Craig-Hallum analyst Anthony Stoss highlights a beat and raise quarter from Apple (AAPL) should bode well for his Apple supplier stocks. The analyst believes the wearable growth is providing meaningful growth to his semi suppliers like Knowles (KN) and Adesto Technologies (IOTS) that have Airpods content as Airpods sales have been stellar and the new Airpods Pro are also selling well. Stoss also sees positive near-term signals for his iPhone suppliers given the better demand which is likely bolstering iPhone supplier revenues for the March quarter. He rates Broadcom (AVGO), Skyworks, Adesto Technologies (IOTS), Qorvo (QRVO), STMicroelectronics (STM), Knowles and ON Semiconductor (ON) as Buys and Synaptics (SYNA) and Cirrus Logic (CRUS) as Holds.

HCL Technologies announced an expansion of the preferred services partnership signed in 2018 with Broadcom. HCL said in a release, "HCL will broaden its professional services offerings to include Symantec Enterprise Division, or SED, consulting services, which was part of Broadcom's enterprise security solutions. As part of the partnership, the majority of Broadcom's Symantec enterprise consulting team will transition to HCL. This includes expertise across endpoint security, web security services, cloud security, and data loss prevention. Symantec enterprise consulting employees will join HCL's Enterprise Studio, which provides professional services for Broadcom Enterprise Software solutions. The Symantec U.S. Federal Consulting Services and Cyber Threat Analysis Programs will remain with the Symantec Enterprise Division of Broadcom."

Apple has acquired machine-learning startup Inductiv, add to more than a dozen AI-related takeovers by the tech giant over the past few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Apple confirmed the purchase, saying it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," Gurman says. Reference Link

Leidos (LDOS) announced that it has received $84.6M from VirnetX representing Leidos' current share of the proceeds resulting from the VirnetX, Inc. lawsuit against Apple (AAPL) for infringing VirnetX patents. Leidos expects to use some of the proceeds from the patent litigation to recover its costs of the litigation and to pay a royalty to the customer who paid for the development of the technology. Leidos intends to use the remainder of the proceeds for debt reduction. The final judgment in the case remains subject to ongoing and potential future proceedings and appeals and Apple has indicated that it will seek restitution of its payment to VirnetX if relief is awarded. A second case by VirnetX against Apple is still pending at the federal trial court in the Eastern District of Texas.

Earlier, BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan raised the firm's price target on Apple to $340 from $320 as he estimates the size of the global iPhone installed base to have grown to about 1B units at the end of 2019. The installed base is a key indicator of the potential of the Apple ecosystem as a larger installed base can eventually drive higher consumption of services and sales of incremental devices, contends Mohan. The analyst, who is now using a higher multiple to account for the continued growth in the Apple installed base, keeps a Buy rating on the shares.

Tuesday's total option volume of 28.7 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 3.76 million calls and 3.87 million puts. Wells Fargo (WFC), American Airlines (AAL), Apple (AAPL) and Bank of America (BAC) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 35k Wells Fargo (WFC) Jul-20 30 puts, 34k Wells Fargo (WFC) Jul-20 30 calls, 24k American Airlines (AAL) Jan-22 30 calls, 23k Ecolab (ECL) 6/12 weekly 290 puts and 22k Ecolab (ECL) 6/12 weekly 290 calls.

As previously reported, Morgan Stanley analyst Craig Hettenbach upgraded Sensata (ST) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $35, up from $33. While the path to a recovery is uncertain, the June quarter "is likely as bad as it gets for Sensata," contends Hettenbach. Sensata estimates have been reset harder than peers and the stock has meaningfully underperformed, leaving him seeing greater risks to stocks that "trade at unwarranted premium valuation multiples," such as Texas Instruments (TXN), or where "competition is more intense," such as ON Semiconductor (ON), Hettenbach tells investors.

Apple plans to open approximately 100 stores in the United States this week, a company representative told CNBC. In total, about 130 out of 271 Apple Stores in the United States will be open by the end of the week, reports CNBC's Kif Leswing. Reference Link

Friday's total option volume of 24.2 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 3.61 million calls and 2.74 million puts. Alibaba (BABA), Bank of America (BAC), Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 56k Patterson-UTI (PTEN) Nov-20 6 calls, 29k JD.com (JD) Sep-20 50 calls, 27k AT&T (T) 5/29 weekly 29.5 puts, 24k Bank of America (BAC) Jan-21 25 calls and 21k Alibaba (BABA) Sep-20 210 calls.