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Monsanto Co. on Thursday reported improved first-quarter revenue and profit compared with the year before. Net income for the quarter was $29 million, or 7 cents per share, vs. a loss of $253 million, or a 56 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share, which the seed company described as “ongoing EPS,” were 21 cents. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 1 cent. Total sales for the quarter hit $2.7 billion, compared with $2.2 billion during the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus on sales was $2.3 billion. Monsanto offered full-year guidance between $3.97 per share and $4.45 per share, and reconfirmed it’s $4.50 to $4.90 range for “ongoing EPS.” FactSet forecasts per-share earnings for the year will hit $4.72. Shares of Monsanto are up 8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index is up more than 12%.

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Shares of Constellation Brands Inc. rose a little more than 1% after the beer, wine and spirits company reported improved third quarter revenue and profit. Net income for the quarter was $406 million, or $1.98 per share, which is up 50% compared with the year earlier period. Constellation Brands didn’t provide a table in its third quarter release with comparable numbers from the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter were $1.96, above the $1.72 FactSet consensus. Sales for the quarter hit $1.8 billion, up 10% compared with a year ago and in line with FactSet’s $1.8 billion consensus. The company said beer sales increased 16%, while sales of wine and spirits rose 5%. Constellation Brands increased its fiscal 2017 outlook on earnings per share, projecting a lower tax rate. The company expects earnings in the range of $6.55 per share to $6.65. The FactSet consensus on 2017 per-share earnings is $6.45 Shares of Constellation Brands are up 10% in the trailing 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index is up more than 12%.

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Stanley Black & Decker said Thursday it has agreed to acquire the Craftsman brand from Sears Holding Corp. in a deal with a present value of about $900 million. The deal gives Stanley Black & Decker the right to sell Craftsman-branded products in non-Sears retail, industrial and online channels across the U.S. and overseas. “This agreement represents a significant opportunity to grow the market by increasing the availability of Craftsman products to consumers in previously underpenetrated channels,” Stanley Black & Decker Chief Executive James Loree said in a statement. Sears shares rose 3.5% premarket on the news, while Stanley Black and Decker was slightly higher.

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L Brands Inc. on Thursday guided for its fiscal fourth quarter per-share earnings to come in at the lower end of its $1.85 to $2.00 range. L Brands marks the third retailer in the last two days to guide for low profit expectations after Khol’s Inc. and Macy’s Inc. Shares of L Brands fell more than 6% in premarket trade. The company also reported December net sales that rose 1% compared with the same month a year prior. Sales hit $2.4 billion for the five weeks ending Dec. 31. Comparable sales, however, for the same time period decreased 1%. L Brand shares are down more than 30% over the last 12 months, underperforming the S&P 500 Index , up more than 12%.

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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said Thursday it had net income of $1.054 billion, or 97 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter to end November, down from $1.110 billion, or $1.01 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.10, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.09. Sales fell to $28.5 billion from $29.0 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $29.2 billion. The company said it is raising he lower end of its 2017 guidance for EPS by 5 cents to a range of $4.90 to $5.20. The current FactSet consensus is for full-year EPS of $5.22. Shares were flat premarket, but are up 2.6% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12.6%.

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IT research company Gartner Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to acquire CEB Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $2.6 billion. The deal has an enterprise value of about $3.3 billion, including the assumption of about $700 million of CEB debt, Gartner said in a statement. Gartner expects the deal to close in the first half and to immediately boost per-share earnings. The company is expecting double-digit gains for EPS in 2018. CEB shareholders will receive $54 in cash and 0.2284 of Gartner stock for every CEB share owned, equal to a premium of about 31% compared to the volume weighted average closing stock price of CEB over the past 30 days. Pro forma, the combined company had $3.3 billion in revenue for the 12 months to end September, $693 million in adjusted EBITDA and $463 million in free cash flow. To finance the deal, Gartner is expecting to issue 8 million shares and to raise debt financing for the cash component. CEB shares jumped 16% premarket on the news, while Gartner stock was still inactive.

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President-elect Donald Trump is working on plans to revamp and streamline U.S. intelligence agencies, according to a report Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal. Trump will reportedly aim to reduce staffing at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Virginia and put more people into the field. He also plans to restructure the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a department founded in 2004 to coordinate the flow of information between spy agencies, focusing on counterterrorism, nuclear threats and counterintelligence. Trump believes America’s intelligence apparatus has become too bloated and politicized, the Journal reported. Trump has been a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, often mocking their claims that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic Party figures during the presidential election.

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