Category: Stock Market News

Shares of 3M Co. gained 0.3% in morning trade Wednesday, after RBC Capital said it was no longer bearish on the industrial conglomerate, saying any weakness on concerns over President-elect Donald Trump’s policies is overdone. Analyst Deane Dray upgraded 3M to sector perform, after being at underperform for the last eight months. He raised his stock price target to $171, which is now just 0.8% below current levels, from $155. Dray said that with its global revenue mix and health care exposures, the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes could still be hurt by new Trump initiatives, but the improved macro environment and recent underperformance by the stock “should limit relative downside” from current levels. Only about 40% of 3M’s revenue is from the U.S., according to FactSet. The stock has now gained 0.8% since the election, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 5.1%.

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Shares of 3M Co. gained 0.3% in morning trade Wednesday, after RBC Capital said it was no longer bearish on the industrial conglomerate, saying any weakness on concerns over President-elect Donald Trump’s policies is overdone. Analyst Deane Dray upgraded 3M to sector perform, after being at underperform for the last eight months. He raised his stock price target to $171, which is now just 0.8% below current levels, from $155. Dray said that with its global revenue mix and health care exposures, the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes could still be hurt by new Trump initiatives, but the improved macro environment and recent underperformance by the stock “should limit relative downside” from current levels. Only about 40% of 3M’s revenue is from the U.S., according to FactSet. The stock has now gained 0.8% since the election, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 5.1%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Shares of Interpublic Group of Companies slumped 1.3% in morning trade Wednesday, after the advertising company confirmed that it has been contacted by regulators regarding video production practices. The company’s statement follows a report in The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating whether ad agencies engaged in bid rigging by steering business to their in-house units over independent companies. In Wednesday’s statement, Interpublic said one of its standalone domestic agencies was contacted by the DOJ’s antitrust division for documents regarding video production practices. The company said it was cooperating with the investigation. “The policies in our company’s Code of Conduct require that we do business in a manner that is fully consistent with the best interests of our clients–in the case of production, that means requiring triple bids on all projects above a minimal dollar threshold,” the company said in its statement. The stock has lost 1.4% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will step down at 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Eastern Time), the 41-year-old politician said in a post to Twitter Wednesday. Renzi said Sunday he would leave his post following a referendum defeat. But he stayed on to oversee the passage of Italy’s 2017 budget, which was approved by the Italian senate not long before Renzi’s Twitter post. The country isn’t due to hold a parliamentary election before 2018, but consensus is growing among party leaders to hold it a year earlier, Reuters reported earlier Wednesday.

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The Vitamin Shoppe will open its first franchise stores in Paraguay, the company announced Wednesday. The stores add on to three recently opened stores in Panama and Guatemala and bring the total international footprint to 16 franchise stores. Shares of Vitamin Shoppe have gained 9% in the past month, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 4%.

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Fidelity National Information Services Inc. will sell its SunGard Public Sector and Education businesses to Vista Equity Partners for $850 million, the financial technology company said on Wednesday. Shares of Fidelity were inactive in premarket trade. The sale, which is expected to close in the 2017 first quarter, includes all of SunGard’s software addressing public safety and public administration needs of government entities as well as the needs of K-12 school districts. Under Vista the SunGard Public Sector business will become a new independent company, while the education business will become part of Vista-owned PowerSchool, according to a news release. Fidelity previously expected the Public Sector and Education businesses to contribute 15 cents to 16 cents to full-year 2017 adjusted earnings per share. The FactSet consensus on 2017 per-share earnings is $4.38. Shares of Fidelity are up more than 24% in the year to date, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up more than 8%.

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Capstone Turbine Corp. said Wednesday it has “substantially” cut its external audit and investor relations expenses as part of its plan to become profitable. The microturbine systems producer said it expects to save $600,000 in fiscal 2018 by changing its audit firm and by insourcing its investor relations function. The company aims to cut its breakeven revenue level to $100 million from $160 million and reduce expenses by 35%. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 32% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. said Wednesday Chief Executive Truman Hunt will leave the company in mid 2017, after about 17-years in the role, to take a three-year leadership assignment with the Mormon church. The company said current Chief Financial Officer Ritch Wood will become CEO when Hunt leaves. A new CFO will be named before Wood takes the CEO role. Separately, the beauty and wellness products company said it now expects fourth-quarter earnings per share to be “near the high end” of the guidance provided a month ago of 77 cents to 81 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus of 79 cents. Revenue is now expected to be “near the low end” of its previous outlook of $550 million to $570 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $579 million. For 2017, Nu Skin expects revenue of $2.26 billion to $2.30 billion and EPS of $3.10 to $3.25, compared with the FactSet revenue consensus of $2.37 billion and EPS consensus of $3.35. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has run up 36% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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Southwest Airlines Co. reported Wednesday a jump in a key airline metric for November, as traffic growth outpaced an increase in capacity. Load factor increased 1.8 percentage points to 85.1% from 83.3% a year ago, as traffic grew 7.2% to 10.4 billion revenue passenger miles and capacity rose 4.9% to 12.3 billion available seat miles. The air carrier now expects fourth-quarter revenue per available seat mile to decline in the 4.0% to 5.0% range. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has climbed 11% year to date, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has run up 24% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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