Fly Intel: Top five weekend stock stories - InvestingChannel

Fly Intel: Top five weekend stock stories

Catch up on the weekend’s top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Inspire Brands and Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN), parent company of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Inspire will acquire Dunkin’ Brands for $106.50 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $11.3B including the assumption of Dunkin’ Brands’ debt. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2020. 2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that about a dozen pharmacy chains will partner with the federal government to administer COVID-19 vaccines, Bloomberg’s Angelica LaVito reported. CVS Health (CVS), Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and Walmart (WMT) are among those that have already enrolled to receive vaccines directly from the CDC, the author noted. The companies represent about 35,000 stores, and the CDC anticipates more chains will sign up, LaVito added. 3. Videogames have been one of the stock market’s star attractions in 2020, mostly powered by COVID-19 quarantines and the coming release of new game consoles from Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT), Max Cherney wrote in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Another long-running trend related trend predated the pandemic, however, and that is mobile gaming, with an estimated two billion people now playing videogames on mobile devices, the author noted. Videogame makers all benefit from the broad participation, but there are limited pure-play stocks on the theme. The largest in the U.S. is Zynga (ZNGA), the publication pointed out, adding that shares could have significant upside in the year to come. 4. The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google (GOOGL) bears a striking resemblance to the U.S. government lawsuit against Microsoft 20 years ago, and Google is desperate not to make the same mistakes as its forerunner, Bloomberg’s Gerrit De Vynck wrote. The 1998 complaint, and Microsoft’s aggressive and scattered defense, is credited with slowing the software giant down and letting upstarts — including Google — gain a foothold. Even though Microsoft avoided being broken up, the years of public scrutiny and court drama were a debilitating distraction, the author noted. Internal memos from CEO Sundar Pichai and top lawyer Kent Walker sent to employees after the lawsuit dropped implore workers to keep their heads down and keep working, the publication added. “It’s important not to get distracted by this process, including not speculating on legal issues internally or externally,” Walker wrote in an Oct. 20 memo obtained by Bloomberg. 5. Parker-Hannifin (PH), Littelfuse (LFUS), TE Connectivity (TEL), AT&T (T) and Anthem (ANTM) saw positive mentions in this week’s edition of Barron’s.