Morning Buzz: Ctrip.com (CTRP), BlackBerry (BBRY), Oncothyreon Inc (ONTY), Deere & Company (DE), Foot Locker, Inc. (FL)

Shares of Ctrip.com International Ltd. (CTRP) are higher by nearly 6% to $76.00 in premarket trading on Friday on news Expedia, Inc. (EXPE) has sold its 62.4% majority stake in eLong, Inc. (LONG) to several purchasers based in China, including Ctrip.com, Keystone Lodging, Plateno Group Limited and Luxuriant Holdings for a total purchase price of approximately $671 million.

BlackBerry Limited (BBRY) shares surged more than 3% to $10.58 in premarket trading following a Digitimes article summarizing Blackberry takeover speculation.

The publication, citing industry sources, notes that besides interest shown from a number of China-based handset vendors for the Canadian smartphone maker, Microsoft (MSFT) has “commissioned investment companies to evaluate the possibility of taking over BlackBerry, aiming to enhance its competitiveness in the business mobile solution segment as well as its patent portfolio in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), mobile platform and communications sectors.”

In other Blackberry news this morning, the smartphone maker has announced plans to launch a share repurchase program and buy back 12 million shares.

Blackberry said its board has authorized the plan, which is approximately 2.6% of the outstanding public float.

Oncothyreon Inc (ONTY) share prices edged closer to a 9-month high (+25%) in premarket trading Friday following positive Adam Feuerstein mention in his ASCO Preview.

ONTY shares recently gained $0.66 to $3.17. In the past 52 weeks, shares of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm have traded between a low of $1.41 and a high of $3.60. Shares are up 32.11% year-to-date.

Deere & Company (DE) reported second quarter EPS of $2.03 before the opening bell Friday, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56. Revenues declined 20% from last year to $7.40 billion. Analysts expected revenues of $7.54 billion. Net income for the period ended April 30, came in at $690.5 million, or $2.03 per share, compared with $980.7 million, or $2.65 per share, for the same period last year.

“John Deere’s second-quarter results were noteworthy in light of the weak conditions that continue to affect the global agricultural sector,” stated Samuel R. Allen, chairman and CEO. “Our performance reflected the adept execution of our operating plans and contributions of a well-rounded business lineup.”

For Q3/15, DE issued revenue projection of $7.24 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $7.16 billion.

The stock is currently up $2.46 to $91.92 on 55K shares.

Foot Locker, Inc. (FL) was up $1.60 to $65.60 in premarket trading after it reported fiscal results for the first quarter.

In its quarterly report, the shoe store said it earned $1.29 per share, well above the $1.23 per share analysts were expecting. Revenue rose 2.6% to $1.92 billion, above views for $1.91 billion. Net income for the quarter ended May 2, 2015 was $184 million, or $1.29 per share, compared with net income of $162 million, or $1.10 per share, last year, a 17% increase. First quarter comparable-store sales increased 7.8%.

“We have hit the ground running in 2015, producing the most profitable quarter in our history,” said in a statement Richard Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer.

On valuation measures, Foot Locker Inc. shares, which currently have an average 3-month trading volume of 1.74 million shares, trade at a trailing-12 P/E of 17.98, a forward P/E of 14.68 and a P/E to growth ratio of 1.40. The median Wall Street price target on the name is $69.00 with a high target of $75.00. Currently ticker boasts 14 ‘Buy’ endorsements, compared to 5 ‘Holds’ and 1 ‘Sell’.

Profitability-wise, FL has a t-12 profit and operating margin of 7.27% and 11.34%, respectively. The $8.95 billion market cap company reported $986.00 million in cash in its most recent quarter.

FL currently prints a one year return of about 37% and a year-to-date return of around 15%.

The chart below shows where the equity has traded over the last 52 weeks.

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