AT&T, DirecTV, Pfizer And AstraZeneca Dominate M&A Headlines Over The Weekend

Monday morning's Benzinga #PreMarket Prep noted the $1,860 support level on the S&P 500.

Touching on the gold bounce, the guys discussed the consolidation and the constant bid coming in at the $1,290 lows over the past few sessions. Crude oil futures are also ticking higher as there is deviation from the $100 magnet on turmoil overseas.

Exxon Mobil XOM and Chevron CVX have been shaky in the face of oil's moves and have not held up well over the past few sessions with both equities continuing downward since Thursday's earnings data from Chevron ($2.36 reported which was almost six percent below the $2.51 expected).

The Exxon $100.31 low is the focus level that must be held through the Monday session and that Chevron's key lower level would be $123.00.

Addressing the two week old merger and acquisition chatter around AT&T T and DirecTV DTV. $28.50 in cash and $66.50 in stock is the offer from AT&T.

Ratios of note:

• AT&T trades below $34.90 on the closing date, then shareholders receive 1.9045 of AT&T stock.
• If AT&T trades above $38.55, then shareholders receive 1.724 shares.

AT&T was trading down Monday morning and speculation is around the costs potentially incurred by AT&T if this deal doesn't go through, which is highly possible in the face of regulatory hurdles. 

Analyst commentary on the deal is mixed as Wunderlich downgraded DirectTV and Raymond James upgraded the stock.  Macquarie analysts are expecting a new counter-offer for DirectTV.

Lastly, the show covered the other major deal between Pfizer PFE and AstraZeneca AZN. Pfizer has raised its offer to $92.48 which was immediately rejected by AstraZeneca over the weekend and traders punished the stock in the the pre-market while rewarding Pfizer. 

$29.50 is the level to watch on Pfizer, they need to hold lest the stock slips to the next support level of $29.00.

Campbell Soup CPB release earnings also this morning, reporting $0.62 vs $0.59 and cut their forward guidance. Campbell Soup was smacked hard pre-market, down over $4.00 to $41.00 which the hosts debated would be the low of the day.  Such a large move down yields an opportunity to fade up from the low. 

Check out Monday morning's #PreMarket Prep trading idea recap here: