Hot stocks to watch or buy

- Yandex NV, a Russian Internet company, is preparing to trade in the U.S. after raising $1.3 billion in an initial public offering. According to Reuters, 52.2 million shares will be sold for $25 each, giving the company a total equity value of $8 billion. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol YNDX.

- AIG (AIG) is preparing to sell some 300 million shares in a transaction that could raise around $9 billion. The U.S. Treasury is expected to sell 15% of its AIG stake, which comes as the federal government exits its investments that followed the financial crisis.

- Medtronic (MDT) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $4.3 billion, an increase of 2%, and earnings on an adjusted basis of 90 cents, up from 89 cents in the prior year.

- Deere (DE) plans to build a factory to manufacture engines for John Deere equipment in China. The factory will require a $60 million investment and will be located in the Tianjin Economic and Development Area, where it has other facilities.

- Integra LifeSciences (IART) has acquired SeaSpine Inc., a provider of products for the spine fusion market, for $89 million in cash.

- Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) agreed to acquire AB Sanitas for about 314 million euros in cash. Sanitas is a publicly traded specialty pharmaceuticals company based in Lithuania.

UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES

- Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) was downgraded to equal weight from overweight at Morgan Stanley.

- Salesforce.com (CRM) was upgraded from equal weight to overweight at Morgan Stanley.

- Campbell Soup (CPB) was upgraded at Credit Suisse to neutral from underperform, and its price target was raised by $3 to $35.

- Motorola Solutions (MSI) was started at Goldman with a buy rating and a $57 target price.

- Foot Locker (FL) had its target raised at UBS by $4 to $26