Uber Cedes Russia to Yandex With $3.7 Billion Merger Agreement

Yandex Taxi

• 
  Yandex to take controlling stake in new combined venture
• Deal marks Uber’s second major global retreat after China

Uber Technologies Inc. is handing over the keys to its business in Russia.

The San Francisco-based company and Yandex NV are merging their ride-hailing businesses in Russia. Uber will invest $225 million and take a 36.6 percent stake in a new, yet-to-be named venture that will be valued at $3.73 billion, the companies said in a statement Thursday. Shares of Yandex, which will invest $100 million and own 59.3 percent of the new enterprise, jumped as much as 19 percent in early trading in New York to $32.44, their highest level in three years.

The deal with Yandex is Uber’s second retreat from a major market. Last year, Uber left China in exchange for a 17.5 percent stake in rival Didi Chuxing, after losing more than $2 billion battling its competitor. While Uber remains the dominant ride-hailing operator in the U.S., it has been on the defensive, beset by scandals that led to Travis Kalanick’s ouster as chief executive officer. The agreement with Yandex is part of Uber’s renewed effort to improve revenue, narrow losses and resolve its legal issues.

  

“This deal is a testament to our exceptional growth in the region and helps Uber continue to build a sustainable global business,” Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s chief for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in the statement.

Khudaverdyan 

Source: Yandex

Tigran Khudaverdyan, head of Yandex.Taxi in Russia, will become CEO of the combined enterprise, Uber and Yandex said. Together, their businesses handle 35 million rides a month, and will also operate in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus and Georgia. The deal is expected to close in the last three months of 2017.

Uber’s exit from Russia could be a precursor to more deals in other big, fiercely competitive ride-hailing markets. Investors have raised questions as recently as this month about Uber’s continued losses in India and Southeast Asia, asking privately whether the company would be better served by cutting deals with market leaders Ola and Grab, two people familiar with the matter said.

Uber’s Napoleon Moment Might Not Be Its Last Retreat: Gadfly

Uber’s loss before interest, taxes and stock-based compensation totaled $708 million in the first three months of the year, an improvement from the $991 million loss in the prior quarter. Losses narrowed further in the latest period, Uber recently told investors. Net revenue was $1.5 billion in the first quarter, according to its more conservative accounting method.

Yandex Posting Strong Gain On Agreement With Uber

 Shares of Yandex ( YNDX ) have pulled back off their best levels of the day but continue to see significant strength in afternoon trading on Thursday. After reaching a three-year intraday high, Yandex is currently up by 15.7 percent.

The initial jump by Yandex came after the Russian search engine leader reached an agreement with Uber to combine their ride-sharing businesses in Russia and five neighboring countries.

Source: https://goo.gl/h8TMrE

3 Best Semiconductor Stocks to Buy Now

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- With Avago Technologies  (AVGO) announcing it will acquire Broadcom  (BRCM) in a $37 billion deal, we decided to look at other potential investments in the semiconductor industry.

Semiconductors are found everywhere these days, from our phones to our cars to appliances. There were about 65 billionsemiconductors sold in the U.S. in 2013. From 1960 to 2007 the semiconductor industry in the U.S. was responsible for 30% of the total productivity gains contributed to the U.S. economy. The industry directly employs close to 250,000 people in the U.S., and supports over a million additional jobs in the U.S. 

The semiconductor sub-sector in the U.S. is also a major export industry.

So what are the best semiconductor companies investors should be buying? Here are the top three, according to TheStreet Ratings,TheStreet's proprietary ratings tool.

TheStreet Ratings projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period including both price appreciation and dividends. Based on 32 major data points, TheStreet Ratings uses a quantitative approach to rating over 4,300 stocks to predict return potential for the next year. The model is both objective, using elements such as volatility of past operating revenues, financial strength, and company cash flows, and subjective, including expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and forecasted company earnings.

Buying an S&P 500 stock that TheStreet Ratings rated a buy yielded a 16.56% return in 2014 beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by 304 basis points. Buying a Russell 2000 stock that TheStreet Ratings rated a buy yielded a 9.5% return in 2014, beating the Russell 2000 index, including dividends reinvested, by 460 basis points last year.

Check out which semiconductor companies made the list. And when you're done, be sure to read about which biotech companies to buynow. Year-to-date returns are based on May 27, 2015, closing prices. The highest-rated stock appears last.

Editor's note: These ratings were developed before the Avago-Broadcom deal was announced.TXN data by YCharts
3. Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN - Get Report) 
Rating: A 
Market Cap: $58.3 billion 
Year-to-date return: 4.7%  

Texas Instruments Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. It operates through two segments, Analog and Embedded Processing.

"We rate TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC (TXN) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, reasonable valuation levels and expanding profit margins. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• TXN's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 0.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.6%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.45, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. To add to this, TXN has a quick ratio of 2.06, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.
• Current return on equity exceeded its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of strength within the company. Compared to other companies in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry and the overall market, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The gross profit margin for TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC is rather high; currently it is at 64.51%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 20.82% is above that of the industry average.

• You can view the full analysis from the report here: TXN Ratings Report 

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