Buzz Stocks: Perrigo Company plc Ordinary Shares, Tribune Publishing Co, and Halliburton Company

U.S. stocks are lower with oil this morning. Among equities in focus today are biotech Perrigo Company plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:PRGO), publisher Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB), and oil supplier Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL).

• PRGO is down 12.7% at $106.02, and just off a three-year low of $104.70, after losing CEO Joseph Papa to rival biotech Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). PRGO reportedly plans to replace Papa with current president John Hendrickson. The stock has been trending lower over the past year, and has underperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 24 percentage points over the last three months. Perrigo Company plc Ordinary Shares -- which will host its annual shareholders meeting tomorrow -- could be vulnerable to a backlash from analysts. Currently, the stock is rated as a ‘”strong buy” by 10 of 17 analysts, with not a single “sell” in sight.

• TPUB is up an impressive 58% at $11.86, after rival publishing conglomerate Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI) offered to buy Tribune Publishing Co for $12.25 a share, for a total value of $815 million, including current debt. Prior to today, the stock had underperformed the broader SPX by about 22 percentage points over the last 60 sessions. A few TPUB short sellers could be kicking rocks. Short interest represents more than 8% of the stock's total float, or about four days' worth of pent-up buying demand, at TPUB's average pace of trading.

• HAL is down 1.3% at $40.30. The oil-and-gas provider announced it would delay its earnings release until May 3, but noted that first-quarter revenue is down a year-over-year 40%, and said the company laid off over 6,000 employees last quarter. Some analysts believe the delay means the Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) deal is off. Halliburton Company’s 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 2.34 sits in the 96th percentile of its annual range, suggesting an especially bearish outlook among recent option buyers.