Earlier this month, Sinclair agreed to acquire Fisher Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: FSCI) for approximately $373 million in cash. Including this acquisition, Sinclair broadcast empire will reach more than a third of all U.S. television households.

Today’s offering includes a 30-day option from some selling stockholders for an additional 2.1 million shares. Net proceeds from the offering will be used to fund pending and future potential acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

The number of shares in the offering equals about 17% of Sinclair’s total number of shares outstanding.

Shares of Sinclair have jumped more than 16% in the two weeks since the announcement of the Fisher acquisition and more than 35% in the past 30 days. The stock has more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

Shares are down about 1.8% this morning, at $27.00 in a 52-week range of $7.82 to $28.53.

The Linn companies expect the acquisition to add $0.40 a share to distributable cash flow in the first full year following the close of the transaction. Linn Energy’s management intends to recommend to its board that the company’s dividend be increased from $2.90 to $3.08 annually, and the LinnCo distribution is expected to increase by $0.02 a share in the March quarter, rising to an annual rate of $2.90. LinnCo also expects to increase its distribution to $3.08.

Berry shareholders will receive 1.25 shares of LinnCo in exchange for each share of Berry stock they hold, valuing the shares at about $46.24, a premium of about 20% to last night’s closing price for Berry shares.

Shares of Berry are trading up 21.6% in the premarket this morning, at $46.95 in a 52-week range of $30.21 to $57.26. Shares of Linn Energy are up 3.9%, at $38.09 in a 52-week range of $34.27 to $42.57. LinnCo shares are up 5.2%, at $38.92 in a post-IPO range of $35.15 to $40.40.

For the quarter, the oil and gas exploration and production company posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.26 on revenues of $3.54 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported adjusted EPS of $0.58 on revenues of $2.73 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.14 and $2.86 billion in revenues.

For the full year, Chesapeake reported EPS of $0.61 on revenues of $12.32 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.48 on revenues of $11.44 billion.

On a GAAP basis, the full-year net loss totaled $1.46 a share. Excluded from full-year earnings were a noncash impairment charge of $2.02 billion related to carrying value of the company’s oil and gas properties and other smaller items

Management comments were attributed to the company’s COO, not the soon-to-be ex-CEO Aubrey McClendon, who departs on April Fool’s Day. The company’s COO said:

We continue to deliver on our liquids growth targets, led by a year-over-year increase of nearly 40,000 barrels per day in oil production. We achieved this despite the sale of nearly 18,000 barrels per day of oil production associated with our exit from the Permian Basin during the 2012 third and fourth quarters. We believe this performance ranks Chesapeake among the top three organic oil growth stories in the industry for 2012.

The company averaged daily production of 3.93 billion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas during the fourth quarter. Liquids, comprising both crude oil and natural gas liquids, account for 23% of the company’s daily production and 59% of its total full-year realized revenues. A year ago, liquids accounted for 30% of revenues.

Chesapeake’s only comments on guidance were to reaffirm the production and drilling growth estimates it had already made and to continue to reduce its debt. Consensus estimates call for first-quarter EPS of $0.22 on revenues of $2.74 billion and full-year 2013 EPS of $1.21 on revenues of $11.25 billion.

Chesapeake’s shares are trading up about 2.5%, at $20.75 in a 52-week range of $13.32 to $26.09. The consensus target price for the shares was around $23.00 before today’s report.

Clearwire also said that it continues to review the “unsolicited, non-binding” proposal from Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), which offers $3.30 a share with a lot of strings attached.

One of those strings is related to Sprint’s financing agreement for Clearwire, which was to provide the wireless carrier with $80 million a month for 10 months. Clearwire did not take the first draw on the funds in January because Dish Network threatened to withdraw its offer if Clearwire did so. A withdrawal certainly would have fired up a multitude of legal actions.

Clearwire continues to recommend approval of the Sprint acquisition although it also continues its review of the company’s options. But because Sprint already owns slightly more than 50% of Clearwire, other shareholders may not have much leverage.

Clearwire’s shares are up about 1.6% in premarket trading this morning, at $3.23 in a 52-week range of $0.83 to $3.41.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is trading lower after all of its 787 dream liner plans have been grounded in Japan after an emergency landing occurred yesterday. This is leading the down low. Boeing shares are trading down about 4% at $74.01 this morning.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is trading down sharply after the company warned that higher food costs are going to bite into its fourth-quarter earnings. The good news is that its retail revenues were higher than expected. Shares are currently down almost 8% around $273.50.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is trading down about 3% as the word of a buyout is not coming with a large premium and the recent rally may have already put in a cap in the shares. Dell shares are down more than 3% at $12.74 in very active trading before the open.

