Category: Stock Market News

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said Monday that it will open for Black Friday business starting 3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and stores will remain open until Friday, Nov. 25 at 10 p.m. Black Friday sale prices will be available online the day before, starting at midnight Nov. 23, and from Nov. 20 through Nov. 22, there will be online-exclusive sales. Black Friday deals were previewed for J.C. Penney app users on Nov. 4, and pre-Black Friday deals will be available in-store and online starting Monday through Nov. 19. Black Friday sales have already begun on appliances. Cyber Monday sales will extend from Nov. 27 to Nov. 28, with free shipping on orders of $49 or more. The retailer will also launch a “lowest price guarantee” on Nov. 13: if a customer finds a better price within 14 days of purchase, J.C. Penney will beat it by 5%. J.C. Penney shares are up 2.1% in premarket trading, but up 23.1% for the year so are. The S&P 500 Index is up 2% for 2016 to date.

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Windstream Holdings Inc. announced Monday a deal to buy fellow network services company EarthLink Holdings Corp. in a stock deal valued at $1.1 billion, including debt. Under terms of the deal, EarthLink shareholders will received 0.818 Windstream shares for each EarthLink share they own. Based on Friday’s closing prices, that values EarthLink shares at $5.92 each, or a 4.8% discount. The deal values EarthLink at about $624.6 million. EarthLink’s stock soared 15% on Friday after reports of merger talks. After the deal closes, which is expected in the first half of 2017, the combined company will retain the Windstream name. Windstream will issue 93 million shares of stock valued at $673 million to finance the deal. EarthLink’s stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, went public during the internet boom in March 1996, and rose as high as $62.47 in April 1999, but hasn’t closed above $10 since June 2008. It has shed 16% year to date, while Windstream shares have gained 12% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 2%.

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Blue Nile Inc. announced Monday a deal to be acquired by private-equity firm Bain Capital Private Equity for $500 million. Under terms of the deal, Blue Nile shareholders would receive $40.75 in cash for each share they own, a 34% premium to Friday’s closing price, and a level not seen since February 2014. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, may solicit other buyout proposals during a 30-day go-shop period. “Since its inception, Blue Nile’s guiding principle has been to provide value to its customers, suppliers, and shareholders, and this transaction provides tremendous value to all,” said Blue Nile Chief Executive Harvey Kanter. “Blue Nile will continue its innovative drive that has disrupted the diamond industry and made us the smartest, easiest, and most pressure-free way for consumers to buy a diamond.” Separately, Blue Nile reported third-quarter earnings that rose in line with expectations, and revenue that fell more than forecast. The stock, which has been halted in premarket trade for news until 8:00 a.m. ET, has dropped 18% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

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Burlington Stores Inc. said Monday that it stands by its financial statements and denies claims made in a report from short seller Spruce Point Capital Management. “The report, which is filled with innuendo and baseless allegations, is based on flawed, inaccurate and misleading analysis,” Burlington said in a statement. Spruce Point said in a report issued Nov. 3 that there are accounting and business issues that “could be signaling a slowdown in future financial results.” Among them, a change in optimal store size, down to 40,000 to 50,000 square feet from 80,000 square feet and the presentation of gross margin “in a non-standard way by excluding store occupancy costs and depreciation of certain fixed assets.” The activist investor also said it’s concerned about Burlington’s inventory accounting, recent management turnover and that “a subtle change to management’s Annual Incentive Plan for 2016 also may signal the unsustainability of its earnings growth,” the report said. Burlington shares are inactive in premarket trading, but up 61.4% for the year so far. The S&P 500 Index is up 2% for 2016 to date.

