Stocks in the news: Kraft, Cadbury, Comcast, General Electric, Clearwire

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) has made a 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) cash-and-stock offer for Cadbury PLC (CBY). Unable to seal a friendly deal and as the deadline for Kraft to make an offer was today, the bid has been expected to turn hostile. Kraft indeed went directly to shareholders with a lower offer than its previous rebuffed approach, but many of the shareholders are hedge funds with perhaps different interests. Cadbury advised its shareholders to reject the offer, saying it is "derisory" and represents a worse deal than when Kraft made its original approach in September. CBY shares traded over 1% higher in premarket trading.

Comcast (CMCSA) and GE (GE) have reportedly agreed on the worth of NBC Universal, thus clearing another hurdle. The value is reportedly around $30 billion. CMCSA shares were 2% higher, GE's nearly 3% higher ahead of the bell.


Northrop Grumman (NOC) on Sunday has sold its TASC consulting arm to two private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and General Atlantic for $1.65 billion. NOC shares climbed nearly 5% before the bell.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and its partners -- Comcast Corp., Intel Corp (INTC), Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and Bright House Networks LLC -- are preparing to pump at least $1.5 billion more into Clearwire Corp. (CLWR), the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Sprint shares climbed about 1.7% and CLWR shares jumped nearly 7% in premarket trading.

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) said Monday that monthly sales growth was relatively flat in the U.S. but that was offset by stronger growth globally. While the fast food chain enjoyed strong sales during the recession, in October same-store sales edged down 0.1% in the U.S. Overall same-store sales rose 3.3% thanks ti a 6.4% rise in Europe and a 4.7% rise in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) reported late Friday and said its profit more than doubled on a rebound in the value of its holdings and a lack of hurricanes during the quarter.

Wynn Resorts (WYNN) shares jumped over 7% in premarket after it declared a special dividend of $4 share.

Select analyst calls:

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) was upgraded to outperform from neutral by Credit Suisse on Monday. Stock jumped 5%.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Adobe Systems (ADBE) to buy from neutral and upped Salesforce.com (CRM) to neutral from sell. RedHat (RHT) meanwhile was cut to neutral from buy. ADBE shares were over 4% higher.
• Gap Inc. (GPS) was cut to equal weight from overweight by Barclays Capital.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Blackstone (BX) to outperform from Market Perform. Shares were over 3% higher.
• JP Morgan downgraded AstraZeneca (AZN) from Neutral to Underweight. RBS lifted it to Buy.
• Susquehanna Financial cut Research in Motion (RIMM) from Positive to Neutral.
• Credit Suisse upgraded RadioShack (RSH) from Neutral to Outperform and raised target price from $15 to $25. Shares spike over 11%.