Buyout Offers, Asset Sales, and Regulatory Scrutiny, Oh My! Why These 5 Stocks Are in the Spotlight on Monday

Alphabet receives European regulatory scrutiny

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares are 0.77% in the green despite the fact that EU antitrust regulators are focusing on the company’s deals with phone manufacturers involving the Android operating system. EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager outlined some of the issues regulators are looking at:

“Our concern is that, by requiring phone makers and operators to preload a set of Google apps, rather than letting them decide for themselves which apps to load, Google might have cut off one of the main ways that new apps can reach customers.”

Shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) could be higher despite the news because investors are positioning themselves for the company’s earnings release on April 21. Alphabet was the second-most widely held stock in our hedge fund database, with 154 shareholders of the company’s class A shares at the end of December along with 142 shareholders of its class C shares.

Autohome receives a non-binding going-private proposal

Autohome Inc (ADR) (NYSE:ATHM) fell by 3% today after a buyer group led by CEO James Zhi Qin offered to take the company private in a non-binding $31.50 per share offer. Given that Autohome Inc (ADR) (NYSE:ATHM)’s stock price closed at $32.15 per share on Friday, it’s unclear whether the board of directors will accept the offer unless the company’s stock price falls significantly from current levels. Hedge fund sentiment towards Autohome Inc (ADR) (NYSE:ATHM) was stable in the fourth quarter, with the number of top funds in our database that were long the stock rising by one to 13 as of the end of December.

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