Nike - Nike shares have been upgraded to "overweight" from "neutral" at HSBC, which says the athletic footwear and apparel maker is recovering from the rough patch it suffered over the past 12 months, and that it's now time to own the stock.
Walt Disney - Disney has raised its annual cash dividend by 24 percent to $0.75 per share.
Retalix - Retalix is being bought by NCR for $650 million in cash, or $30 a share. Israel-based Retalix, a maker of retail software, had seen its shares spike by about 35 percent ahead of a trading halt, after word of the acquisition was leaked to the Israeli press.
Research In Motion - Goldman Sachs has upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral," citing a variety of benefits expected from the January introduction of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Guess - Guess has declared a $1.20 per share special dividend, the latest company to do so ahead of year end in anticipation of higher tax rates. At the same time, the apparel maker reported third-quarter profit of $0.43 per share, a penny below estimates, and cut its fiscal year guidance for a third time as revenue continues to decline in both the North American and European markets. (Read More:
Do Special Dividends Boost Stock Price?
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La-Z-Boy - The company reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $0.12 per share, eight cents below estimates, with revenue also falling below consensus for the furniture maker. The company says it increased spending on marketing during the quarter, as well as on store renovations. La-Z-Boy also reinstated a quarterly dividend of $0.04 per share, after last paying a dividend in 2008.
TiVo - TiVo reported a third-quarter profit, due to a litigation settlement with Verizon Communications, as well as increased subscribership. The maker of digital video recorders is expecting a net loss of $15 million to $17 million this quarter, compared to estimates of a $15 million loss.
Workday - The company reported a third-quarter loss of $0.39 per share, excluding certain items, 10 cents smaller than estimates. The enterprise software maker also expects current quarter revenues between $75 million and $79 million, better than estimates of $71 million. Workday's earnings report was its first since going public in October.
Rio Tinto - Rio is planning to cut $7 billion in costs over the next two years and increase asset sales as well. The iron ore producer is taking those steps as a measure against weaker commodity prices.
Johnson & Johnson - A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel has recommended approval for J&J's new tuberculosis drug known as bedaquiline. If it received full FDA approval, it would be the first drug in 40 years to come to market with a different method of fighting the disease.
Abbott Laboratories - Abbott will go ahead with the spin-off of its branded pharmaceuticals business following approval by its board. The new company will be known as AbbVie, and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 2 under the symbol "ABBV."
Hewlett-Packard - HP and auditors Deloitte and KPMG are the targets of a new shareholder lawsuit over the company's acquisition of British software company Autonomy. The suit claims the audit firms and HP's board, officers, and former executives all missed numerous red flags regarding Autonomy's accounting.
Dell, Intel, Qualcomm - The three are reportedly among the companies being courted by Japanese electronics maker Sharp, according to Dow Jones, as Sharp seeks an investor to shore up its capital position.
—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow
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