Category: Stock Market News

Honeywell Inc. said Friday it has net income of $1.24 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the third quarter, compared with $1.26 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.60. Sales rose 2% to $9.804 billion from $9.611 billion. compared with the FactSet consensus of $9.786 billion. Chief Executive Dave Cote sad the company is on track for double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter and for 8% to 9% growth in 2016. The defense company funded about $250 million in restructuring in the quarter and expects to achieve more than $175 million of benefits in 2017. The company is now expecting 2016 sales of $39.4 billion to $39.6 billion and adjusted per-shares earnings of $6.60 to $6.64. The FactSet consensus is for 2016 sales of $39.6 billion and EPS of $6.61. Shares were last up 1.7% premarket, and are up 5% in the year so far, slightly ahead of the S&P 500 , which is up 4.8%.

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Shares of General Electric Co. shed 0.7% in premarket trade Friday, after the industrial giant reported third-quarter sales that fell short of estimates, offsetting a profit that beat expectations. Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell to $1.99 billion, or 22 cents a share, from $2.51 billion, or 25 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 32 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 30 cents. Revenue rose 4% to $29.3 billion from $28.0 billion, but missed the FactSet consensus of $29.6 billion, as misses by the power and aviation businesses offset a beat by healthcare. GE said it was increasing its stock buyback program by $4 billion, and narrowed its 2016 operating EPS outlook to $1.48 to $1.52 from $1.45 to $1.55, compared with the FactSet consensus of $1.49. The stock has lost 6.7% year to date through Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 4.2%.

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Honeywell Inc. said Friday it has net income of $1.24 billin, or $1.60 a share, in the third quarter, compared with $1.26 billion, or $1.62 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding a 7 cents per share restructuring charge, per-share earnings came to $1.67, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.60. Sales rose 2% to $9.611 billion from $9.804 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $9.786 billion. Chief Executive Dave Cote sad the company is on track for double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter and for 8% to 9% growth in 2016. The defense company funded about $250 million in restructuring in the quarter and expects to achieve more than $175 million of benefits in 2017. The company is now expecting 2016 sales of $39.4 billion to $39.6 billion and adjusted per-shares earnings of $6.60 to $6.64. The FactSet consensus is for 2016 sales of $39.6 billion and EPS of $6.61. Shares were down 0.9% premarket, but are up 5% in the year so far, slightly ahead of the S&P 500 , which is up 4.8%.

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Shares of Reynolds American Inc. soared 18% ahead of the bell on Friday after British American Tobacco PLC launched a bid to buy its U.S. peer. BAT, which already owns 42.2% of Reynolds, has offered $56.50 a share for the remaining Reynolds shares, valuing the deal at $47 billion. The price marks a 20% premium over Reynolds’s $47.17 closing price on Thursday. “We always expected this deal to happen eventually, but we are surprised by the timing,” analysts at Citigroup said in a note. “It is true that BAT is doing this deal while borrowing rates are low, but it could have bought RAI before RAI bought Lorillard, when the share price was 57% lower,” they added. Reynolds bought Lorillard last year for $25 billion. Shares of British American Tobacco were up 3% in London and 3.1% in U.S. premarket trade.

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Whole Foods Market Inc. late Thursday said it has contacted the health authorities after an employee at its Detroit store was diagnosed with Hepatitis A and immediately launched a review of its food logs and food preparation procedure. Hepatitis A is a liver disease that can be transmitted through contaminated food and water. A second case of Hepatitis A was reported by a Detroit resident who apparently consumed food prepared in the store, according to a report by Crain’s. “While there is no definitive link that the second case is related to the occurrence in our store, we are cooperating fully with the Detroit Health Department to ensure the safety of our customers and team members,” said Whole Foods in a statement. Shares of Whole Foods were off 0.3% after hours.

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Proofpoint Inc. gained about 10% in late trading Thursday after the security-software company detailed a huge earnings beat and acquisition of a young security startup. The Silicon Valley company agreed to purchase three-year-old startup FireLayers, which helps protect against malware passed along through cloud-based software, for $55 million. Proofpoint said it had a net loss of $18.4 million, or 44 cents a share, on sales of $99.8 million in the third quarter; after adjusting for stock-based compensation and other factors, the software firm claimed earnings of 19 cents a share. Analysts on average expected Proofpoint to report adjusted earnings of 5 cents a share on sales of $94.3 million, according to FactSet. Proofpoint’s billings–an important metric for cloud-software companies that reflects deferred revenue–also handily beat analyst projections: Proofpoint reported billings of $124.8 million, while a FactSet survey said the average analyst estimate was $115.6 million. Proofpoint shares closed with a 0.1% gain at $69.78, then jumped to about $76.50 in late trading. The stock was damaged late last year after short-seller Carson Block named the company its best short bet, but shares jumped after the company beat earnings projections last quarter as well.

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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. sank in Thursday’s extended session after the chip maker reported its quarterly loss widened from the previous year. AMD said its third-quarter loss deepened to $406 million, or 50 cents a share, from a loss of $197 million, or 25 cents a share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned 3 cents a share. Revenue grew to $1.31 billion versus $1.06 billion in the same period last year. Analysts had forecast AMD to break even on a per-share basis on revenue of $1.21 billion, according to FactSet. In the fourth quarter, AMD expects its revenue to shrink 18%, plus or minus 3%, sequentially. The current Wall Street outlook on AMD’s fourth-quarter revenue is $1.06 billion. Shares fell 1.6% after hours, paring earlier slide.

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Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. rose 0.4% late Thursday after the oil-field services company reported third-quarter profit above expectations but sales that came in a hair below estimates. Schlumberger said it earned $176 million, or 13 cents a share, in the quarter, reversing a loss of $1.56 a share in the third quarter of 2015. Adjusted for one-time items, including charges related to its 2016 merger with Cameron International Corp., Schlumberger earned $353 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $316 million, or 23 cents a share, a year ago. Sales fell 2% to $7.02 billion, from $7.16 billion in the year-ago period, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share on sales of $7.09 billion.

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Microsoft Corp. pulled in a lot more profit than was expected in its fiscal first quarter, pushing the company’s stock up more than 4% in late trading Thursday. The tech giant reported net income of $4.7 billion, or 60 cents a share, on sales of $20.5 billion. After adjustments for deferred revenue and other effects, Microsoft claimed profit of 76 cents a share on sales of Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Microsoft to collect adjusted profit of 68 cents a share on sales of $21.7 billion. Microsoft credited its cloud business for its performance, with revenue for Azure–Microsoft’s cloud-computing offering that competes with Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services division– rising 116% year-over-year, the company said. “Our first quarter results showed continued demand for our cloud-based services,” Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in Thursday’s announcement. Microsoft shares closed with a 0.5% decline at $57.25, but jumped to about $60 in late trading after results were released.

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Shares of First NBC Bank Holding Co. took a 15% dive in afternoon trade Thursday, after the New Orleans-based bank disclosed in a filing that regulators deemed it to be in a “troubled condition.” The stock had plunged as much as 20% intraday before paring some losses. The bank said it was informed of the “troubled condition” designation on Oct. 11, in writing by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions. The designation means First NBC will have to seek approval before adding any new directors or senior executives or changing the responsibilities of any current senior executive, and that the bank can’t make severance payments to affiliated parties without prior approval. The bank is also bound from increasing its debt, distributing interest on subordinated debt or paying dividends on its stock. The stock has now plummeted 75% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has gained 2.9% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 4.7%.

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