Deere dips after Trump tariff threat, DOJ to sue Visa: Morning Buzz

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Smartsheet (SMAR) agreed to be acquired by Blackstone (BX) and Vista Equity for $56.50 per share
• Liberty Broadband (LBRDA) has offered a counterproposal for its business combination with Charter (CHTR)
• The U.S. Department of Justice intends to file a lawsuit against Visa (V) for allegedly monopolizing the U.S. market for debit cards, Bloomberg reports
• Deere (DE) shares fell after former President Donald Trump threatened a 200% tariff on everything the company sells into the U.S. following its Mexico move
• The FTC is poised to approve Chevron’s (CVX) acquisition of Hess Corp. (HES), Reuters says

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Starbucks (SBUX) downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies
• Truist upgraded Walmart (WMT) to Buy on share gains, higher margins
• Truist downgraded Costco (COST), sees “little room for error” in its valuation
• Oppenheimer upgraded Lowe’s (LOW) to Outperform
• Leerink downgraded Regeneron (REGN) to Market Perform

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Meta (META) is planning to announce at Connect that it has formed deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key to launch their voices for its Meta AI chatbot, Reuters says
• Samsung Displays (SSNLF) is planning to invest $1.8B to build a factory in northern Vietnam, Reuters reports
• Levi Strauss (LEVI) CEO told The Financial Times that it will take longer than expected to reach an existing revenue target of $9B-$10B by 2027
• Boeing (BA) has offered a 30% pay increase in an attempt to end a debilitating strike, which has sparked anger from union leaders who accused the company of circumventing normal bargaining methods, FT says
• India’s Foreigners Regional Registration Office, or FRRO, is probing Netflix’s (NFLX) dealings in the country as well as visa violations and racial discrimination, Reuters reports

4. MOVERS:

• Wave Life Sciences (WVE) gains in New York after announcing interim data from its ongoing Phase 2 FORWARD-53 study
• Cipher Mining (CIFR) increases after closing the acquisition of the Barber Lake site in West Texas for a cash payment of $67.5M
• Hawaiian Electric (HE) falls after announcing a 54.05M share offering
• McKesson (MCK) lower after Baird downgraded the stock to Neutral
• InvenTrust Properties (IVT) declines after announcing an 8M share offering

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• AutoZone (AZO) reported Q4 results, with EPS missing consensus
• Thor Industries (THO) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for FY25
• Red Cat (RCAT) reported Q1 results, with CEO Jeff Thompson commenting, “Red Cat continues to see significant global demand and year-over-year growth”
• AAR Corp. (AIR) reported Q1 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Light & Wonder (LNW) backed its guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 16.66, or 0.04%, to 42,141.31, the Nasdaq was up 75.20, or 0.42%, to 18,049.47, and the S&P 500 was up 7.28, or 0.13%, to 5,725.85.