Paychex to acquire Paycor HCM, Getty and Shutterstock to merge: Morning Buzz

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Paychex (PAYX) agreed to acquire Paycor HCM (PYCR) for $22.50 per share in cash
• Stryker (SYK) will acquire Inari Medical (NARI) for $80 per share in cash
• Getty Images (GETY) and Shutterstock (SSTK) will combine in a merger of equals transaction
• Cintas (CTAS) submitted a proposal to acquire UniFirst (UNF) for $275 per share in cash, though UniFirst said it rejected the proposal
• NHTSA has opened an investigation into Tesla’s (TSLA) “Actually Smart Summon” feature

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• MoffettNathanson says sell Apple (AAPL) amid “steady drumbeat of bad news”
• Tesla (TSLA) downgraded to Neutral at BofA with future catalysts more fully recognized
• Disney (DIS) upgraded at Redburn Atlantic, here’s why
• Oppenheimer upgraded Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), sees breakout performance in 2025
• Bank of America (BAC) upgraded to Buy at UBS and HSBC

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Wuxi Biologics (WXXWY) plans to sell its Irish vaccine facility to Merck (MRK) for around $500M ahead of potential U.S. legislation that would limit business for Chinese biotech companies, Reuters says
• Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) gave up on plans to develop their own driverless taxis years ago, but are now revamping their businesses to accommodate competitors who have completed such plans, WSJ reports
• VinFast (VFS) is slated to more than double its global output in 2025, Nikkei Asia says
• Meta (META) has discontinued sales of its Quest Pro mixed reality headset, RoadtoVR reports
• Pony.ai (PONY) is looking to initiate robotaxi services in Hong Kong, Reuters says

4. MOVERS:

• Aurora (AUR) higher after announcing a long-term strategic partnership with Continental and Nvidia (NVDA) to deploy driverless trucks
• Enphase Energy (ENPH) gains after its IQ8 Microinverters were selected for a 2.2 MW solar project at the Belgoprocess radioactive waste facility in Belgium
• CorMedix (CRMD) increases after reporting preliminary Q4 results
• Serve Robotics (SERV) declines after announcing an $80M share offering
• Palantir (PLTR) falls after director Alexander Moor sold 20K shares

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Apogee Enterprises (APOG) reported Q3 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• RPM (RPM) reported Q2 results, with CEO Frank Sullivan commenting, “RPM associated demonstrated their ability to capitalize on growth opportunities in a mixed economic environment”
• Lindsay (LNN) reported Q1 results, with EPS beating consensus
• T2 Biosystems (TTOO) reported preliminary Q4 results
• Global Mofy Metaverse (GMM) reported FY24 results, with EPS and revenue higher year-over-year

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.09%, or 37.10, to 42,669.46, the Nasdaq was down 1.39%, or 275.58, to 19,589.40, and the S&P 500 was down 0.65%, or 39.03, to 5,936.35.