On The Fly: Top five weekend stock stories

Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Syntel (SYNT) announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Atos S.E. under which Atos will acquire all outstanding shares of Syntel for $41 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.57B, including Syntel's net debt. In connection with the merger agreement, Syntel's founders and certain of their affiliated entities, who collectively own approximately 51.07% of the outstanding Syntel shares, entered into an agreement with Atos to vote their shares in favor of the merger agreement, subject to their right to terminate their obligations in the event the Syntel Board changes its recommendation to shareholders or if the definitive agreement is terminated. The parties expect to close the transaction during the second half of 2018. 2. Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) has named Mike Manley, the head of the carmaker's profit engine Jeep, as its new chief executive, replacing Sergio Marchionne who had to step down after serious complications from surgery. Additionally, the Board of Directors of Ferrari (RACE) said it will propose to shareholders, at a meeting to be called in the coming days, that Louis Camilleri be named CEO as Marchionne steps down. Camilleri is a former Philip Morris (PM) chairman and a member of Ferrari's board. 3. Since the Great Recession, amid ultralow borrowing rates, Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Tesla (TSLA) have plowed $93B into property and equipment or acquiring video content, amassing $44B of long-term debt, Tiernan Ray wrote in this week's edition of Barron's. It has done wonders for the trio's shares, but while the cooling of credit markets may not imperil their business, it could temper enthusiasm for their stocks, he noted. A possible byproduct of the cooling of borrowing could be investors' return to smaller names in tech that have clean balance sheets and are developing fundamental technologies, the report added. 4. Sony's (SNE) "The Equalizer 2" came in ahead of expectations with an estimated $35.8M launch in North America. The first sequel of Denzel Washington's career, the movie only debuted in 11 markets internationally, earning $3.3M. "The Equalizer 2" earned an A CinemaScore and sports a 50% Rotten Tomatoes score. 5. AllianceBernstein (AB), BlackRock (BLK), Franklin Resources (BEN), Invesco (IVZ), Legg Mason (LM) and T. Rowe Price (TROW) saw positive mentions in Barron's.