The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

0720 GMT - Informa's acquisition of B2B live-events company Clarion makes sense and is complementary, Bernstein's Annick Maas and Christophe Cherblanc write. They add that the planned separation of its academic business, Taylor & Francis, makes the investment case clearer. The events and academic-publishing group is part-funding the acquisition via a 940 million pounds equity issue. It said the board will review all options to support the academic business and publish the result of its review in March. Bernstein has an outperform rating and 10.15 pound target price on the stock. Shares are up 0.2% at 863.80 pence, but 2.2% lower over the year-to-date. (ian.walker@wsj.com)

0652 GMT - Schneider Electric's deals to buy PTC and Cognite change the investment case on the French engineering group to make it more reliant on its less attractive industrial-automation division, J.P. Morgan analysts say. JPM cuts its recommendation on Schneider to neutral from overweight, while trimming its price target to 310 euros from 345 euros. Schneider is spending big on its industrial automation division, with $27 billion allocated to the unit through the PTC and Cognite acquisitions, but this dilutes strong growth at its energy-management division that made the group an attractive investment, the analysts say in a research note. JPM says its preference in the industry shifts to Schneider's smaller French peer Legrand. Shares in Schneider closed 10% lower Monday at 272.80 euros. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0639 GMT - Asia's AI exports are showing signs of cooling, HSBC economists say in a research note. Asia's seasonally adjusted shipments of electronics have pulled back notably in recent months, including those from Taiwan, a key provider of chips, the economists say. Exports from South Korea are still rising, in part reflecting solid prices for advanced memory chips, while prices for other electronics along the AI hardware supply chain have started to cool, they note. The relentless rise in AI hardware, which has driven the gain in Asian export values, is easing too, they say. The slowdown may not be a surprise, they reckon, as after a sharp run-up in spending by U.S. hyperscalers, their capex growth is bound to slow.(sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0335 GMT - Malaysia's tech sector should continue to benefit from the structural AI upcycle, Apex Securities analyst To Zheng Hong says in a note. Healthy semiconductor orders and capacity expansion should support electrical and electronics exports, manufacturing and private investment, particularly in data centers, he says. However, talent shortages and Malaysia's concentration in lower-value semiconductor activities could limit the benefits, he reckons. The national semiconductor strategy and advanced-packaging initiatives could help Malaysia move up the value chain, boosting domestic value added and high-skilled employment over time, he adds. To maintains his 2026 Malaysia GDP growth estimate at 5.0% and expects 2027 growth at 4.5%, factoring in more moderate macroeconomic conditions. (yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

0158 GMT - Sterlite Technologies could benefit from a persistent optical-fiber cable supply deficit, Nomura analysts Umesh Raut and Aritra Banerjee say in a note. Limited glass-preform capacity, raw-material bottlenecks and constrained ex-China capacity have created a supply deficit, pushing hyperscalers into multiyear agreements and opening opportunities for STL. Nomura estimates STL's revenue and Ebitda will grow at annualized rates of 50% and 89%, respectively, over FY26-29. The bank initiates coverage with a buy rating and a target price of 1,350 Indian rupees. Shares closed 4.8% higher at 999.60 rupees Monday. (venkat.pr@wsj.com)

