Monday’s Pre-Market: Here’s What You Need to Know Before the Market Opens

U.S. stock futures jumped on Monday as investors await comments from the Fed members at an Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum panel, to be held virtually. Additionally, the monthly Chicago Fed National Activity Index for May will be released today.

S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq futures were in the green at the time of writing, with 0.5%, 0.3%, and 0.3% higher trading, respectively.

NextDecade Corporation (NEXT), Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI), Avenue Therapeutics Inc. (ATXI), and Hancock Jaffe Laboratories Inc. (HJLI) are expected to report earnings today.

Torchlight Energy Resources (TRCH) was the most actively traded stock in pre-market trading, with 8.69 million shares having changed hands at the time of writing. There was no fundamental news to explain the trading frenzy.

Raven Industries, Inc. (RAVN) was the biggest gainer in pre-market trading as the stock jumped 48.6% at the time of writing. Recently, the leader in precision agriculture, high-performance specialty films, and aerospace and defense solutions, agreed to be acquired by CNH Industrial (CNHI) for $58 per share. The price tag represents a 33.6% premium to Raven’s 4-week volume-weighted average stock price, and an enterprise value of $2.1 billion. The acquisition, which awaits certain approvals, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

Upon closure of the deal, it is expected to generate about $400 million of run-rate revenue synergies by the end of the calendar year 2025, which is likely to result in incremental EBITDA of $150 million.

Raven Industries CEO Dan Rykhus said, “For 65 years, our company has been committed to solving great challenges. Part of that commitment includes delivering groundbreaking innovation by developing and investing in our core capabilities and technology. By coming together with CNH Industrial, we believe we will further accelerate that path as well as bring tremendous opportunities and value to our customers – once again fulfilling our purpose to solve great challenges.”

Trinity Place Holdings Inc (TPHS) was the biggest laggard in pre-market trading, as the stock plunged around 10.6% at the time of writing. The New York-based real estate company, which is focused on appropriate risk-adjusted real estate investments in the United States, has no fundamental news in support of the trading sentiment.

In M&A news, Westlake Chemical Corporation (WLK), a global manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers, and fabricated building products, inked a $2.15 billion cash deal to snap up Boral Limited’s (BOALF) North American building products businesses. The acquisition, which awaits certain approvals, is expected to close in the second half of this year.

The acquisition includes Boral’s roofing, decorative stone, and windows products businesses and almost doubles the size of Westlake’s building products business. Westlake expects the deal to yield yearly cost synergies of around $35 million and to be accretive to its earnings in the first year of operations.

Westlake CEO Albert Chao commented, “The combination of Boral North America’s product lines with Westlake’s building products businesses will greatly expand our housing-related building products business and extend our presence in North America.”

Meanwhile, Spotify (SPOT) has revealed the acquisition of Podz. This gives access to valuable technology, which can be used by people to generate preview clips of podcasts. The acquisition also highlights the company’s move to enhance users’ experience in podcast discovery.

Podz technology is likely to be integrated into the Spotify experience, and people should start seeing new features before the year’s end.

“Powered by state-of-the-art machine learning technology, Podz generates high-quality clips that give users the opportunity to preview key moments from podcast episodes, encouraging them to discover and listen to new podcasts,” Spotify said in a press release.

One of the foremost providers of cancer-focused genetic testing and global oncology contract research services, NeoGenomics, Inc., (NEO) completed the prior announced acquisition of liquid biopsy platform, Inivata Ltd.

NeoGenomics CEO Mark Mallon commented, “Inivata has been a strategically important partner for us over the last year and we are excited today to officially welcome the company’s world class team of professionals and liquid biopsy capabilities to NeoGenomics…The addition of Inivata bolsters our leading market position today and further establishes us as a leader in the rapidly evolving liquid biopsy testing space.”

KKR & Co (KKR), a global investment firm, has agreed to snap up a controlling stake in Vini Cosmetics, the Indian personal care and beauty products company, for $625 million from its founder group.

KKR Partner Gaurav Trehan commented, “Vini has established itself as one of the fastest-growing personal care companies in India, and the strong consumer brand loyalty for FOGG and its other personal care products is truly impressive.”

In other news, Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of global professional services giant Accenture (ACN), has received an order from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency worth $112 million to provide safety against cyberattacks. The subsidiary will provide this service to the Federal Civilian Executive Branch.

The primary service provided by the subsidiary will be protection against ransomware, botnets, and malware campaigns.

Accenture Federal Services’ MD Aaron Faulkner commented, “Now, more than ever, it is crucial for our nation to move from a ‘detect and respond’ to a ‘predict and prevent’ model for dealing with cyberattacks. Our solution delivers a whole-of-government view of the threats we face as a nation. Accenture Federal Services is excited to build upon our track record of delivering highly complex cyber solutions at scale.”