Hot Stocks: CSCO bids for SPLK; LMT breaks AJRD deal; KELYA earnings; HUT equity sale

Headlines related to M&A deals dominated Monday's pre-market action. Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) provided the biggest news on reports that it has made a bid to acquire Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK).

A broken merger deal also took a share of the spotlight. Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE:AJRD) lost ground after regulatory resistance forced Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to drop its deal to acquire the firm.

In other news, Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) rallied in pre-market action on earnings news. Meanwhile, plans for an equity sale weighed on shares of Hut 8 Mining (NASDAQ:HUT).

Gainers

Splunk (SPLK) jumped 8% in pre-market action following a report over the weekend that the company has received a takeover offer from Cisco (CSCO). According to the Wall Street Journal, CSCO has made a bid worth more than $20B.

Commenting on the potential merger, Morgan Stanley praised the offer, saying it would make a "strategically positive" move for CSCO.

Meanwhile, earnings news gave a boost to shares of Kelly Services (KELYA). The company managed to breeze by earnings expectations, despite lackluster revenue growth of less than 1%. KELYA rallied 7% before the opening bell.

Decliners

Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD) slipped in pre-market action following news that Lockheed Martin (LMT) has terminated its $4.4B deal to purchase the company. The move followed regulatory pressure, as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to block the combination.

Dragged down by the canceled merger, AJRD declined more than 2% before the opening bell. LMT showed a fractional gain on the news.

Hut 8 Mining (HUT) also showed j weakness in pre-market action, falling after it announced an equity sale program. The company said it has created an at-the-market equity program aimed at raising up to $65M in gross proceeds.