S&P says that th3 ‘up to $1.1 billion senior unsecured note offering’ is getting a BBB rating with a stable outlook.  Its belief is that Symantec will maintain its market position and financial profile.  Additionally cited are a satisfactory positioning, a successful track record of acquiring and integrating operations, and also its growth opportunities in products, platforms, and geographies.

Moody’s gave a Baa2 rating based on a strong market position and based upon a solid credit profile. The company did however note that the company is constrained by an expected plan that acquisitions will continue to play an important role in its growth.  Also noted by Moody’s is that ongoing margin pressure limits the rating.

It was just on July 29 that some 62,181,800 shares traded hands and fell down to $13.03 from $14.67 and then from above $15.00 the week before.

What is amazing is that despite the company’s caution and despite the slowing in software and tech, shares are actually back above were they were before the earnings warning.  After a 0.75% rise so far on Monday, the stock is at $14.97.  Symantec is magically higher than when it warned in the first place.

JON C. OGG

A much more mundane transaction is the one in which Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) has closed a deal to buy smaller car rental company Dollar-Thrifty (NYSE: DTG). It snatched Dollar away from Avis (NYSE: CAR) which had topped Hertz’s earlier bid. Hertz new offer is for  $43.60 cash plus 0.6366 a share for each share of Dollar Thrifty. The new offer adds $10.80 a share of cash to the deal price. This is deemed by the Dollar board to be better than the Avis $40.75 cash and 0.6543 per share incentive.

No one knows what the eventual value of either deal will be for now. The prices of Hertz or Avis could change substantially over the next year.

One thing that is not in question is that Avis needs Dollar-Thrifty more than Hertz does. Avis is in second place in the car rental business. Hertz revenue is over $7 billion a year. Avis sales are only $5 billion. Dollar-Thrifty has sales of $1.5 billion last year. The winner of the bidder gets a significant market share edge.

Most big companies have no trouble added debt now unless their balance sheets are extraordinarily week. And, the money can be borrowed at remarkable low rates.

Avis won’t care what the Dollar board has accepted. It can change that board’s mind with just a modest increase in its offer. The bidding war is not over.

The stock already trades 5% above the offer in the pre-market

Douglas A. McIntyre

The ArcSight transaction would value the company at about$43.25. The stock closed at $35.10 of Friday and fell over 1% during the day—a sign that no investors had inside information and decided to use it to “front run” the deal. ArcSight provides compliance and security management solutions to protect enterprises and government agencies.

The company had revenue of $48 million in the quarter that ended July 31, and net income of $3 million. Those numbers were above Wall St. forecasts.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Reuters:   The cost of Gulf clean-up hit $8 billion.

Reuters:   China said that its $2.45 trillion currency holdings was mostly in dollars and said it may have to depreciate part of the value of the fund.

Reuters:   The White House said that no second stimulus is being considered.

Reuters:   One Senator said food safety was a priority for the body.

Reuters:   Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is preparing a music download business to compete with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Reuters:  Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) may get new growth due to its relationship with Apple.

Reuters:   Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will offer prepaid options for cellphones.

Reuters:   Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) won the bidding for 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) and paid $2.4 billion, topping a bid by Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL).

WSJ:   Toshiba will launch a new tablet PC.

WSJ:   Roche has created a cost-cutting plan.

WSJ:   The Treasury must decide how many large foreign investors it will allow to put money into GM.

WSJ:   Retailers had a modest uptick in August sales.

WSJ:   Workers carried a bigger burden of healthcare costs last year.

WSJ:   Samsung launched an Apple Inc iPad rival.

WSJ:   Aol (NYSE: AOL) widened its relationship with Google Inc.

WSJ:   Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) started an app store.

WSJ:   The European Central Bank raised its growth forecasts for the year.

WSJ:   3G Capital Management bought Burger King (NYSE: BKC) for $3.3 billion.

WSJ:   GM, Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Toyota (NYSE: TM) posted sales gains in China.

WSJ:   Avis (NYSE: CAR) raised its bid for Dollar Thrifty (NYSE: DTG).

WSJ:   Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWC) reached a deal on content carriage fees.

WSJ:   Average mortgage rates hit another new low.

NYT:   BP plc says limits on Gulf drilling will hurt its oil spill payouts.

NYT:   Google’s YouTube should bring in $450 million in revenue this year, most of which will be from advertising.

NYT:   A strong yen has helped German exports.

NYT:   Theong yen will cripple Toyota Motor profits.

NYT:   Putin extended a ban on grain exports.

FT:   There is growing anxiety about food shortages around the world.

FT:   Foreign companies are up against unreasonable rules in China, according to the European Chamber of Commerce.