Five Below Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVE) is trading lower this morning after the company raised its fourth-quarter guidance but also said that it would sell 7 million shares in a secondary offering. Shares are down almost 2% around $31.25.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is trading higher on news that it plans to create a new parent company with a $100 million or more contribution toward its money-losing mortgage insurance operations. This has been Genworth’s big thorn in its side and might allow it to finally get out from under this overhang. The move is to work around the company’s debt covenants. Genworth shares are up almost 9% at $8.85 this morning.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) is trading lower this morning after the company disclosed that it plans to sell 4.4 million shares in a secondary offering. This represents more than 5% of the shares outstanding. Shares are down only about 2% so far at $81.90, but we would note that this is after one massive rally in 2012.

Vera Bradley Inc. (NASDAQ: VRA) is trading higher after the company raised its fourth-quarter earnings expectations. The company did say that it saw lower-than-expected traffic in the holiday season and that it may have flat same-store sales. Shares are still up about 8% closing in on $25 this morning.

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) is trading higher this morning after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings rose to above expectations. The company did report one word of caution, and that was the margins and same-store sales are still not rising. Earnings should be in line to slightly above expectations for 2013. Wendy’s is trading up almost 4.5% at $5.12 this morning.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is trading up more than 3% and back above $20 on news that Alibaba is now going to come public in an IPO. This will allow for more monetization of that asset.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) is up 4.7% in premarket trading this morning, Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) is up 2%, AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) is up 4.4% and ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) is up more than 2%. Demand has come back, especially from China, and now that the threat to a second U.S. recession recedes in the rear-view mirror, steel makers are looking good again.

Coal miners are not doing too badly either this morning, with Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) up about 5%, Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE: BTU) up 4%, Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) up 4.5% and James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) up nearly 6%.

Iron ore miner Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) is up nearly 4%, and other major mining companies like Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) and BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE: BHP) are up 3.6% and 2.1%, respectively. Aluminum bellwether Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is up about 2% and rare earths miner Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is up a whopping 8.5%.

Paul Ausick

WTI crude oil is up more than 1.7% at $93.40, while Brent crude is up about 1.3% at $112.53. Big oil producers are getting a pre-open boost as well, with Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) up 2%, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) up 1.7%, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) up 2.3% and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) up 1.5%.

Refiners are joining the party as well. Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is up 2.4%, Philllips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is up 2.1%, Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) is up 2.4% and Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is up 2.8%.

Services firms like Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) are all up about 2%, and drilling firms Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and Seadrill Ltd. (NYSE: SDRL) are also up more than 2%.

Natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is up about 2% even though natural gas is trading down about 0.7% at $3.33 per thousand cubic feet.

Paul Ausick

Financial stocks are getting a nice boost this morning, with Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) up more than 2%, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) up about 1.7%, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), up 1.4% and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) up about 1%.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is up nearly 3% in premarket trading, and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has jumped about 2.6%. Other tech stocks making solid moves this morning include Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), up 1.7%; Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), up 2.2%; and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), up nearly 3%.

Other heavily traded stocks posting gains this morning include Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), up nearly 2%; Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), up 3%; Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), up 2%; and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), up 1.7%.

And while stock futures are not a sure-fire predictor of market performance once trading actually begins, equities look better this morning than they did at this time a day or two ago.

Paul Ausick

The ratings cut leaves ConAgra’s debt just one notch above junk.

An S&P credit analyst said:

The downgrade for ConAgra reflects our belief that ConAgra will not be able to restore its credit measures, including adjusted debt to EBITDA to below 3x and funds from operations to total debt to nearly 30%, within two years.

The ratings firm estimates that ConAgra’s debt following the acquisition will total more than $10 billion, and other adjustments will push the total to about $11 billion.

ConAgra’s shares posted a 52-week high earlier this month, following better-than-expected quarterly results. Shares are trading down about 0.5% in the premarket this morning, at $29.06 in a 52-week range of $23.64 to $31.12.

Paul Ausick

Microsoft paid $300 million for a 17.6% stake in the company back in October, with B&N retaining the rest of the stock. After Pearson’s investment, B&N will own about 78.2% of Nook Media, and Microsoft will own 16.8%.

The odd thing about this, and about the whole Nook Media business, is that e-reader demand is falling like a rock. IHS iSuppli noted earlier this month that demand for e-readers will total just 14.9 million units this year, compared with tablet demand of 120 million units, from vendors like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Samsung Electronics, among a host of others, including Microsoft.

Demand for e-readers like the Nook is expected to fall to 7.1 million units by 2016, compared with demand for 340 million tablets in the same year. What does Pearson — or Microsoft for that matter — have to gain from selling a device fewer and fewer people want? For B&N, the Nook Media business may be the only thing standing between the company and bankruptcy, so it is easy to see why B&N is wildly optimistic.

Investors like the deal too, driving B&N’s shares up 5.5% in early trading to $15.15, in a 52-week range of $9.35 to $26.00.

Paul Ausick