Stock Movers

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) received a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance for $30 a share in cash on Monday, just days after the company agreed to a deal with Netflix Inc. The offer values Warner Bros. at $108.4 billion, including debt. The bid compares with Netflix’s offer of $27.75 in cash and stock. Paramount’s offer is for all of Warner Bros., while Netflix is interested only in the Hollywood studios, HBO and the streaming business. Warner Bros. shares were up 3.1% to $26.90 at 1:35 p.m. in New York on Monday. Paramount was up 8% while Netflix was down 4.3%.

- Elon Musk is eager to transform Tesla (TSLA) into a robotics and artificial intelligence company, but the electric-vehicle maker’s stock price already reflects those businesses and is at a “full valuation,” according to Morgan Stanley, which lowered its rating on the company to the equivalent of a hold, its first cut since June 2023. Tesla shares trade at about 210 times projected earnings over the next 12 months, making it the second most expensive company in S&P 500 Index, trailing just Warner Brothers Discovery Inc. at 220 times and well ahead of third place Palantir Technologies Inc.’s multiple of 186. The stock fell as much as 3% on Monday to trade around $441. 

- Strategy (MSTR) shares rose in trading Monday after the digital asset treasury company said it bought $962.7 million worth of Bitcoin from Dec. 1 to Dec. 7, marking its largest acquisition since July. Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings are now worth more than $60 billion, but the company’s premium to its token holdings has continued to shrink. Strategy’s enterprise value at one point worth more than 2.5 times its Bitcoin holdings, but that has now fallen to a multiple of 1.1.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) shares rise after President Trump says the proposed Netflix and Warner Bros. deal would “create a big market share” and “could be a problem.”
- IBM (IBM) shares are down after news that the company is buying the data-streaming platform Confluent Inc. for $11 billion including debt, marking one of its largest takeovers yet and a major bet on the kind of enterprise software that artificial intelligence tools need to perform tasks in real time.
- Carvana (CVNA) shares rise following news it will join the S&P 500 Index starting Dec. 22. BofA Global Research raised its price target on the used car retailer citing the S&P Dow Jones Indices announcement.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Netflix (NFLX) shares drop after President Trump says the proposed Netflix and Warner Bros. deal would “create a big market share” and “could be a problem.”
- Tesla (TSLA) shares fall after Morgan Stanley downgraded the electric-car maker to equal-weight from overweight, saying non-auto catalysts priced into the stock.
- IBM (IBM) shares are down after news that the company is buying the data-streaming platform Confluent Inc. for $11 billion including debt, marking one of its largest takeovers yet and a major bet on the kind of enterprise software that artificial intelligence tools need to perform tasks in real time.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Netflix’s (NFLX) $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)sets up a sweeping antitrust regulatory fight, as the world’s largest streaming platform seeks approval to absorb HBO Max and one of Hollywood’s marquee studios. President Donald Trump said Sunday he would be personally involved in the decision-making process and that there “could be a problem.”
- International Business Machines (IBM) is buying the data-streaming platform Confluent (CFLT) for $11 billion including debt, marking one of its largest takeovers yet and a major bet on the kind of enterprise software that artificial intelligence tools need to perform tasks in real time.IBM has agreed to buy Confluent for $31 a share, according to a statement issued Monday. That represents an equity value of around $9.3 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. The companies expect the deal to close by the middle of 2026.
- Carvana jumps after being selected for inclusion to the S&P 500.The company will join the benchmark in a quarterly rebalance at the end of December, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Friday.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- President Donald Trump raised potential antitrust concerns around Netflix’s (NFLX) planned $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., noting that the market share of the combined entity may pose problems. Trump’s comments, made as he arrived at the Kennedy Center for an event on Sunday, may spur concerns regulators will oppose the coupling of the world’s dominant streaming service with a Hollywood icon. The company faces a lengthy Justice Department review of a deal that would reshape the entertainment industry.
- Tesla (TSLA) shares fall as Morgan Stanley downgrades the electric-car maker to equal-weight from overweight, saying non-auto catalysts priced into the stock.
- International Business Machines (IBM) is in advanced negotiations to acquire data infrastructure firm Confluent for around $11 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
-  Unilever spinoff The Magnum Ice Cream Co. opened below the reference price in its market debut on Monday, after a separation aimed at giving the world’s biggest ice cream company a platform to revive its performance as a standalone firm.
- TotalEnergies agreed to combine its British oil and gas business with that of Repsol and HitecVision, the latest in a wave of consolidation in the UK North Sea. TotalEnergies traded down 0.8% in Paris on Monday, while Repsol shares were up 1% in Madrid.
- Smith & Nephew  plans to pare its portfolio further as part of a new effort to boost growth. The medical device maker aims for between 6% and 7% in underlying annual revenue growth under a new strategy that will take it to 2028, it said Monday

