deal will be valued at $672 million, and CY had to outbid Uphill Investment to win the merger.
Antitrust concerns have held this deal up in the past, but CY convinced ISSI to complete the merger by saying it will “use its reasonable best efforts” to obtain SEC approval for the merger.
CY closed up over 4% on 10 million shares.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
