US stocks are seen starting on the front foot Monday and surging is software group Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT), up over 51% in pre-market deals to $176.91.
The stock was hugely in favour after yesterday International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) revealed that it was buying the company for $34 billion.
Shares in IBM were down 3.43% to $120.51 in pre-market deals.
It all means that IBM will now start providing technology to its biggest competitors, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and IBM wants to cement its position as the world’s largest hybrid cloud provide
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
In other news, Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ESPR) saw shares surge over 8.6% to $45.50 before the New York bell after it said yesterday that its therapy for high cholesterol, bempedoic acid, reduced LDL cholesterol by between 18% and 31% compare to a placebo in a series of late-stage clinical trials.
Looking ahead to after hours and Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ) will release its latest earnings report. Shares are up 0.92% in pre-market to $40.48.
Analysts reckon the food and beverages group will earn near to $0.61 a share on sales of $6.33 billion.
Elsewhere, auto part supplier group Dana Inc (NYSE:DAN) saw shares unchanged in pre-market as the firm saw third-quarter profit rise 38% as stronger sales of parts of light, commercial and off-highway vehicles helped fuel the company's revenue.
Red Hat Inc, Esperion Therapeutics Inc, Mondelez International, IBM and Dana Inc: EARLY MOVERS
Red Hat Inc, Esperion Therapeutics Inc, Mondelez International, IBM and Dana Inc: EARLY MOVERS
The company posted a profit of $95 million, or $0.65 a share, versus $69 million, or $0.46 a year earlier.