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Auction house Sotheby’s said Monday it had a net loss of $54.5 million, or 99 cents a share, in the third quarter, wider than the $17.9 million loss, or 26 cents a share, reported in the year-earlier period. Excluding acquisition-related and other charges, the per-share loss was 78 cents, wider than the 57 cents loss consensus from analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue fell to $91.5 million from $137.9 million, but was ahead of the FactSet consensus of $75.8 million. “As we communicated previously, the third quarter results were not expected to be good,” Chief Executive Tad Smith said in a statement. “Underneath our seasonally low level of sales, there were encouraging but tentative indicators that the market could be looking for a rallying point.” Smith said factors driving the net loss included a change in the timing of the summer Contemporary Art sales in London, which were held in the second quarter after taking place in the third quarter of 2015. That shift accounted for $197 million of the $211 million decline in net auction sales from quarter to quarter. The company reported a $15 million swing in inventory activities. Partly offsetting those factors, was an improvement in commission margins and lower level of stock-based compensation expense. The company also took a charge related to the acquisition of Art Agency, Partners. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 37% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

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Shares of LendingClub Corp. ran up 4.3% in premarket trade Monday, after the online credit marketplace reported better-than-expected expected third-quarter results, and provided an upbeat outlook. The loss for the quarter through Sept. 30 was $36.5 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with earnings of $950,000, or breakeven on a per-share basis. Excluding non-recurring items, the adjusted loss per share was 4 cents, beating the FactSet consensus for a loss of 7 cents per share. Total revenue fell to $114.6 million from $116.3 million, with operating revenue declining to $112.6 million from $115.1 million. The FactSet consensus was $103.7 million. Transaction revenue of $100.8 million, up from $100.4 million, beat the FactSet consensus of $95.7 million. For the fourth quarter, revenue is expected to be $116 million to $123 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $116 million. “We actively reengaged with investors of all types to deliver on our plan and enable $2 billion in loan originations,” said Chief Executive Scott Sanborn. “In the months ahead we are focused on increasing the diversity and resiliency of our funding mix, realigning our resources, and regaining our operating rhythm.” The stock has tumbled 54% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

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Former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno, the first woman to serve in that role, died early Monday due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, her goddaughter Gabrielle D’Alemberte told the Associated Press. Reno was 78. Reno, who frequently told the public, “the buck stops with me,” figured prominently in some of the most notable and controversial events of Bill Clinton’s presidency, including the deadly FBI siege on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the armed seizure of juvenile Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez, alleged Chinese nuclear spying and questionable campaign financing in the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection. Of the Waco attack, in which several children died in the ensuing fire, Reno later said: “It was a dangerous situation. The tragedy is that we will never know what was the right thing to do.” Born in 1938, Janet Wood Reno was the daughter of two newspaper reporters. She unsuccessfully ran for Florida governor in 2002 to end her public-service career.

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. late Friday said its third-quarter net income fell to $7.2 billion, or $4,379 a share, from $9.43 billion, or $5,737 a share, a year earlier. Operating earnings, however, edged up to $4.85 billion versus $4.55 billion. Investment and derivative gains during the quarter totaled $2.35 billion, shrinking from $4.88 bilion in the year-ago period. Berkshire’s book value, a measure of net worth, rose 5.3% to $163,783 per class A share at the end of September, the company said. Berkshire Hathaway’s class A shares were flat in late trade after closing down 0.2% to $214,545.

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Alphabet Inc. [s:googl] announced Friday afternoon that it would change the name of its venture-capital arm from Google Capital to CapitalG. Google changed the name of its larger company to Alphabet last year, making that an umbrella name for all of the Web giant’s ventures, though the Google division — which includes search, YouTube and Android, among other large businesses — is still the most important. The Google Capital division is separate from Google in the Alphabet structure. “Though our name has changed, our goal remains the same: to make returns-driven investments in leading companies around the world,” the company said on Twitter in announcing the change. The name change comes with a new website, www.capitalg.com, and new Twitter handle, @capitalgtweets.

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Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 300,000 barrels a day in October from a month earlier, to a record 33.54 million barrels a day, according to a S&P Global Platts survey released late Friday afternoon. The increase marked the fifth monthly increase in a row, the survey of OPEC and oil industry officials said. “OPEC’s freeze math has gotten more complicated, as its countries keep pumping more,” Herman Wang, senior writer for S&P Global Platts, said in a statement. December West Texas Intermediate crude traded at $44.12 a barrel in electronic trading, after settling at $44.07, down 59 cents, or 1.3% for the New York Mercantile Exchange session.

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