Acquisition Rumors Spur Criteo Surge

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Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK), Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) and Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) made major gains on Wall Street early in the day this Friday, while Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS), Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED) and Adept Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ADEP) posted losses.

Criteo Soars on Acquisition Talks

Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK) hit midday up +20.14% after knocking it out of the park with its results report, beating expectations for earnings and raising its guidance. The software products provider is still down -21.32% year-to-date.

The share price of Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) surged +19.23% on reports of acquisition talks with Publicis Groupe SA. The digital advertising company has been in the Tiger Global portfolio since the fourth quarter of 2013, and a deal would likely give the fund a boost. CRTO is up +7.25% YTD and +21.38% over the past 30 days.

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Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) got a +18.59% boost today. Yesterday, the life sciences cloud services vendor reported fiscal Q3 revenue and earnings, topping analysts’ expectations. Veeva is also a Tiger Global pick, as the fund purchased 75,000 shares in Q4 2013.

Sunesis Dips on Rating Downgrade

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) dipped -6.04% early in the day following Wedbush’s downgrade of the stock from outperform to neutral.  A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, Sunesis has been in the Farallon Capital portfolio since the first quarter of 2013. As of the second quarter of this year, the fund holds 670,000 SNSS shares.

The asset price of Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED) fell -4.86% after the company unveiled a number of operational restructuring moves, including the closure of 60 stores. The discount merchandise retailer, also a Farallon Capital holding, is down -23.27% year-to-date.

Adept Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ADEP) dropped -4.13% early in the day, bringing its five-day losses to -21.26%. On Wednesday, the company introduced new mobile robot localization technology, and yesterday, Dougherty & Co. upgraded its rating of Adept from a neutral to a buy. Investors apparently aren’t convinced.

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