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Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Home Depot—The home improvement retailer confirmed that its payment security systems were breached. The company does say it found no evidence that debit PIN numbers were compromised.

McDonald's–The restaurant chain saw August same-store sales drop 3.7 percent, a slightly better performance than analysts had expected. Sales were better than expected in all world regions, with the exception of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa region.

Annie's– The company is being bought by General Mills for $46 per share in cash, or about $820 million. The deal for the organic food producer represents an approximately 37 percent premium over Monday's closing price.

Apple–The tech giant is widely expected to unveil new iPhones and an "iWatch" at an event at its Cupertino, California headquarters today.

Newmont Mining–Cowen upgraded the mining company's stock to "outperform" from "market perform," saying the market does not fully appreciate the value of some of Newmont's ongoing mining projects.

Dick's Sporting Goods–Wells Fargo downgraded the sporting goods retailer's stock to "market perform" from "outperform," saying the stock is now fairly valued with little meaningful upside potential.

Avon Products–Citi downgraded the personal care products maker's stock to "neutral" from "buy," on concerns about the departure of chief financial officer Kimberly Ross.

Burlington Stores–The off-price retailer lost one cent per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the eight cent loss expected by analysts, with revenue beating consensus as well. Burlington is also raising its full-year outlook as sales continue to rise.

Ralph Lauren–The apparel maker's stock was upgraded to "strong buy" from "buy" at ISI, which said the company is poised to enjoy higher sales and profit growth.

D.R. Horton, Lennar, PulteGroup–The three home builders were all upgraded in a new report from JPMorgan Chase, which rates Horton and Lennar "overweight" and PulteGroup "neutral."

Pep Boys–The auto parts retailer posted a surprise quarterly loss, hurt both by declines in its business and asset write-downs.

GlaxoSmithKline–Glaxo's China consumer health care business was part of a 2012 Justice Department anti-bribery probe, according to Reuters.

Morgan Stanley–The Wall Street giant will pay $95 million to resolve a lawsuit involving the sale of mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

AT&T –The wireless company is licensing its home security technology to Spain's Telefonica, which will offer its version of AT&T's Digital Life home monitoring system to customers.

Boeing, Raytheon–Both companies came under sharp criticism in a Pentagon report on quality control problems in a missile defense system built by both companies.

Walt Disney, Sony , DreamWorks– The three are among those named in a federal lawsuit, which accuses the companies of conspiring to suppress wages in the special effects and animation business.

GFI Group–The brokerage firm is the object of a bidding contest, with rival BGC Partners offering $5.25 per share. That tops an offer of $4.55 per share made by CME Group in July.

Cleco–Cleco is close to being sold, according to a report in the Financial Times. The paper said the deal could be announced in the next several weeks, with a transaction worth more than the Louisiana-based utility company's current $3.4 billion market cap.

Activision Blizzard—The gaming company will release its "Destiny" videogame today, with analysts saying the game could bring in nearly $1 billion in sales through this year's holiday season.

—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow

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