Major benchmarks rose Friday after a strong jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added more jobs in October than observers expected. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) set a new record and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) also saw strong gains. Energy and industrial stocks moved higher, while the rate-sensitive real estate and utility sectors fell slightly.
As for individual stocks, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary Google plans to acquire Fitbit (NYSE:FIT), and AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) reported third-quarter results that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines.
Fitbit accepts a buyout offer from Google
Fitness tracker and smartwatch maker Fitbit has agreed to be acquired by Google in a $2.1 billion cash transaction that’s been rumored since September. Shares of Fitbit rose 15.5% to $7.14, but the stock is up 65% since before Reuters broke the news of the offer on Monday.
Google has agreed to pay $7.35 per share for the pioneer in fitness wearables in a transaction expected to close in 2020, according to a press release from Fitbit. Co-founder and CEO James Park said, “With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone.” Fitbit health data won’t be used for Google ads, according statements from both companies.
Google has a five-year-old wearables software platform called Wear OS, and the company positioned the acquisition as “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS.” Devices and Services Vice President Rick Osterloh tried to reassure partners that Google is still committed to Wear OS and will work to “combine the best of our respective smartwatch and fitness tracker platforms.”
AbbVie beats expectations, raises dividend
Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie beat third-quarter expectations, raised its outlook, and increased its dividend, sending shares up 2.8%. Revenue grew 3% to $8.48 billion and adjusted earnings per share rose 9% to $2.33. Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of $2.30 on revenue of $8.38 billion.
International sales of Humira, the world’s top-selling drug that accounts for 58% of the company’s revenue, continue to plummet due to biosimilar competition, but a 9.6% increase in U.S. Humira sales and growth from the hematological oncology portfolio offset those losses. Sales of the blood cancer drugs increased 38% to $1.5 billion.
Looking forward, AbbVie raised the low end of adjusted EPS guidance for the full year by $0.08 to $8.90 to $8.92, representing year-over-year growth of 12.6%. The company increased its already generous quarterly dividend by 10% to $1.18, giving the stock a forward yield of 5.8%.
AbbVie said it’s making progress on its planned acquisition of Allergan, which it expects to close in Q1 of 2020.
