Early movers: WMT, LULU, AEO, LGF, SPLS, FB & more

Peter Schacknow
Updated
Getty Images. As momentum picked up this week for sales the newest Apple iPhones, the surge in its shares accounted for a good part of the broader market gains.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT), Target (NYSE: TGT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) — These and other retailers will be stocks to watch today, with the National Retail Federation saying U.S. holiday shopping is on track for a 3.7 percent rise this year. That's been largely boosted by online sales.

Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) — The yoga wear maker was downgraded to "underperform" from "market perform" at FBR, citing elevated inventories and various supply chain issues.

American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) — Oppenheimer downgraded the teen apparel retailer to "perform" from "outperform" on a valuation basis, noting that the shares have jumped 35 percent since last December while its peer group was down 9 percent.

Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF) — The movie studio's "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2" topped the Thanksgiving weekend box office with $75.8 million in ticket sales, bring its domestic total to $198.3 million.

Office Depot (NASDAQ: ODP), Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) — Regulators are leaning toward blocking the proposed takeover of Office Depot by Staples, according to a report in the New York Post. The Federal Trade Commission has until December 8 to decide whether or not to sue to block the deal, which it fears would create a too-dominant player in the office supplies market.

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) — Facebook is expanding its paid parental leave policy to full-time employees outside the United States, giving all new parents four months of paid time off.

Tribune Publishing (NYSE: TPUB) — Tribune will sell its newspaper group to a Wall Street firm, according to tweet from News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) co-chairman Rupert Murdoch , who also said the Los Angeles Times will be split off from the group and sold to local investors.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext Brussels: ABI-BE) — The beer brewer will sell the Grolsch and Peroni beer brands after it completes its purchase of SABMiller (London Stock Exchange: SAB-GB), according to The Wall Street Journal.

InterContinental Hotels (London Stock Exchange: IHG-GB) — The hotel operator may be targeted for takeover by China investors, according to the The Telegraph newspaper, now that Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) has struck a deal to buy Starwood (NYSE: HOT).

Vale (Sao Paulo Stock Exchange: VALE'A-BR) — The Brazilian mining company said toxic materials like arsenic were found in river water after a dam burst at a mine Vale co-owns with BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP-AU). The Brazilian government said it is planning to file a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against the mine-owning partners.

Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) — The maker of wearable fitness devices was upgraded to "overweight" from "equal-weight" at Barclays, with the firm citing valuation after its recent 26 percent slide over the past 30 days. Barclays said Fitbit is a proven company and that the slide was unjustified.

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) — The defense contractor was upgraded to "overweight" from "equal-weight" at Barclays, with the firm downgrading rivals Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT). Raytheon is now rated "equal-weight" while Lockheed is rated "underweight." It cites valuation among the reasons for the two downgrades, while saying General Dynamics has the best risk/reward profile in the group after concerns related to the business jet segment weighed on the stock's price.

Philip Morris (NYSE: MO) — The tobacco producer was upgraded to "neutral" from "reduce" at Nomura, noting encouraging industry volume trends and an accelerated rollout of so-called "reduced-risk" products.

Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com



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