This Week in Emerging Growth: Temperament?! I’ll Show You Temperament!

After spending Monday night working really hard to emphasize the “dope” in “rope-a-dope,” Donald Trump then spent the rest of the week continuing to attack a former Miss Universe and insisting that he won despite all evidence to the contrary. Kinda makes one feel like Elon Musk can’t finish his rocket to Mars too soon. That said, in the realm of people learning to work together, oil prices got a shot in the arm from an OPEC deal to restrict production and congress reached a deal on a temporary spending bill, so maybe there is hope for the future.

Russell 2000 This Week: -3.4 (0.27%) to 1,251.65

S&P 500 Same Period: +3.31 (0.15%) to 2,168.27

Top Reads of the Week

Emerging Growth News

• As rumors swirl about how Elon Musk may have bitten off more than he can chew and expanded his companies Tesla (TSLA) and SolarCity (SCTY) too quickly, Musk opted to calm shareholder fears about his pie-in-the-sky thinking on Tuesday by announcing his long term plans to colonize mars with his other company SpaceX.
• Business messaging app Slack announced plans to partner with Salesforce (CRM) to allow the two platforms to better integrate, allowing employees to share more information across them. Not exactly sure how adding Salesforce to the equation helps me share funny GIFs with my coworkers, but I’m happy to find out.
• Sheryl Sandberg wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal detailing the barriers still facing working women as they pursue advancement within the business world. It may seem like a long read, but I suggest you just lean in and finish it.
• Jose Cuervo, the world’s largest manufacturer of tequila and regrets, filed for its IPO with plans to raise as much as $1 billion, making it the biggest IPO since 2014.
• Caesar’s Entertainment Corp. (CZR) finally reached a deal for a settlement plan in its $18 billion restructuring deal. The company initially filed for Chapter 11 in January of 2015. But you know what they say: “Faux Rome didn’t restructure its business under Chapter 11 in a day.”
• Major retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) is in talks to invest $1 billion to acquire a minority stake in Indian online retailer Flipkart in an effort to keep pace with Amazon (AMZN) in the country. Did I just say “steak?” I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I was just talking about how they’re trying to beef up sales. Oh dear, did it again…
• Video solutions company Harmonic (HLIT) gained more than 20% on Wednesday after news hit that the company had a new warrant agreement with Comcast (CMCSA) for the cable giant to purchase nearly 8 million shares of the company provided it hit certain performance benchmarks. Quick request for Harmonic: if Comcast ends up calling trying to exercise their warrants, please send them through a massive maze of an automated phone system and then keep them on hold for about three hours.
• News of an OPEC deal to slash production had small- and micro-cap oil and gas companies on the rise, with Atwood Oceanics (ATW) and Seadrill (SDRL) jumping over 25% and over 15% respectively this week.
• However, shockingly, the rise in crude oil prices wasn’t enough to save flatbread sandwich chain Cosi (COSI) which filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. The company blamed economic conditions in its industry that “negatively impacted sales,” by which I think they mean “a lot of other restaurants serving better food than us opened up.”
• Shares of propane seller Ferrellgas Partners (FGP) were in freefall Wednesday and lost over 30% on the week after the company’s Q4 earnings report showed wider-than-expected losses. The company also ousted CEO Stephen Wambold in favor of Founder and Executive Chairman John Farrell, who then said that he expected a distribution cut to be necessary, thus completing the holy trinity of bad news for a stock: the earnings miss, the leadership change, and the holy dividend cut.
• Shares in Vectrus (VEC) plunged nearly 45% Friday after news hit that the government service provider failed to renew a key contract in Kuwait.

Deals Recap:

• Business compliance specialist SAI Global was acquired by Baring Private Equity Asia for $761 million.
• Public sector communications firm GovDelivery was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $153 million.
• Educational app Zuoyebang raised $60 million in a series B round led by GGV Capital and Xianghe Capital.
• Cloud security and enablement company Skyhigh Networks raised $40 million in a series D round led by Thomvest Ventures.
• Global trade and freight forwarding platform Flexport raised $65 million in a series B round led by Founders Fund.
• Endoscopy company EndoChoice Holdings was acquired by Boston Scientific (BSX) for $210 million.
• Cloud data platform Druva raised $51 million in a series E round led by Sequoia Capital.
• Ingredient/recipe delivery service Home Chef raised $40 million in a series B round led by LCatterton.
• Cyber security firm Shape Security raised $40 million in a series D round led by Baseline Ventures.
• Chinese conglomerate HNA Group raised $82 million in a series B round led by Caissa Touristic.
• Medical device company SentreHEART raised $35 million in a series D round led by Deerfield.
• Secure connections company NXP Semiconductors was acquired by Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) for $30 billion.

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