Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to block Microsoft’s (MSFT) deal for Activision Blizzard Thursday afternoon. The deal will be in limbo for quite some time: the FTC set an August 2023 hearing date to discuss the blocking of the deal. Despite the FTC vote against the deal, Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Cotick, sent an email to Activision Blizzard employees which expressed conviction the deal with Microsoft will get done.
Best Buy (BBY) – A dividend play. Friday is the last day investors can own the stock before the pay out of an $0.88 per share dividend. The dividend yield (the amount of the dividend against the price of one share of Best Buy) will be more than 4% — a pretty nice dividend payment for a retailer.
Lordstown Motors (RIDE) – A sympathy play following a warning out of peer Workhorse (WKHS). Workhorse cut its 2022 sales guidance from a range of $15 million to $25 million previously to a new range of $5 million to $15 million.
BlackBerry (BB) – A play on upcoming earnings from a so-called meme stock. BlackBerry will report quarterly results on Thursday of next week.
Marin Software (MRIN) – One of Friday morning’s biggest winners. This provider of cloud-based digital ad management software won a partnership with Walmart’s (WMT) Connect service. Shares of Marin were up about 35% on the news.