U.S. Hot Stocks: Hot Stocks to Watch

Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Friday's session are Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI), Conversant Inc. (CNVR) and Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ).

Darden defended the progress the casual-dining restaurant operator has made toward improving its results, even as it said it swung to a loss in the latest quarter. Results were in line with expectations. Shares rose 2.5% to $49.49 in premarket trading.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) on Thursday agreed to buy Conversant in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $2.3 billion, a move intended to form an end-to-end marketing services company. Alliance will pay $35 a share for Conversant, a 31% premium to where shares were trading ahead of a halt before Thursday's market close. Conversant's shares jumped 31.5% to $35.13 premarket.

Hertz on Thursday reached a deal with Carl Icahn to add three of his representatives to its board, and the activist investor agreed not to launch a proxy contest. Two of the new directors will be part of the five-person search committee seeking a new chief executive. Shares gained 3.4% to $28.70 premarket.

William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. said Friday it had secured even more shareholder support for a special meeting of takeover target Allergan Inc. (AGN). Shares dipped 0.2% to $168.30 premarket.

Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) on Thursday said its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 35% as it continued to benefit from strong sales growth. Shares surged 16% to $113.05 in heavy premarket trading.

General Motors Co. (GM) issued a "stop delivery" order that will interrupt supply of one of its hottest-selling vehicles: the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. Shares were down 0.8% to $33.35 premarket.

 
   Watchlist: 
 

XPO Logistics Inc. (XPO) said it has secured a $700 million investment from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Singapore's GIC Private Ltd., which the logistics company plans to use to fund acquisitions. XPO also increased its 2017 financial targets.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) unveiled a deal to buy Eucalyptus, which provides open-source cloud software. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

In what may be another signal that Facebook Inc. (FB) wants to take on YouTube, the company has reached out to some of the Google Inc. (GOOG)-owned video site's biggest content producers and encouraged them to test distributing their videos on the social network, say people familiar with the matter.

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) sold more convertible bonds than expected late Thursday, according to two people familiar with the deal, a sign of strong demand for its first debt sale.

DDR Corp. (DDR) said Chief Executive Daniel B. Hurwitz and the shopping-center owner's board agreed not to renew his contract, which expires at the end of this year.

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) could launch a digital video service over the Internet by the middle of 2015, Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said at an investor conference Thursday.

Write to Tom Rojas at [e-mail] and Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires