Fitbit (FIT) reported earnings on Mon 2 Nov 2015 (after close)

ticker: FIT

** charts before earnings **

** charts after earnings **

Fitbit beats by $0.14, beats on revs; guides Q4 above consensus; releases lockup restriction for 2.3 mln shares on November 4  :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items,$0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 167.7% year/year to $409.3 mln vs the $360.17 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Sold 4.8 million connected health and fitness devices
  • U.S. comprised 66% of Q3 revenue; APAC 16%, EMEA 12%, and Other Americas 6%
  • U.S. revenue grew 130% year-over-year; APAC 314%, EMEA 282%, and Other Americas 286%
  • Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.20-0.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.20 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $620-650 bln vs. $592.42 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
  • Fitbit also announces that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, on behalf of the underwriters of Fitbit's initial public offering in June 2015, at the request of Fitbit, has agreed torelease the lock-up restrictions for Fitbit's employees and consultants as of October 31, 2015 with respect to ~2.3 million shares, which represents up to 10% of the shares of Fitbit common stock, options, and restricted stock units held by such employees and consultants. The release will be effective on November 4, 2015.

Virtu Financial (VIRT) began trading on the NASDAQ on 16 April 2015

• Virtu Financial, a high-frequency electronic trading firm and market maker, raised $314 million by offering 16.5 million shares at $19, the high end of the range of $17 to $19.  3Virtu Financial initially filed confidentially on 12/26/2013. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Sandler O'Neill, BMO Capital Markets, Citi, Credit Suisse, Evercore Partners and UBS Investment Bank acted as lead managers on the deal.
• The company makes markets—meaning it offers to buy and sell securities in the hope of capturing a tiny spread between those prices—for securities traded on more than 200 exchanges and other private venues around the world. 

Virtu’s reliance on ultrafast telecommunications networks and computer algorithms to do its trading has sparked criticism in the past year from some market participants and observers who believe firms such as Virtu have an unfair advantage over everyday investors. At the forefront of that criticism was writer Michael Lewis, who in his best-selling book “Flash Boys” argued the market was rigged in favor of exchanges, big banks and high-frequency traders. Virtu wasn’t mentioned in the book.

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Earnings  11/4/15: Virtu Financial beats by $0.06, beats on revs :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.40 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.34; revenues rose 24.6% year/year to $215.8 mln but may not comapare to the $127.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Adjusted Net Trading Income increased 34.3% to $138.6 million for this quarter, compared to $103.2 million for the same period in 2014. Adjusted Net Income increased 56.8% to $76.2 million for this quarter, compared to $48.6 million for the same period in 2014.

Activision Blizzard to buy King Digital in deal worth $5.9 billion

• Brings together makers of ‘Call of Duty,’ ‘Candy Crush Saga’

Video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI) said it will buy "Candy Crush Saga" creator King Digital Entertainment (KING) for $5.9 billion to strengthen its mobile games portfolio.

ABS Partners CV, a unit of Activision Blizzard, will acquire King shares for $18 each in cash, representing a premium of 16 percent to King's closing price on Monday.

** charts before acquisition **

The addition of King's mobile games will position Activision as a global leader in interactive entertainment across mobile, console and PC platforms, Activision said in a statement.

Video game publishers are shifting to the lucrative digital business from physical sales of games as consumers shift from consoles to playing on smartphones and tablets.

The fast-growing mobile gaming segment is expected to generate more than $36 billion in revenue by the end of 2015, according to Activision.