Stocks to watch for Tuesday, August 19, 2008:
 

  • Electronic Arts' (ERTS) $2 billion, or $25.74 a share offer for Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) has expired since the terms of the offer included being able to incorporate some top selling games into EA's portfolio before the holiday selling season, reported The Wall Street Journal. The companies plan to hold private discussions on the matter including a presentation to be made by TTWO discussing its product-release schedules, financial projections and other information intended to give EA a better understanding Take-Two's value.

  • General Dynamics (GD) has agreed to purchase Jet Aviation, a privately held provider of business-aviation services, in a cash offer worth about $2.25 billion, reported Reuters. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2008. GD's new unit will operate within its Aerospace Group.

  • Home Depot (HD) reported 2Q net income of $1.2 billion, or 71 cents a share, down 24% from $1.59 billion, or 81 cents a share a year ago. Sales fell 5.4 percent to $21 billion from $22.2 billion. The numbers were ahead of analyst expectations, which were for earnings of 61 cents a share on revs of $20.58 billion. The company's outlook for the remainder of the year remains bleak as the struggling housing and home-improvement markets show no signs of recovery.

  • Lehman Brothers (LEH) may consider selling all or part of its asset management unit by the time it releases 3Q earnings. The business is estimated to be worth about $8 billion. An outright sale of the unit might be too large for many investors, so discussions with private equity firms have been exploring the possibility of a partial sale. So far this year, Lehman has raised about $12 billion in capital.


Market Recap
 

  • Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng -2.13%, Nikkei -2.28%, Sensex -0.70%, Taiwan -0.32% and Shanghai +1.06%.

  • A look towards Europe finds the CAC -1.57%, DAX -1.29%, FTSE -1.44%, ATX -1.30%, Swiss Market -1.11% and Stockholm -1.88%.

  • In commodities, crude oil is down -0.62 to 112.23 and gold is also trading lower -5.1 to 794.6 this morning.