Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of GDP; ORCL drops, CCU climbs, LEN beats

Despite higher costs, ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) fiscal third-quarter net income climbed 60% to $309.1 million, or 63 cents a share. Sales for the quarter increased 21% to $3.53 billion.

Hoop Holdings, a unit of Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) and the operator of Disney Store North America, said late on Wednesday that it filed for Chapter 11. Children's Place isn't part of the Chapter 11 petition, but is in talks to sell a substantial part of the Disney Store business to Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) in order to concentrate on its core namesake brand.

Rambus (NASDAQ: RMBS) shares are advancing another 4.4% in premarket trading after closing up over 38% yesterday following a court decision finding it wasn't guilty of fraud or violating antitrust laws in dealing with an industry group that set technology standards for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips in the 1990s.

Once again Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney struck today. This time, it said Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) probably will post a first-quarter loss because of writedowns on the value of debt securities. The analyst lowered her estimates. She forecasts writedowns at MER now at $6 billion (up from $2 billion) and $11 billion at UBS. She estimates MER will post a loss of $3 per share in the quarter, rather than her earlier estimate of a profit of $0.45 per shares. Similarly, she reduced full year estimates. MER shares are down 1.75% in premarket trading.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) said Thursday it has received an order from Turkmenistan Airlines for three 737 aircraft worth about $221 million.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) and its Greek bottling unit will begin selling three ready-to-drink coffee beverages next month with Illycaffe SpA to bolster sales. The three beverages will be sold in 10 of the 28 countries where Athens-based Coca-Cola Hellenic operates.

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) was upgraded by RBC from Sector Perform to Outperform.
Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) was upgraded by Deutsche Securities from Hold to Buy.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was downgraded by Banc of America from Buy to Neutral.