Today is Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

The Early Bird Index today is 68.00.

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Capital One Acquires Discover

The financial world ended the holiday weekend with a bang when Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) acquired Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) for $35.3 billion on Monday.

Details: It is a 100% stock deal. Discover shareholders will get 1.0192 Capital One shares for each Discover share, which represents a premium of 26.6% based on Discover's closing price on Friday.

Background: The deal comes as Discover has faced disappointing earnings results and downgrades from analysts. Michael G. Rhodes just started as Discover’s new CEO. Capital One also reported disappointing earnings results a few weeks ago, but analysts still favor the stock.

Stock Price: Discover’s stock is up just 1.25% in the last 12 months. During that same time, Capital One’s stock jumped 26%.

Final Thoughts: The acquisition could bolster Capital One’s offerings. The company will need all the help that it can get, especially as the number of credit card delinquencies rises.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB), International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF), Realty Income (NYSE: O), Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), Teladoc (NYSE: TDOC), Barclays (NYSE: BCS), Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR), Diamondback Energy (Nasdaq: FANG), Beyond, Inc. (NYSE: BYON), Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK), Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), SolarEdge Technologies (Nasdaq: SEDG), KBR (NYSE: KBR), Fluor (NYSE: FLR), Medifast (NYSE: MED), NeoGenomics (Nasdaq: NEO), Amplitude (Nasdaq: AMPL), Andersons (Nasdaq: ANDE), Armstrong World Industries (NYSE: AWI), Axsome Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AXSM), Celanese (NYSE: CE), CenterPoint (NYSE: CNP), Chesapeake Energy (Nasdaq: CHK), Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH), Community Health (NYSE: CYH), Dana (NYSE: DAN), DigitalBridge (NYSE: DBRG), Element Solutions (NYSE: ESI), Enovix (Nasdaq: ENVX), Equitrans Midstream (NYSE: ETRN), Flowserve (NYSE: FLS), Globus Medical (NYSE: GMED), Graphic Packaging (NYSE: GPK), Halozyme Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HALO), JBT Corp (NYSE: JBT), LGI Homes (Nasdaq: LGIH), Matador Resources (NYSE: MTDR), Matterport (Nasdaq: MTTR), Public Storage (NYSE: PSA), Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI), TRI Pointe Homes (NYSE: TPH), UFP Industries (Nasdaq: UFPI), Visteon (Nasdaq: VC), Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK).

Notable IPOs Today: N/A.

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Bay Area Brewing Company (Mainvest), AvaWatz (Wefunder), Ryca Motors (Netcapital).

Notable Economic Events Today: U.S. Leading Index (10:00 a.m. ET).

Sam Altman’s Crypto Surges

The price of Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency from the Sam Altman-founded Tools for Humanity, jumped by 14% on Monday and is up 170% in the last 7 days.

Powering the Story: Worldcoin is up so much in the last week because Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, introduced the company’s new text-to-video AI generator called Sora last week. Sora’s arrival went viral.

Final Thoughts: Worldcoin is very new. It formally launched out of beta in 2023, so it is still a young altcoin for investors. Be careful with this digital coin.

Bayer Slashes Dividend

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Bayer (OTCMKTS: BAYRY) cut its dividend by 95% on Monday to pay down its high level of debt.

Final Thoughts: Bayer’s stock is down 50% in the last year as a series of blunders and bad rulings have hit the company. Some investors want the company to break up.

Trends to Watch

An Important Question: Bitcoin price keeps rising, but where are the new investors? (Cointelegraph)

Worth a Fresh Look: Are Lithium Stocks at Rock Bottom? (The Wall Street Journal)

Bullish: Gold at $3,000 and oil at $100 by 2025? Citi analysts don’t rule it out (CNBC)

Chipped: Plans to Expand U.S. Chip Manufacturing Are Running Into Obstacles (The New York Times)

Reviving Demand: Chinese Banks Cut Mortgage Reference Rate by Most on Record (Bloomberg)

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The contents from Early Bird are for informational and entertainment purposes only and do not constitute financial or legal advice.