U.S. Hot Stocks: Hot Stocks to Watch

   By Chris Wack and Maria Armental 
 

Among the companies with shares expected to trade actively in Friday's session are Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. (SHOS) and BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY).

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc.'s profit plunged by 55% in its latest quarter amid sales declines, while the retailer outlined plans to cut its expenses. Shares were untraded in premarket trading.

BlackBerry Ltd. said Friday it would buy closely held Good Technology Corp. for $425 million, in a move to further bolster the Canadian company's efforts to sell mobile security software to government and corporate customers. Shares were up 2.95% to $7.68 premarket.

Amazon's (AMZN) cloud-computing arm said it has reached a deal to buy Elemental Technologies Inc., a firm that specializes reformatting video content. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The companies said they expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

Aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd. (AVOL) has agreed to be bought by Bohai Leasing, a unit of China's HNA Group, in a deal valued at $7.6 billion, following months of negotiations.

Cooper Cos. (COO) gave muted guidance for the current quarter and lowered its full-year revenue projection, as sales came in lower than expected in its August quarter.

Gap Inc.'s (GPS) disappointing sales streak carried into August, with its Banana Republic and Gap stores reporting steeper sales declines at established stores that the retailer partly attributed to the Labor Day holiday being observed later in September than a year ago.

Sanofi's (SNY) Genzyme Corp. admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay $32.6 million to resolve criminal charges related to off-label marketing of a biodegradable membrane used to prevent internal scarring after surgery. The Cambridge, Mass. biotechnology company previously agreed to pay $22.3 to settle related civil claims.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (PAY) swung to a third-quarter profit as higher revenue in North America offset declines in its other segments, driving the electronic-payments-equipment company into its first half-billion-dollar revenue quarter.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 04, 2015 09:31 ET (13:31 GMT)

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