Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson has removed a renewal with Comcast (CMCSA) from his 2016 estimates for Rovi (ROVI), saying he thinks a deal with Comcast is likely not imminent, and correspondingly lowered his 2016 revenue and earnings estimates for Rovi. However, he does think license renewals with DISH (DISH) and Verizon (VZ), the "unnamed third service provider," could be signed within months and believes Rovi shares will react favorably if it completes one or more of these renewals. The firm keeps an Overweight rating and $29 price target on Rovi shares.

Notable companies reporting before tomorrow's open, with earnings consensus, include Merck (MRK), consensus $1.87... Caterpillar (CAT), consensus $5.14... Comcast (CMSCA), consensus 99c... Honeywell (HON), consensus $2.17... Bristol-Myers (BMY), consensus ($4.44)... Altria (MO), consensus $1.15... Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), consensus 35c... GE Vernova (GEV), consensus (37c)... Royal Caribbean (RCL), consensus $1.33... Tractor Supply (TSCO), consensus $1.72... Mobileye (MBLY), consensus (6c)... Textron (TXT), consensus $1.23... LabCorp (LH), consensus $3.48... Southwest Airlines (LUV), consensus (34c)... American Airlines (AAL), consensus (29c)... Harley-Davidson (HOG), consensus $1.51.

Comcast (CMCSA) is scheduled to announce quarterly results on April 25, while Paramount (PARA) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) are... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Ribbon Communications (RRBN) announced plans for a major network modernization program with Verizon (VZ) to retire legacy TDM switching platforms and replace their function with modern cloud-based technologies. Verizon is leveraging Ribbon's portfolio of Voice Products including the vC20 Call Controller, G5 Line Access Gateway, G6 Universal Media Gateway, virtual and Cloud-native Session Border Controllers, and other products which allows for the consolidation and replacement of equipment with energy efficient, software-centric platforms while maintaining full feature functionality.

Wells Fargo lowered the firm's price target on Verizon to $40 from $44 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The firm sees encouraging signs in Q1 - improvement in sub trends and limited churn from price-ups - offset by some softness in the business segment and prepaid. Wells would get more constructive when there's visibility on a sustainable improvement in sub trends.