Bloomberg:   The EU may limits naked shorting and shorting of government debt.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The 3PAR board of directors has determined that HP’s revised proposal constitutes a “Superior Proposal” (as that term is defined in 3PAR’s merger agreement with Dell). Accordingly, 3PAR notified Dell of its intention to terminate its merger agreement with Dell immediately following the expiration of the three business day period contemplated by, and the satisfaction of the other conditions set forth in, its merger agreement with Dell in order to enter into a merger agreement with HP on the terms set forth in HP’s revised acquisition proposal, according to 3Par

Count on Dell to make another bid. 3Par’s shares are going to $100

Douglas A. McIntyre

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is trading up almost 3% at $5.34 on more than 20,000 shares as the takeover circle continues to throw this name around as a takeover candidate in the datacenter and networking wars unfolding.

Burger King Holdings (NYSE: BKC) is trading up 22% at $23.00 on over 2 million shares after CNBC’s David Faber said a deal from private equity will be announced shortly at $24.00 per share.  Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) is trading up 5.5% at $4.35 as a secondary beneficiary of the fast food consolidation.

Cardiome Pharma Corporation (NASDAQ: CRME) is trading up over 13% at $7.02 on over 25,000 shares on news of a $30 million milestone payment.

Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL) is trading up nearly 4% at $4.06 on over 50,000 shares on an analyst upgrade after WSJ reported that Macau gambling revenues rose 40%.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) is trading up about 27% st $5.81 on over 300,000 shares after signing what could ultimately be a $1 billion marketing license pact for its obesity drug with Takeda for North America.

3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) was down over 2% at $31.30 on over 40,000 shares after the Wednesday deadline for Dell to raise its offer against HP has passed without any formal deal match or deal hike.  Now just before 9AM EST the WSJ reports that HP is bidding $33 after Dell did apparently make a higher overture to 3PAR.  Shares are now up on the day as Dell is said to not be out of the bidding.

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JON C. OGG

Share buyback announcements were led by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO), VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), Discovery Communications Inc (NASDAQ: DISCA), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), and RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH).

M&A activity was led by deals for 3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR), Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Charles Schwab Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHW), 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN).

While you can not expect all of the set buybacks to be accelerated and while some may never be completed, combined announcements of more than $26 billion (not including many smaller buybacks announced) are hard to ignore even if $10 billion was via Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).  Some of these were add-on amounts and some were new combined announcements.

The merger front is also a slippery slope in the named deals (not including some smaller deals) because some of these are being challenged.  The lion’s share of M&A revolves around Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) by Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) by BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP), both of which deals have the targets trading at a premium because the companies want more money.

The table below was geared down to only account for the larger deals.  Many smaller deals and smaller buybacks were left off, which is why the tally is just shy of the $100 billion mark.  Below is a table summary of the combined share buybacks and the combined acquisition targets:

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Reuters:   BHP Billiton ((NYSE: BHP) says it will not divest Potash (NYSE: POT) divisions.

Reuters:   Consumer spending rose slightly last month.

Reuters:   The yen moved to a 15-week high as BOJ plans failed to help.

Reuters:   Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) will offer a priority mailbox to hold important messages.

Reuters:   Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) will not have its BlackBerry service shut down in India for now.

Reuters:   3M (NYSE: MMM) will buy Cogent for $943 million.

Reuters:   Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) bought the mobile chip assets on Infineon.

Reuters:   Ron Burkle says he had not planned to take control of Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS).

Reuters:   Major hedge funds are dropping investments in equities

Reuters:   Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) rejected a bid from Sanofi-Aventis

WSJ:   The US wants car companies to offer report cards on fuel economy.

WSJ:   Some buyers are paying substantial amounts for the assets of failed banks.

WSJ:   Companies sued by Paul Allen for IP patent violations may be able to say he waited too long.

WSJ:   India’s economy expanded at 8.8%.

WSJ:   Chrysler will begin to sell Fiats.

WSJ:   Samsung will begin to sell apps for TV.

WSJ:   Google bought a social game company called SocialDeck.

WSJ:   Telecom companies may get access to unused TV airwaves.

WSJ:   The government may force airlines and convenience stores to post calorie numbers for food.

WSJ:   The FDA found many contaminants in eggs production facilities.

WSJ:   The IMF will expand its loan options to help underdeveloped nations which may encounter financial problems.

WSJ:   Eurozone consumer confidence improved.

WSJ:   About 2,000 employers and unions will be able to tap a $5 billion government fund for medical bills.

WSJ:   Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) will offer prepaid 4G service.

WSJ:   Google reached a new deal with AP to distribute its news.

WSJ:   Motorola (NYSE: MOT) will push into China.

WSJ:   Global chip sales rose in July.

WSJ:   Windward Investment Management, an ETF company, will be bought by Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW)

WSJ:   The Treasury will sell $69 billion in notes.

WSJ:   ETFs are emerging for people who want to bet on the spread between M&A buyout offers and the prices that companies  that are for sale want to get.

WSJ:   Phama companies are working on more drugs to treat blood clots.

FT:   New US laws on compensation will create difficulties when matching CEO to worker ratio levels.

FT:   US housing problems are increasing construction unemployment.

FT:   Shares in airlines are rising due to the recovery.

Bloomberg:   Samsung has altered its strategy in a bid to take on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)

Bloomberg:   Car sales may hit a 28-year low, according to researcher Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

Bloomberg:   The Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) Prius is likely to remain the top-selling car in Japan.