1823 GMT - The sell-off of Western Digital and Seagate Technology shares after a Nikkei report about rival hard-disk drive maker Toshiba boosting its production creates a buying opportunity, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. After checks with HDD industry contacts, the analysts write that the extent of Toshiba's supply expansion was overstated, with an aggressive timeline and unrealistic market share targets. Their checks also indicated that Toshiba doesn't seem to be targeting market share gains through pricing, and that neither Western Digital nor Seagate intend to respond with incremental capacity expansions of their own. Meanwhile, HDD demand is accelerating, with favorable pricing for manufacturers. "We'd be aggressive buyers of STX and WDC as Friday's news created an opportunity, not a change in thesis," the analysts write. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1750 GMT - Manufacturers of DRAM memory technology like Micron Technology and Sandisk aren't at too much risk even as AI compute companies look for workarounds to the DRAM shortage, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note. They cite conversations with business leaders including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about options for working around the DRAM bottleneck, including "de-speccing," or reducing memory capacity on some products. But this is all taking place against a supply-constrained backdrop, the analysts write, adding that the main risk to the memory cycle is an overall deceleration in AI itself. Barring that, the demand for memory will prove resilient, they say, and even if customers "despec" in the near term due to supply constraints, "more supply will be very easily absorbed as we respec to higher levels." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1505 GMT - Bitcoin's strong year-over-year returns are more linked to single days of strong moves, according to Zach Pandl of Grayscale in a note. Pandl says removing bitcoin's five best trading days reduces its three-year return from 225% to 95%, with the return falling to 27% without its 10 best days. If you remove the top fifteen days, it turns a three-year gain into an 11% loss. By comparison, removing the Nasdaq's fifteen best days reduces its cumulative return from 109% to 21%. "Given BTC's return and volatility profile, investors looking for long-term capital appreciation can avoid trying to time the market and instead seek consistent, long-term exposure to the asset," Pandl says. Bitcoin is down 0.2% to $85,610, while ethereum falls 0.2% to $2,701. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1306 GMT - BT Group's acquisition of TalkTalk and PlatformX Communications is positive and likely to be approved by the U.K. government, Berenberg analysts write. "The U.K. government will decide on the deal before the end of October, but given the lack of alternatives we would expect it to be approved," they say. The analysts say the deal is positive for a number of reasons, including that it limits market and service disruption for customers, and avoids Openreach revenue and line losses. Berenberg has a buy rating on the stock and 3-pound target price. Shares are up 1.2% at 198.60 pence and 8% higher over the year to date. (ian.walker@wsj.com)

1153 GMT - Schneider Electric's $22.6 billion deal to buy PTC shouldn't raise major antitrust concerns, but politics could theoretically pose a threat, MKI Global Partners says. "PTC's software is widely used across the U.S. defense industrial base, and the buyer is French at a time when relations between Washington and Paris are poor, strained by disputes over Greenland, tariffs, digital regulation, the Middle East and other matters," MKI says. From an antitrust perspective, there is some overlap between Schneider and PTC's portfolios in industrial augmented reality software and electrical design software, but this is small and could be fixed with a sale, according to MKI. Schneider shares fall 9.8%, while PTC rises 37% in U.S. premarket trading. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1125 GMT - Schneider Electric's proposed acquisition of Boston-based PTC marks the latest foray into software for a company that has shown repeated appetite for engineering-software assets, J.P. Morgan analysts say in a research note. "A completed deal would be a rare cross-border software transaction amid a marked sector slowdown as companies assess AI's implications for their business models," the analysts say. The $22.6 billion deal far eclipses the French industrial group's $11 billion purchase of Aveva in 2023 and its $3.1 billion agreement to acquire Cognite in June, the analysts add. For PTC, the price of the deal is in the same region as what was speculated last year with Autodesk, according to JPM. Schneider shares fall 9.9%, while PTC's surge 37% in U.S. premarket trading. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

1112 GMT - Schneider Electric's proposed $22.6 billion acquisition of U.S. software maker PTC could have strategic merits, even if investors balk at the price, J.P. Morgan analysts say in a research note. "Large-scale [mergers and acquisitions are] typically unwelcome in the first instance by European investors, although Schneider Electric's deals have typically proven strategically astute, if debatable from a valuation standpoint," the analysts say. PTC moves Schneider's own Aveva to the front rank of design and lifecycle software from the periphery, they add. The French group's industrial-automation division--where Aveva resides--required some kind of action to reaffirm its position relative to peers and time will tell whether PTC serves that purpose, JPM says. Schneider shares fall 9.9%, while PTC is up 38% in U.S. premarket trading.