Morning Buzz: Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS), Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL), Citrix Systems (CTXS), Lowe’s (LOW)

Shares of Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (FCS) are up 9.28% ahead of the open following reports that the company agreed to be bought by rival chip maker ON Semiconductor Corp. (ON) for about $2.4 billion cash. The price tag of $20 per share values Fairchild at nearly 13% premium to where the stock closed Tuesday.
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Shares of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (AVXL) are skyrocketing by nearly 26% to $4.06 in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the company today announced that it is moving forward with the development program for ANAVEX 2-73, a treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, in a larger double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 trial.

“Working with a highly vulnerable patient population, the Company is proceeding in a rational, step-wise process. Armed with the necessary data from the Phase 2a study to optimally design future trials, we look forward to expanding our development program,” said in a statement Kristina M. Capiak, Vice President Regulatory Affairs of Anavex.
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Citrix Systems, Inc. (CTXS) — The company announced plans late Tuesday to spin off its GoTo software business as a separate public company. Citrix said that the decision follows a “thorough review of strategic alternatives” and will allow Citrix to enhance its strategic focus while permitting operational efficiency improvement. The company also said it would cut about 1,000 jobs.
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Shares of Lowe’s Companies Inc. (LOW) rallied $2.04 to $74.89 after the company released its earnings results on Wednesday. The number 2 U.S. home improvement retailer posted Q3’15 EPS of $0.80 per share vs. $0.79 consensus. Revs came in at $14.36 billion, up 5.0% from a year ago. Analysts had been modeling $14.35 billion.

For FY15, Lowe’s provided EPS guidance of $3.29 versus consensus of $3.31 per share. The company also issued revenue projection of $58.75 to $59.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $58.99 billion.

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