Bloomberg:   Summer movie box office receipts may hit a low not seen since 1997, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) is going to be one to watch after Barron’s touted it this weekend.  “Big Gains Brewing at Anheuser-Busch InBev by CHRISTOPHER C. WILLIAMS Wall Street’s doubts about the beer behemoth are fast disappearing as the Belgian-based brewer cuts costs and crafts plans to boost growth in the U.S. and globally.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a corporate event om September 1 with new iPod updates and potentially updates on the AppleTV initiative expected.

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) was listed as the #1 chart in the IBD 100 over the weekend.  At $18.39, the 52-week trading range is $7.44 to $18.69.

Continental Airlines and UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) managed to secure DOJ approval despite the dominance that this merger will give the company over its competitors and over its customers.  Shares are likely to trade up marginally for Continental and UAL, although despite this merger being bad for America it was always expected to receive approval.

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) is indicated higher after Sanofi-Aventis confirmed a $69.00 bid to the company.  The problem is that Genzyme is not necessarily playing along.  Management seems stuck on the old $80+ high at a time that the company is still recovering from its virus and manufacturing issues.  If history is an example, we’d expect Genzyme to remain aloof.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is trading as though a worse warnings is coming from the company than what Intel forecast on Friday.  SanDisk shares fell 4.4% to $34.19 with more than double volume as it traded over 29 million shares.  This one we pegged for InvestorPlace.com over a week ago for a 200%+ option gain that we recommended then rolling down to a lower strike with a portion of the profits.  That may still happen.

3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) closed at $32.46 on Friday, $2.46 above the current H-P bid of $30.00 per share.  The premium is here as there is a bidding war and as investors feel that Dell will raise its offer as it has been doing so far.  3PAR was deemed an expensive buyout at $18 and then at $24, and now it is a praised deal.

United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG) saw an unbelievable amount of put activity in the Sept-2010 and OCT-2010 $6.00 PUTS…. more than its open interest of 44,000+ and 53,000+ contracts respectively.  Total volume in the $6.00 PUTS was over 61,000 contracts and over 75,000 respectively.  The ETF closed at $6.24, down over 3% on weak natural gas demand while oil rose steadily on Friday.  It looks like the bet is on that nat-gas is heading lower.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Reuters:   Obama said the economy is not growing fast enough.

Reuters:   Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) will buy Infineon’s mobile unit for $1.4 billion.

Reuters:   The National Association of Business Economists said growth is on the right track.

Reuters:   India is meeting on a ban of the Research In Motion (NYSE: RIMM) Blackberry

Reuters:   Oil stayed at an eight-day high on the belief the nations will work to resume growth

Reuters:   Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) bought social network tool supplier Angstro.

Reuters:   Online video arrangements are the critical factor to carriage negotiations between Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC)

Reuters:   Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is thinking about matching a Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) offer for 3Par (NYSE: PAR).

Reuters:   Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Siemens (NYSE: SI) are considering seeking a private equity investment in their telecom equipment joint venture.

Reuters:   BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) might sell some Potash (NYSE: POT) assets.

Reuters:   Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) made a $18.5 billion offer for Genzyme.

Reuters:   Carlyle bought a 51% stake in Brazil’s Scalina.

WSJ:   China is moving to export high tech based products to the US.

WSJ:   The Justice Department is considering how the Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) bid for the NBCU division of GE (NYSE: GE) could affect online video growth.

WSJ:   Revenue collection by the states rose in the second quarter said the the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the University of Albany, State University of New York.

WSJ:   Wall St. bonuses are moving higher.

WSJ:   Shoppers are doing more buying around their paydays.

WSJ:   China said Japanese firms should pay workers at their Mainland operations higher compensation.

WSJ;   Regulators from around the world will have trouble reaching an agreement on common bank rules.

WSJ:   Governments are closing more hospitals.

WSJ:   Congress has begun to target oil drilling regulators.

WSJ:   The Commerce Department will like $550 million of imported Chinese aluminum was illegally priced below market.

WSJ:   The Oxford English Dictionary may go completely online.

WSJ:   VMWare (NYSE: VMW) will make it easier for its products to operate as part of cloud computing systems.

WSJ:   The use of the P/E ratio is becoming less important in investing.

WSJ:   Fewer households buy life insurance,  according to Limra.

WSJ:   Wall St. firms may pay bonuses this year to avoid higher taxes on them in 2011.

WSJ:   Suits over the Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) bonus payments to Merrill Lynch employees will move forward.

NYT:   The risks of deepwater drilling are not carefully regulated.

NYT:   China is giving more money to state-owned businesses to help them grow.

NYT:   Few people allow themselves to be targeted online.

NYT:   Orcale (NYSE: ORCL) and Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG) are using open source software to compete.

FT:   Google’s YouTube plans pay-per-view movies.

FT:   Axa cuts its stake in Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS).

FT:   A large supply of steel will hurt iron ore prices.

FT:   Samsung and Toshiba will push into tablet PCs.

Douglas A. McIntyre