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On this episode of Stock Movers:

-  Unilever spinoff The Magnum Ice Cream Co. opened below the reference price in its market debut on Monday, after a separation aimed at giving the world’s biggest ice cream company a platform to revive its performance as a standalone firm.

- L’Oreal is doubling its stake in Galderma Group to 20%, as the French cosmetics company increases its bet on skincare drugs. 

- Bank, Monte Paschi renewed its support for Chief Executive Officer Luigi Lovaglio amid a probe into the bank’s takeover of Mediobanca.

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On this episode of Stock Movers, we look at some of the biggest movers of the week:

- Netflix (NFLX) agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), marking a seismic shift in the entertainment business as a Silicon Valley-bred streaming giant tries to swallow one of Hollywood’s oldest and most revered studios. The acquisition, which confirmed a Bloomberg report Thursday, presents a strategic pivot for Netflix, which has never made a deal of this scope in its 28-year history. With the purchase, Netflix becomes owner of the HBO network, along with its library of hit shows like The Sopranos and The White Lotus. Warner Bros. assets also include its sprawling studios in Burbank, California, along with a vast film and TV archive that includes Harry Potter and Friends. Netflix shares were down 3.5% Friday afternoon in New York. They have declined about 17% since the streaming leader emerged as an interested party in October. Some investors and analysts have interpreted this deal to mean Netflix was worried it couldn’t expand its current business, a theory co-CEO Greg Peters dismissed. Warner Bros. stock was up about 5.2% midday in New York. It has almost doubled since reports of deal talks with Paramount emerged in September.

- Microsoft (MSFT) shares slid on Wednesday after the Information reported that the software maker has lowered expectations for getting business customers to spend money on the cloud unit’s marketplace for artificial intelligence models and agents. The stock fell as much as 3% in New York on Wednesday, but pared the drop as analysts and investors digested the Information report.

- Salesforce (CRM) gave an outlook for revenue in the current period on Wednesday that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting the software company is persuading customers to buy its AI tools. The revenue forecast includes 3 percentage points of growth from Informatica, a data integration software maker that Salesforce acquired last month in an $8 billion deal. The outlook for current remaining performance obligations includes 4 percentage points from Informatica. The shares gained about 5% in extended trading after closing at $238.72 in New York. The stock has dropped 29% this year through Wednesday’s close as investors have grown concerned about AI disrupting incumbent application software makers. It continued to rally through trading on Friday.

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On this episode of Stock Movers: 
- Netflix (NFLX) shares are mixed after the news that the company agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. in a historic combination, joining the world’s dominant paid streaming service with one of Hollywood’s oldest and most revered studios.

- Victoria’s Secret shares climb as much as 21%, to the highest intraday since May 2022, after the retailer’s better-than-expected third-quarter results and boosted guidance. The company is executing on its “Path to Potential” strategy, according to analysts, while JPMorgan upgrades with a Street-high price target of $60 per share.

- Ulta Beauty (ULTA) raised its full-year outlook after reporting better-than-expected results in the third quarter, a sign that consumers are overcoming any reluctance to spend and shelling out for cosmetics and hair supplies.

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n this episode of Stock Movers:
- Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shares are up after the news that Netflix agreed to buy the company in a historic combination, joining the world’s dominant paid streaming service with one of Hollywood’s oldest and most revered studios.
- Oracle (ORCL) shares are down ahead of quarterly earnings next week. However, according to Bloomberg Intelligence: constraints on Oracle's AI infrastructure appear unlikely to loosen amid rising demand, giving us confidence in its ability to top $65 billion in total sales in fiscal 2026.
- Southwest Airlines (LUV) shares drop after the company lowered its operating profit target for the full year, citing the fallout from the recent US government shutdown as well as higher fuel prices.

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