Hot Stocks
20:02 EST Fly Intel: Top five weekend stock stories - Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Paychex (PAYX) is in advanced talks to acquire smaller payroll processing rival Paycor HCM (PYCR), people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg's Liana Baker. Talks may still fall apart, but if they are successful a deal may be announced as soon as this week, said the sources. 2. Even as Nippon Steel (NPSCY) faced skepticism of its doomed $14.9B bid for U.S. Steel (X) from the Biden administration, it was also contending with headwinds from an unlikely source, namely the CEO of a rival bidder for the company who repeatedly cast doubt on the deal's prospects to investors, Reuters' Alexandra Alper reports. Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), which made a failed $7B bid for U.S. Steel in August 2023, participated in at least nine calls assuring investors that President Joe Biden would scuttle the Nippon Steel merger months before he did so on Friday, according to summaries of investor calls included in a Dec. 17 letter from lawyers for Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and confirmed to Reuters by two participants in the calls. 3. United Airlines (UAL) announced on Sunday an accelerated timeline to bring Elon Musk's Starlink to United travelers around the world. The airline now expects to begin testing Starlink next month with the first commercial flight anticipated to take off this spring on a United Embraer E-175 aircraft. United plans to outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet by the end of this year and have its first mainline Starlink-enabled plane in the air before the end of this year. Ultimately, United will add Starlink to its entire fleet, the company said. 4. Apple (AAPL) had a bang-up 2024, with its stock skying 30%, extraordinary for a company its size, Andy Serwer writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Apple stock has backed off its all-time high of $260 to close the year at $250, but still the valuation of the company is over $3.8 trillion, and shares are within striking distance of $264.63 -- which would make Apple the first company ever to be worth $4 trillion. But Apple is exposed to myriad risks, the author notes, adding that Wall Street on the whole isn't that bullish on the stock, mostly because of its valuation. Tim Cook has made Apple an appealing investment by creating another form of differentiation, which is unparalleled, relentless execution, the publication argues, and that's powerful enough to make Apple the most valuable company on the planet-and it will likely remain at or near that apex in 2025, and for the rest of Cook's tenure. 5. Disney's (DIS) "Mufasa: The Lion King" won the weekend at the North American office with another $23.8M for a domestic tally of $168.6M. Overseas, the movie earned another $53.3M for a global cume of $476.4M, making it the 10th top-grossing title of 2024.
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