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☆ Wall Street sees many of the big winners this week cooling off from here—with one notable exception
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The three major averages are heading toward a positive week during a frenzy of fourth-quarter earnings. For instance, Nvidia is on pace to rise more than 13% this week, while Seagate Technology is up more than 17%. Here are the top ten biggest gainers: Western Digital , a semiconductor producer on the list, rose 14.2% this week. It is also one of the few stocks analysts anticipate will continue its rally—it has a target upside of 11%. Out of the big winners this week, analysts are the most optimistic about Tesla.

All of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were up by early afternoon trading, with a 2.5% rise in tech stocks (.SPLRCT) making them the biggest gainers. "All those names and sectors (chipmakers) in general just got beat up much more than the market in general overall. So now in a lot of those names, there's value," said Jimmy Lee, chief executive officer of Wealth Consulting Group. Xylem Inc (XYL.N) dropped 8.74% on its acquisition of water treatment solutions firm Evoqua Water Technologies Corp (AQUA.N) in a $7.42 billion deal. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.40-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.90-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

☆ Wall Street rises as chipmakers lead tech shares higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Shreyashi Sanyal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were up in early trading, with a 1.3% rise in tech stocks (.SPLRCT) making them the biggest gainers. "All those names and sectors (chipmakers) in general just got beat up much more than the market in general overall. Analysts now expect fourth-quarter earnings from S&P 500 companies to fall 2.9%, according to IBES Refinitiv data, compared with a 1.6% drop at the beginning of the year. Investors are also awaiting January manufacturing and fourth-quarter GDP data to assess the impact of the Fed's rate hikes on the economy. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.05-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.60-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

☆ Wall St eyes higher open with earnings in full swing, Salesforce rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Shreyashi Sanyal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The tech-focused Nasdaq (.IXIC) index was the only major Wall Street benchmark that ended the previous week higher. Analysts now expect year-over-year fourth-quarter earnings from S&P 500 companies to decline 2.9%, according to IBES Refinitiv data, compared with a 1.6% decline at the beginning of the year. Among other stocks, Baker Hughes Co (BKR.O) slid 1.4% on missing fourth-quarter profit estimates, hit by component shortages and supply chain disruptions. Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) rose 4.0% on a report that the memory chip maker could merge with Japan's Kioxia Holdings. Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Wayfair, Meta, Apple, Spotify, Qualcomm and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Wayfair — Shares of the furniture retailer jumped 24.1% on Monday after Wayfair received upgrades from multiple Wall Street firms, include a double upgrade to overweight from underweight at JPMorgan. Spotify — Spotify gained 3.1% after the company sent an internal memo to staff on Monday announcing plans to lay off 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 employees. Western Digital — Shares jumped 7% after Bloomberg reported that merger talks between Western Digital and Kioxia are advancing. Western Digital would spin off its flash business and merge it with Kioxia in a separately traded company, the report said. Evoqua shares jumped more than 14% following the announcement.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Wayfair, Salesforce, Paypal and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Check out the companies making the biggest premarket moves:Advanced Micro Devices — The semiconductor maker rallied nearly 3% after being upgraded by Barclays to overweight from equal weight. The Wall Street firm cited improving market share trends and a better grasp on spending from management. Abbott Laboratories — Abbott Labs lost 2.5% following a Wall Street Journal report Friday that the Justice Department is investigating conduct at its infant-formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan. Tapestry — The Coach and Kate Spade parent slid 1.85% after being downgraded to equal weight from overweight by Barclays. The Wall Street firm's reasons included inflation creeping to higher household income brackets.

☆ Western Digital, Kioxia in advanced talks for merger - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A Western Digital office building is shown in Irvine, California, U.S., January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Mike BlakeJan 20 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp are in advanced talks for a possible merger which will involve a dual-listing, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. A combined Kioxia-Western Digital would control a third of the NAND flash market, putting it on par with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) . Western Digital and Kioxia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Kioxia, one of the biggest producers globally of flash memory and solid-state storage, is a key supplier to Western Digital.

