CODI News & Events

The major averages closed mixed, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending lower despite earlier gains, as oil prices keep rising amid continued conflict in the Middle East. Of note, President Trump said the U.S. is in "serious discussions" with Iran to end its military operations. However, he added that if a peace deal is not reached "shortly" and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the U.S. will "conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'" The comments came after the president stated that Tehran had accepted most of the U.S.'s 15-point plan to end the war.Additionally, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said during a discussion at Harvard University that even with rising energy prices, he views inflation expectations as "well anchored beyond the short term." Powell added that he is "optimistic" about the medium- and long-run outlook for the U.S. economy and that the Fed is watching private credit "super carefully."Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SyscoJetro Restaurant Depot for a total enterprise value of $29.1BUberglobal chauffeur service leader BlacklaneAuriniaKezar Life Sciencesfor $6.955 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value rightTJX'sboard raised itsand said it plans $2.5B-$2.75B of share repurchases for FY27Apollois near a deal to acquire Atlantic Aviation from KKR,2. WALL STREET CALLS:CrowdStriketo Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchExpediato Buy from Hold at JefferiesInstacartto Buy from Hold at JefferiesDole, Nomad Foodsto Hold at Deutsche BankStarbuckswith an Underperform at BNP Paribas3. AROUND THE WEB:JetBluetold CNBC it is increasing bag fees amid soaring fuel pricesGeneral Motorsis moving to a six days per week production schedule at its Flint plant, Reuters saysBanks led by JPMorganare dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air, Bloomberg reportsYouTubeemployees have admitted their goal was "viewer addiction" and shut down proposed safety tools for kids since they did not provide a sufficient return on investment, NY Post saysAn analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions by consumer transaction analysis company Indagari indicates that Claude is seeing record growth in paid subscribers, with subscriptions more than doubling this year according to Anthropic, TechCrunch says4. MOVERS:Compass Diversifiedadvanced after announcing it willto Archer for $292.5MiQiyigained in New York afteron HKEXViridiandeclined after announcing results from itsFermiclosed lower afterBoston Scientificfell after Raymond Jamesits rating on the stock5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Alaska AirprovidedUSA Rare Earth, with CEO Barbara Humpton commenting, "2025 was the year that USA Rare Earth set the foundation to execute our integrated rare earth growth strategy"Spirecut itsNeumora Therapeutics, with EPS missing consensusCBAK Energy Technology, with revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:The Dow rose 49.50, or 0.11%, to 45,216.14, the Nasdaq lost 153.72, or 0.73%, to 20,794.64, and the S&P 500 declined 25.13, or 0.39%, to 6,343.72.

The major averages were broadly higher near noon to start the week following last week's declines. Amid continued conflict in the Middle East and rising energy prices, President Trump said the U.S. is in "serious discussions" with Iran to end its military operations. However, he added that if a peace deal is not reached "shortly" and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the U.S. will "conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'" Following the comments, oil prices are rising once again past the $100 per barrel mark.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SyscoJetro Restaurant Depot for a total enterprise value of $29.1BUberglobal chauffeur service leader BlacklaneAuriniaKezar Life Sciencesfor $6.955 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value rightSpirewill sell itsto Boardwalk Pipelines for $215M in cashTJX'sboard raised itsand said it plans $2.5B-$2.75B of share repurchases for FY272. WALL STREET CALLS:CrowdStriketo Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchExpediato Buy from Hold at JefferiesInstacartto Buy from Hold at JefferiesDole, Nomad Foodsto Hold at Deutsche BankStarbuckswith an Underperform at BNP Paribas3. AROUND THE WEB:In a recently published report, Morpheus Research says that MakeMyTrip, a $3.5B online travel agency that is sometimes referred to as the "Booking.com of India" with 50% of the Indian OTA market, "openly defies regulators, scams customers, and pads profits through accounting tricksBanks led by JPMorganare dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air, Bloomberg reportsYouTubeemployees have admitted their goal was "viewer addiction" and shut down proposed safety tools for kids since they did not provide a sufficient return on investment, NY Post saysIQM Quantum Computers has secured $57.64M in venture financing from funds managed by BlackRockto accelerate growth, Reuters saysAn analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions by consumer transaction analysis company Indagari indicates that Claude is seeing record growth in paid subscribers, with subscriptions more than doubling this year according to Anthropic, TechCrunch says4. MOVERS:Compass Diversifiedincreases after announcing it willbusiness to Archer for $292.5MiQiyigains in New York afteron HKEXViridiandeclines after announcing results from its REVEAL-1 phase 3Fermilower afterBoston Scientificfalls after Raymond Jamesits rating on the stock to Outperform from Strong Buy5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Alaska AirUSA Rare Earth, with CEO Barbara Humpton commenting, "2025 was the year that USA Rare Earth set the foundation to execute our integrated rare earth growth strategy"Spirefor FY27Neumora Therapeutics, with EPS missing consensusCBAK Energy Technology, with revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was up 0.88%, or 395.42, to 45,562.06, the Nasdaq was up 0.29%, or 60.40, to 21,008.76, and the S&P 500 was up 0.48%, or 30.52, to 6,399.37.

Compass Diversified announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the food service business of its majority-owned subsidiary, SternoCandleLamp Holdings, to Archer Foodservice Partners, a provider of foodservice consumables and parent entity of companies Handgards, Inno-Pak, and Fineline Settings, and a portfolio company of Wynnchurch Capital, L.P. Under the terms of the agreement, Archer will acquire Sterno's food service business for an enterprise value of $292.5M, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments. In 2025, the business to be sold generated subsidiary adjusted EBITDA of approximately $30.3m. This figure includes certain shared overhead expenses that will remain following the transaction. The company will use the net proceeds from the transaction to repay outstanding debt. Following the closing of the transaction and the anticipated repayment of senior secured indebtedness, CODI expects its senior secured net leverage ratio to fall below 1.0x. Following the anticipated repayment, CODI also expects to avoid fees associated with excess leverage under its senior secured indebtedness beyond June 30. Following the transaction, CODI will retain Sterno's home fragrance business, which will continue to operate under the Rimports name. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, Rimports is a leading manufacturer and distributor of branded and private-label home fragrance products. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in May 2026.

Arnold Magnetic, a subsidiary of Compass Diversified (CODI), and USA Rare Earth (USAR) announced a mutual sales and distribution agreement that strengthens the domestic supply chain for high-performance rare earth permanent magnets in the United States. Under the agreement, each company is authorized to sell and distribute the other's products while remaining independent contractors in a non-exclusive partnership. Arnold will offer USAR's processed and refined neodymium-iron-boron materials and finished magnets, while USAR will offer Arnold's finished permanent magnets produced from samarium-cobalt and neodymium-iron-boron materials. Each party remains responsible for product quality, warranties, and any product-related liabilities for the goods it manufactures, and neither company will share in the proceeds from the other's resale of products to end users.