Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Alibaba — The Chinese e-commerce company set a new record for its Singles Day event, with nearly $31 billion in goods sold in 24 hours. Alibaba had previously set a record for Singles Day last year, with $25.7 billion in goods sold.
SAP — The U.S.-listed shares of the German software company fell more than 4 percent in the premarket after the company announced it would buy Qualtrics for $8 billion. Qualtrics, a privately held company that competes with SurveyMonkey, had plans to go public in the near future.
Athenahealth — Reuters reported that hedge fund Elliott Management and private-equity firm Veritas Capital agreed to buy Athenahealth for $5.5 billion in cash. Elliott, which already had a stake of about 9 percent in Athenahealth, had been pressuring the health-care software maker to sell itself. Shares of Athenahealth rose nearly 9 percent before the bell.
Skyworks, Qorvo — Analysts at Citi downgraded Skyworks to “neutral” from “buy” as demand for smartphones falls broadly, while iPhone XR sales disappoint. Weaker iPhone XR sales also led Citi to trimming its price target on Qorvo to $75 a share from $86 a share.
American Airlines, JetBlue — Shares of both airlines were initiated with “buy” ratings at Goldman Sachs. The analysts said American Airlines can benefit from “idiosyncratic opportunities” that will drive up earnings. JetBlue, meanwhile, is expected to improve as its cost-reduction initiatives ramp up between 2019 and 2020 increase profitability.
L Brands — Analysts at Wells Fargo upgraded shares of Victoria’s Secret’s parent company to “outperform,” noting the company could be on the verge of a massive turnaround. In a note to clients, Wells said L Brands “appears set to begin embracing change with an ‘all options on the table’ mentality.”