☆ This week's top performing stocks include one in media that could rally more than 80%
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As the first week of 2023 comes to a close, some stocks are already outperforming. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 are on pace to add 0.8% and 0.5% this week. Discovery, about two out of every five analysts rate WDC a buy, with an average upside of 20.4%. Just about every other analyst rates the stock a buy, and the average analyst expects a 4.3% upside for the stock. More than 50% of analysts rate GE a buy, but the average price target shows it losing about 1% in the next 12 months.

HONG KONG, Jan 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Western Digital (WDC.O) faces a daunting M&A challenge. Both outfits specialise in a type of memory chip called NAND flash, which is used in smartphones, computers and data centre servers. Yet even if the logic for a combination looks more compelling against this backdrop, the M&A hurdles Western Digital faced in 2021 are even more challenging today. The union between Western Digital and Kioxia will be a long slog, but worth it. Shares of Western Digital rose 7.7% to $35.63 during after-hours trading in New York on Jan. 4.

☆ Western Digital, Japan's Kioxia restart merger talks - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp have restarted merger talks, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Kioxia, which was spun off from Toshiba Corp (6502.T), and Western Digital operate a joint flash memory chip plant in central Japan's Yokkaichi. When asked about the report, Kioxia said that it does not comment on market rumours or speculation, while Western Digital did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. U.S.-based memory chip firm Western Digital said in June that it was reviewing strategic alternatives, including options for splitting off its flash-memory and hard disk drive businesses. Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Silvergate Capital, Walgreens, Amazon and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

People walk by a Walgreens, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in New York City, November 26, 2021. Check out the companies making headlines and moves in premarket trading. Walgreens Boots Alliance — The drugstore stock fell about 2% in premarket even after the company reported fiscal first quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. Western Digital — Shares jumped more than 5% after Western Digital and Japan's Kioxia Holdings resumed merger talks, according to a Bloomberg News report that cited sources familiar with the matter. American Express — The stock fell 1.48% in the premarket after being downgraded by Stephens on Thursday to underweight from equal weight.

The 1.4 trillion yen includes 200 billion yen in working capital, they said. The main banking arms of Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc (8309.T) are together expected to lend more than 1 trillion yen, three sources said. The core bank unit of Japan's biggest financial group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) and Aozora Bank Ltd (8304.T) are also participating, they added. Spokespeople for all five banks declined to comment. Toshiba named a JIP-led group as its preferred bidder in October for the buyout process.

☆ Toshiba says aims to reach deal with potential partners soon as possible
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T), which is talks about a buyout, said in a letter to shareholders on Friday that it was aiming to reach as conclusion with potential partners as soon as possible. Toshiba is "planning to receive binding and bona-fide proposal(s) and shall be making strong efforts to arrive at a conclusion as early as possible after necessary negotiations," the letter said. Sources have told Reuters that the company's preferred bidder, Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), was moving closer to securing financing from banks for a buyout. A deal is expected to value the industrial conglomerate at around 2.2 trillion yen ($16 billion). Shares in Toshiba, whose businesses span nuclear power, defence technology and which owns 40% of memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings, were up 1.7% in mid-morning trade.

TOKYO/HONG KONG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan Industrial Partners, the preferred bidder to buy out Toshiba Corp (6502.T), has moved closer to securing financing from banks, three people with knowledge of the matter said. JIP's bid has called for Toshiba management to retain their jobs - a proposal which initially made some of the banks cautious about lending, sources have said. The sources all declined to be identified as the talks are private. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the core unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T), and Mizuho Bank Ltd, the core unit of Mizuho Financial Group Inc (8411.T) declined to comment. ($1 = 137.0500 yen)Reporting by Kane Wu, Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Micron launches mass output of advanced chip in Japan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU.O) on Wednesday kicked off mass production of its new high-capacity low-power 1-beta dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips at its plant in Hiroshima, Japan. The production of Micron's most advanced chip, which can store a third more data than older chips, comes as Japan tries to revive and modernise its once-mighty chip industry. The Japanese government in September offered Micron a 46.5 billion yen ($332 million) to boost production capacity at its plant. In July it gave a 93 billion yen subsidy to rival memory chip makers Kioxia Corp and Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) to help it expand output at their joint factory Japan. ($1 = 140.2700 yen)Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by David Dolan and Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Japan's Toshiba slashes profit outlook after second-quarter slump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp (6502.T) on Friday cut its full-year operating profit outlook after a 75% slump in second-quarter profit - dismal results that heighten the uncertainty surrounding its prospects for a buyout deal. It cut its profit forecast for the year ending in March by roughly a quarter to 125 billion yen ($885 million). Kioxia Holdings Corp, a memory chip maker some 40% owned by Toshiba, has also said it would cut production by about 30% from in October. For the July-September quarter, Toshiba posted an operating profit of 7.5 billion yen ($53.2 million). That was far short of a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 36.9 billion yen from four analysts.

