U.S. HOT STOCK FUTURES: HOT STOCKS TO WATCH

09/17/2012| 09:05am US/Eastern

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Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday's session are Office Depot Inc. (>> Office Depot Inc), Tesla Motors Inc. (>> Tesla Motors Inc) and coal and steel companies.

Activist investment fund Starboard Value LP has taken a 13.3% stake in office-supplies retailer Office Depot. In a letter to Office Depot's chief executive, Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith said Office Depot's shares are "deeply undervalued" but that management could take certain actions such as cutting expenses to improve performance. The stake makes Starboard the largest shareholder in Office Depot. Shares rose 8.9% to $2.69 premarket.

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors' shares rise 8% to $32.83 premarket amid an upgrade from Morgan Stanley to overweight from underweight. The investment bank says Tesla has the ability to significantly outperform as analysts expectations have been dampened by delivery delays. The firm also lifts its price target to $50 from $45, saying the risk-reward for Tesla is better than other auto stocks it covers.

J.P. Morgan downgraded steel makers AK Steel Holding Corp. (>> AK Steel Holding Corporation) and United States Steel Corp. (X), as well as iron-ore and coal mining companies Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (>> Cliffs Natural Resources Inc) to neutral from overweight, saying that it doesn't think steel fundamentals are supportive of a continued move higher beyond recent short covering following China's infrastructure spending announcement and news of another round of quantitative easing in the U.S., and that it expects steel prices to decline soon. AK Steel shares dropped 3.9% to $5.64 premarket, while Cliffs shares are down 2.9% to $44.25 and United States Steel fell 3.3% to $21.62.

IRIS International Inc. (>> IRIS International, Inc.) said it entered into a definitive merger agreement under which diversified manufacturer Danaher Corp. (>> Danaher Corporation) will acquire the in-vitro diagnostics manufacturer for $19.50 a share in cash, representing a roughly 45% premium over Friday's closing price. IRIS shares rose 45% to $19.48 premarket.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. (>> Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) said that new findings from a Phase 2b clinical trial of an investigational pancreatic cancer drug shows changes in overall survival weren't "statistically significant", though there was improvement in median overall survival. The biotechnology company said the trial wasn't designed to detect a statistically significant improvement in overall survival. Still, shares fell 23% to $6.70 premarket.

Human DNA-sequencing company Complete Genomics Inc. (>> Complete Genomics, Inc.) agreed to be acquired by the China genomics company BGI-Shenzhen in a roughly $117.6 million deal. BGI's U.S. unit will launch a cash tender offer of $3.15 a share, an 18% premium to Complete Genomics' Friday close. Shares rose 15% to $3.06 in premarket trading.

 
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Moody's Investors Service raised its outlook on CoreLogic Inc.'s (>> Corelogic Inc) junk rating, saying it expects the data provider to continue to post improved profit.

Zynga Inc. (>> Zynga Inc) has countered a copyright-infringement lawsuit previously filed against it by Electronic Arts Inc. (>> Electronic Arts Inc.) with its own allegations that EA sought a potentially illegal agreement to avoid poaching each others' employees.

Heckmann Corp. (>> Heckmann Corporation) has named Jay Parkinson its chief financial officer and executive vice president as his predecessor takes on a different executive position at the wastewater-treatment company.

News Corp. (NWS, NWSA, NWS.AU) said the chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, Tom Rothman, will step down at year-end, as the media company also announced the separation of its television and film-production units.

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (>> Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.) filed plans to offer as much as $150 million in mixed securities, which include stock and debt. The pharmaceutical company, which develops drug candidates for the treatment of obesity, recently had a market capitalization of roughly $393 million.

Patriot Coal Corp. (>> Patriot Coal Corporation) said it would temporarily suspend about 85,000 tons of steelmaking coal production per month, as the coal producer said it faces a further deterioration of market demand.

Truman Bank, based in St. Louis, was closed by the Missouri Division of Finance. Simmons First National Corp. (>> Simmons First National Corporation) subsidiary Simmons First National Bank (>> Simmons First National Corporation), based in Pine Bluff, Ark., agreed to take over the failed bank as part of a purchase-and-assumption deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Independent refiner Tesoro Corp. (>> Tesoro Corporation) has sold its Long Beach, Calif., marine terminal and Los Angeles short-haul pipelines to Tesoro Logistics LP (>> Tesoro Logistics LP) for $210 million, marking Tesoro's second asset sale to the partnership.

Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@dowjones.com

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