It's been a tough week on Wall Street, as the Federal Reserve has sent investors once again into near-panic about the prospects for high interest rates for the foreseeable future. Yet it appeared as though market participants had regained their footing at least somewhat by Friday morning. Futures on major market indexes were higher early Friday, suggesting at least modest gains when the market opens.
One winner to begin the day was Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which got one step closer to finally getting its deal done with Microsoft (MSFT -1.73%). However, investors in another stock got schooled in Friday's premarket session, as Scholastic (SCHL -2.34%) released financial results late Thursday that didn't match up with shareholder expectations. Here's the latest on these stocks.
U.K. regulators have a change of heart
Shares of Activision Blizzard climbed almost 2% in premarket trading on Friday morning. The rise came after regulators in the U.K. suggested that a recent proposal from Microsoft could finally break the logjam that has thus far prevented its acquisition of the video game developer from moving forward.
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) released a decision early Friday stating that it might approve the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA found that the amendment to the original deal that divested certain streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment appears to have addressed and prevented potential anticompetitive impacts adequately, particularly in light of new concessions under which Microsoft will avoid certain relationships with Ubisoft with respect to the video games it acquires from Activision.
The CMA does have some residual concerns about the deal. Nevertheless, those concerns weren't enough to prevent it from concluding that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it will accept the deal as currently structured.
At this point, Activision stock is now trading less than $1 below the proposed $95-per-share cash buyout bid. That indicates shareholders essentially believe the deal is certain to move forward, potentially ending a long and drawn-out process that has included plenty of uncertainty along the way.
Scholastic flunks its latest test
Elsewhere, shares of Scholastic plunged 16% in premarket trading early Friday. The publisher of children's materials has played a key role in the education and media industries, but its fiscal first-quarter financial results for the period ended Aug. 31 failed to live up even to low expectations.
Losing money during the summer season isn't unusual for Scholastic, given that most schools are out of session. Yet the company's financial results still looked pretty ugly. Revenue of $228.5 million was down 13% year over year, and losses widened by roughly 70% from year-ago levels.
Scholastic's book publishing and distribution segment was notably weak, with revenue falling 18% due largely to a soft retail bookselling market. Double-digit percentage declines in sales from the education solutions and international segments also contributed to Scholastic's overall lack of strength.
CEO Peter Warwick tried to lighten the mood by creating some hope for the fall season. The Scholastic leader discussed the company's plans for its book fairs, book clubs, and school reading events in the coming months. Moreover, with some much-anticipated fall and spring releases coming soon, Scholastic is optimistic that it will have a solid performance throughout the full fiscal year.
Yet even Scholastic's affirming its past guidance wasn't enough to set shareholders at ease. After the company delighted its investors earlier in the year, the last thing anyone wants to see is for Scholastic to lose its forward momentum.