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Japan said on Friday it will invest up to 70 billion yen ($500 million) in a new semiconductor company led by tech firms including Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and NEC Corp (6701.T) as it rushes to re-establish itself as a lead maker of advanced chips. The new chip company will be named Rapidus and aims to begin making chips in the second half of the decade, he added. Japan is also concerned that China may attempt to take control of Taiwan, the global hub for advanced chip production. In July Japan also offered a 93 billion yen subsidy to help memory chip makers Kioxia Corp and Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) expand output in Japan. In September it pledged to give U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology (MU.O) $46.5 billion yen so it can add production capacity at its plant in Hiroshima.

☆ NTT, Kioxia to invest in new Japan-backed logic semiconductor firm - TV Tokyo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) is displayed at the company office in Tokyo, Japan September 29, 2020. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Japanese companies, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T) and Kioxia Holdings Corp, have decided to invest in a new government-backed company that aims to mass-produce next-generation logic semiconductors, TV Tokyo reported on Thursday. Other companies, including Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), Sony Group (6758.T), SoftBank (9434.T) and Denso Corp (6902.T), also plan to invest about 1 billion yen ($6.84 million) each into the new company, the Nikkei newspaper reported separately. Japan's government will set up a new research centre by the end of 2022 to develop sub 2-nanometer semiconductors, which will be led by a former Tokyo Electron Ltd (8035.T) president, TV Tokyo also said. ($1 = 146.2800 yen)Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jan Harvey and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Differences over JIP's plan to retain Toshiba CEO Taro Shimada and his team were a source of friction between the two bidders, according to two sources familiar with the talks. Despite being selected as preferred bidder, JIP has struggled to secure enough equity commitments from potential partners, sources have said. It now looks set to miss a Monday deadline to deliver a firm proposal that includes letters of commitment from banks, sources have said. In late October, JIC expanded the size of its buyout fund to 900 billion yen ($6.11 billion) from 200 billion yen. Two of the sources said the expansion was not just for a Toshiba buyout but also aimed at other deals.

☆ Our guide to semiconductor companies and how their chips run our everyday lives
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Semiconductor companies are also in the news a lot lately, whether it's the U.S. government cracking down on chip exports to China or innovations in connected cars and artificial intelligence. Since these companies don't need to invest in expensive fabrication facilities, they can run a more agile asset-light business model. Memory : The two main categories of memory chips are NAND and DRAM. Examples include those used for 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, radiofrequency chips, near field communication chips (NFC), application-specific integrated circuit chips (ASICs), and so on. These chips are made by companies like Qualcomm, Marvell Technology, Broadcom (AVGO), ON Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductor (NXPI), and others.

The logo of Toshiba Corp is displayed atop of the company's facility building in Kawasaki, Japan, June 24, 2022. JIP's initial offer was below 6,000 yen per share, the two sources told Reuters, putting the value of a potential tender offer at less than 2.6 trillion yen ($17.5 billion). Investors have considered 6,000 yen to be a key threshold. During a strategic review last year, at least one global private equity firm told Toshiba's review committee that a deal to take the conglomerate private could be done at 6,000 yen a share or more. In Japan, the court-led rehabilitation of auto parts supplier Marelli Holdings Co Ltd - owned by U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N) - has turned banks cautious about terms for financing leveraged buyouts, private equity sources said.

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