Stock News Briefs: General Electric To Acquire Vivendi’s NBC Stake, Guess Earnings Beat Estimates

• General Electric (GE: 16.17 +0.15 +0.94%) agreed with Vivendi to acquire the latter’s 20% NBC stake for $5.8 billion, down from Vivendi’s previous valuation of $6.1 billion
• After yesterday’s close, Guess (GES: 41.82 +4.77 +12.87%) announced third quarter earnings of 69 cents a share, up from 67 cents a year ago, and better than the 51 cents anticipated, on revenues of $522.8 million, down from $527.9 million a year ago. Same-store-sales fell 3.4%. Nevertheless, the firm guided higher, setting fourth quarter estimates at 77-80 cents
• Luxury retailer Saks (SKS: 6.10 -0.01 -0.16%) received an improved outlook from Standard & Poor’s Rating Services to “stable” from “negative.”
• Goldman Sachs (GS: 167.63 -2.03 -1.20%) removed Abbott Labs (ABT: 54.48 -0.01 -0.02%) from its Conviction Buy List, taking Eli Lilly (LLY: 37.09 +0.36 +0.98%) off its Conviction Sell List as well, while maintaining “buy” and “sell” ratings on the respective stocks
• Staples (SPLS: 24.44 +1.12 +4.80%) reported third quarter results one cent above estimates at 39 cents on inline revenues of $6.5 billion, up 6%
• Citigroup (C: 4.10 -0.01 -0.24%) issued upgrades on regional banks Fifth Third (FITB: 10.18 +0.10 +0.99%) and BB&T (BBT: 25.60 +0.70 +2.81%)
• JP Morgan (JPM: 42.22 -0.27 -0.64%) lowered its earnings projections for: Wells Fargo (WFC: 27.99 -0.05 -0.18%), Fifth Third (FITB: 10.18 +0.10 +0.99%), Bank of America (BAC: 15.90 +0.05 +0.32%) and SunTrust (STI: 23.20 -0.43 -1.82%)
• JP Morgan (JPM: 42.22 -0.27 -0.64%) upgraded Mentor Graphics (MENT: 8.19 +0.82 +11.13%) to “overweight” from “underweight,” with a price target of $10.50, up from $9.00