Stocks to Watch: i2 Technologies Will Purchase Aspect Development

Chicago publisher Tribune announces it will buy Times Mirror.

Author:: Eileen Kinsella
Publish date:: Mar 13, 2000 9:57 AM EST

i2 Technologies

(ITWO)

is buying

Aspect Development

(ASDV)

for $9.3 billion.

Tribune

(TRB)

is buying

Times Mirror

(TMC)

. Tribune is the publisher of the

Chicago Tribune

, and also owns numerous television stations in addition to the

Chicago Cubs

Major League Baseball

franchise. Times Mirror is publisher of the

Los Angeles Times

and

Newsday

. Following completion of the deal, Tribune Company will have 11 daily newspapers, 22 television stations and four radio stations.

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

Six big Wall Street firms and

Communicator

announced the creation of

Securities.Hub

, an e-commerce concern that will host a series of online marketplaces linking firms with institutional investors.

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

J.P. Morgan

(JPM) - Get Report

Lehman Brothers

(LEH)

Merrill Lynch

(MER)

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

(MWD)

and

Citigroup's

Salomon Smith Barney

will own a majority interest in the business. Communicator will provide the infrastructure and operate the business and have a minority interest.

CoreComm Limited

(COMM) - Get Report

is buying

Voyager.net

(VOYN)

for about $540 million in cash and stock.

E*Trade

(EGRP)

is buying

Card Capture Services

, the largest independent network of centrally managed automated teller machines in the U.S. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

and Italy's

Fiat

are reportedly close to reaching an alliance, according to published reports. The U.S. auto maker could take a 20% stake in the Italian group's car unit as part of an industrial partnership. Meanwhile,

DaimlerChrysler

(DCX)

is seeking to break up the discussions and entice Fiat away from its American rival with a separate offer. According to

The Wall Street Journal

, Fiat is also considering making a bid for Swedish truck maker

Volvo

(VOLVY)

if the

European Commission

blocks Volvo's plans to buy rival

Scania

(SCV.A)

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

said it is teaming up with

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

Ericsson

(ERICY)

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

Motorola

(MOT)

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

Palm

(PALM)

Symbian

and others to supply products and services to bring e-business applications to wireless devices

L-3 Communications

(LLL) - Get Report

is buying the

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System

product line from

Honeywell

(HON) - Get Report

for $255 million.

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

and

Andersen Consulting

agreed to a $1 billion pact to form a joint venture called

Avenade

, a technology services firm that will employ 5,000 and contribute to building Internet businesses using Microsoft software.

Radio One

(ROIA)

said it will buy 12 stations from

Clear Channel

(CCU) - Get Report

for $1.3 billion, and 3 stations from

Shirk

for $40 million. Radio One will also buy

Davis Broadcasting

for $24 million.

Texas Utilities

(TXU)

said it was launching an offer for Spanish utility

Hydroelectrica del Cantabrico

for 21.25 euros (US$20.60) a share, or 2.4 billion euros.

Tommy Hilfiger

(TOM)

is believed to be in talks to buy all or part of privately owned

Calvin Klein

The Sunday Telegraph

in London reported. Calvin Klein could be valued at $1 billion, the newspaper said.

Offerings and stock actions

Applied Micro Circuits

(AMCC)

said its board set a 2-for-1 stock split.

Celgene

(CELG) - Get Report

said its board set a 3-for-1 stock split.

Commerce One's

(CMRC)

board approved a 2-for-1 stock split.

Datalink.net

(DLK)

set a 2-for-1 stock split.

Luxottica

(LUX)

said it plans a 2-for-1 stock split and will apply for a listing on the

Milan Stock Exchange

by the end of 2000.

Analyst actions

Credit Suisse First Boston

cut its rating on

Chiron

(CHIR) - Get Report

to buy from strong buy.

Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette

added

Compaq

(CPQ)

to its value list.

Banc of America Securities

and

Bear Stearns

upgraded

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

. Banc of America upgraded Dell to strong buy from buy. Bear Stearns upgraded Dell to buy from attractive.

Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown

started coverage of

Diversa

(DVSA)

with a buy rating and a 157 price target.

Thomas Weisel

analyst Doug van Dorsten started coverage of

Eloquent

(ELOQ)

with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of 60.

J.P. Morgan

set a 12-month price target for

FleetBoston Financial

(FBF)

at 38.

Robertson Stephens

upgraded

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

to strong buy from buy.

Alex. Brown

upgraded

Knight/Trimark

(NITE)

to strong buy from buy.

DLJ said it raised

Kohl's

(KSS) - Get Report

to buy from market performer.

SG Cowen

said it started coverage of

Landacorp

(LCOR)

as a strong buy.

Thomas Weisel analyst Keith Gay initiated coverage on

VarsityBooks.com

(VSTY)

with a buy rating.

Miscellany

Aetna

(AET)

said it planned to separate its finance and health care businesses "as soon as an orderly separation can be achieved." The company also plans to sell off international assets that do not fit the strategy of either resulting company. Meanwhile,

Warburg Dillon Read

cut its rating on Aetna to reduce from hold.

Excite@Home

(ATHM) - Get Report

said it will launch an online service aimed at high-speed users.

The Heard on the Street column in the

Journal

says biotech stocks are acting like Internet stocks, driving the biotech industry's market capitalization, up 50% to $600 billion in just two months time. The story speculates that some biotech companies now have the capacity to swallow up old-line pharmaceuticals companies, though it adds no imminent deals are on the horizon.

For analysis of the market's preopen tone and trends, see the Wake-Up Call, published separately.