Mars buys Kellanova, Cardinal Health reports Q4 beat: Morning Buzz

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Kellanova (K) agreed to be acquired by Mars for $83.50 per share in cash (read more)
• General Motors (GM) is being sued by Texas AG Ken Paxton for collecting and selling drivers’ private data (read more)
• Brinker (EAT) reported mixed Q4 results and provided FY25 guidance (read more)
• Cardinal Health (CAH) provided a “beat and raise” report for Q4 (read more)
• Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) reported mixed Q4 results (read more)

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Evercore ISI upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to Outperform from In Line
• Illuina (ILMN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen (read more)
• Argus downgraded Hershey (HSY) to Hold from Buy (read more)
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Intuit (INTU) to Equal Weight from Overweight (read more)
• DTE Energy (DTE) was initiated with a Buy rating and Ladenburg (read more)

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Elliott is set to launch a proxy fight at Southwest Airlines (LUV), WSJ reports (read more)
• General Motors (GM) has been reducing headcount in China and is said to be teaming with its partner in the region, SAIC (SAIC), for an “overhaul” of its operations there, Bloomberg reports (read more)
• A reshuffle of JPMorgan’s (JPM) highest leaders by CEO Jamie Dimon has sparked many high-profile departures of executives close to President Daniel Pinto, FT reports (read more)
• Paramount (PARA) to cut roughly 15% of its U.S. employees, NY Times says (read more)
• The Justice Department is considering asking for a break-up of Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) after a court ruling found the company monopolized the online search market, Bloomberg reports (read more)

4. MOVERS:

• Serve Robotics (SERV) increases after entering a partnership with Shake Shack (SHAK) (read more)
• Mercury Systems (MRCY) and XP Inc. (XP) higher in New York after reporting quarterly results (read more)
• Victoria’s Secret (VSCO) gains after appointing Super as CEO (read more)
• Acelyrin (SLRN) falls after H.C. Wainwright downgraded the stock to Neutral (read more)
• Ouster (OUST) lower after reporting quarterly results and providing guidance for Q3 (read more)

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• BioAffinity Technologies (BIAF) reported Q2 results, with CEO Maria Zannes commenting, “We are encouraged by the momentum we’ve achieved in the second quarter” (read more)
• Air Industries (AIRI) reported Q2 results and reaffirmed its guidance for FY24 (read more)
• Invivyd (IVVD) reported Q2 results, with EPS and revenue missing consensus (read more)
• Sagiment Biosciences (SGMT) reported Q2 results, with EPS beating consensus (read more)
• Imunon (IMNN) reported Q2 results, with CEO Stacy Lindborg commenting, “The second quarter and recent weeks were exciting and highly rewarding” (read more)

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 241.95, or 0.61%, to 40,007.59, the Nasdaq was up 55.59, or 0.32%, to 17,243.19, and the S&P 500 was up 27.30, or 0.50%, to 5,461.73.