Thursday Pre-Market Look: Stocks In The News Before The Open

Eli Lilly (LLY) — Eli Lilly reaffirmed its 2016 and 2017 guidance, adding it has the potential to launch 20 new products by 2023. Shares of the pharmaceutical company rose 4 percent in premarket trading.
Zoetis (ZTS) — Analysts at Piper Jaffray resumed coverage of the animal health firm’s stock with an “overweight” rating and a $61 price target. “We continue to expect a challenged environment and now with livestock margins under pressure, but we like the resilience of the animal health industry despite volatile end markets in livestock,” Piper said in a note.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) — Analysts at Stifel resumed coverage of Archer Daniels Midland’s stock with a “hold” rating and a $46 price target, citing improving margins within certain segments and cost savings, “offset in part by continued pressure on grain merchandising and transportation margins, as well as an oversupplied ethanol market.”

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, PNC, BB&T — These are just a few U.S. banks that raised their prime rate on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve increased short-term interest rates for the second time in a decade. The prime rate is the rate at which individual banks lend to their most creditworthy customers, including large corporations.

Chevron (CVX) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Macquarie Research with a 12-month target price of $130.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Yahoo! (YHOO) declined over 2% in after-hours trading after it said it believes 1 billion user accounts may have been hacked in August 2013, twice as many as the 500 million accounts it initially said were affected.

Athenahealth (ATHN) rallied 20% in after-hours trading after it said it sees 2017 revenue of $1.29 billion-$1.33 billion, above consensus of $1.29 billion.

United Technologies (UTX) said it sees 2017 sales of $57.5 billion-$59 billion, weaker than consensus of $59.2 billion.

Pier 1 Imports (PIR) surged 18% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 22 cents, well above consensus of 15 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS to 37 cents-41 cents from a prior view of 24 cents-32 cents.

Mondelez (MDLZ) rallied almost 10% in after-hours trading after Bilanz magazine cited an unidentified “very well-informed” source that said Kraft Heinz plans to acquire Mondelez.

General Mills (GIS) lost almost 2% in after-hours trading after Bilanz reported that Kraft Heinz plans to acquire Mondelez.

Diamondback Energy (FANG) dropped 3% in after-hours trading after it filed to sell 10.5 million shares and proposed a $250 million offering of senior notes due 2025.

Apogee Enterprises (APOG) rose over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 78 cents, better than consensus of 77 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2017 EPS to $2.85-$2.95 from a prior view of $2.80-$2.90.

VTv Therapeutics (VTVT) jumped 16% in after-hours trading after it said it met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 study of patients with Type 2 diabetes that demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in HbA1c.

Gulfport Energy (GPOR) slid 3% in after-hours trading after it announced an offering of 29 million shares of common stock.

Amicus Therapeutics (FOLD) dropped over 10% in after-hours trading after it proposed a $225 million offering of convertible senior notes due 2023.

Source: FoxBusiness, Barchart, CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters