Category: Stock Market News

Frontier Communications Corp. said Monday that its chief financial officer, John Jureller, is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. The communications services company said R. Perley McBride has joined the company Monday to become the CFO after a transition period. McBride was previously the CFO of Cable & Wireless Communications until May, when it was acquired by Liberty Global PLC . Frontier’s stock, which rose 1.3% in premarket trade, had slipped 2.4% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 had gained 4.1%.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shares are up 1.3% in premarket trading after it was upgraded on Monday to outperform from market perform at Cowen & Co. Analysts believe that the retail giant could “regain retail dominance” through same-store sales growth, price investments and other efforts. Wal-Mart has reported seven quarters of positive traffic in the U.S. and Cowen analysts believe that trend should continue for the next two years. “Wal-Mart’s impressive second-quarter results of U.S. comps of +1.6% driven by traffic of +1.2% demonstrated that the retailer is taking share at the expense of Target Corp. , dollar stores, and grocers,” the note said. Cowen’s proprietary data shows that customer experience has improved, fueled by higher wages and better staff training. And the recent Jet.com acquisition, which should help the company reach younger, urban customers, positions the company to accelerate e-commerce growth and could create “a more level playing field to compete with Amazon .” Wal-Mart will host its analyst day on Oct. 6, and Cowen doesn’t expect any bad news. Wal-Mart shares are up 14.7% for the year so far while the S&P 500 Index is up 4.1% for the same period.

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Syntel Inc. said Monday that it will pay a special cash dividend of $15 a share, as it brings $1.24 billion in cash held overseas back to the U.S. The Troy, Mich.-based information technology services company said the new dividend will be payable Oct. 3 to shareholders of record on Sept. 22. The company plans to fund the new dividend with the repatriated cash and a portion of borrowings under a new credit facility. The company expects to recognize a one-time tax expense of $264 million in the third quarter as a result of the cash repatriation. The stock, which was halted for news in premarket trade, is expected to resume trade at 9 a.m. ET. It has dropped 10% year to date to close Friday at a 23-month low, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.1%.

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Open Text Corp. said Monday that it will buy Dell EMC’s enterprise content division for $1.62 billion. Open Text said it expects the deal, which should close within 90 to 120 days, to immediately add to earnings. The company said it plans to negotiate and enter into a commercial partnership with Dell EMC to expand customer offerings. “This acquisition further strengthens OpenText as a leader in enterprise information management, enabling customers to capture their digital future and transform into information-based businesses,” said Chief Executive Mark Barrenechea. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has surged 25% year to date, while the S&P 500 has tacked on 4.1%.

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Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. slumped 1.7% in premarket trade Monday, after the air carrier reported a drop in traffic in August, but an increase in capacity. Revenue passenger miles for the month fell 2.8% to 20.4 billion, as declines in domestic, Atlantic and Latin America traffic offset an increase in Pacific traffic. Available seat miles rose 1.4% to 24.7 billion. That pushed passenger load factor down 3.6 percentage points to 82.9%. American said it still expects third-quarter revenue per available seat mile to fall 3.0% to 5.0% from a year ago. The stock had shed 9.1% year to date through Friday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index had gained 4.8% and the S&P 500 had advanced 4.1%.

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Valvoline disclosed in a filing Monday that it expects its initial public offering of 30 million shares to price between $20 and $23 a share. If the underwriters exercise options granted by Valvoline to buy an additional 4.5 million shares, the engine and automotive maintenance company could raise up to $793.5 million, before fees. The company expects the stock to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “VVV.” Ashland Inc. had filed in May to separate its Valvoline business as part of a reorganization.

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Implied market volatility on Wall Street jumped to its highest level since late June on Monday, indicating investors are as nervous about future stock moves as they were right after the U.K.’s Brexit vote. The CBOE Volatility Index jumped 16% to 20.31, trading above the closely watched 20 handle for the first time since June 27. The index on Friday soared 40%, according to FactSet, after hawkish comments from Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren sparked fears interest rates could go up as soon as next week. Rosengren suggested the central bank should resume its rate tightening soon, rather than wait and risk missing its timing.U.S. stock futures were firmly lower on Monday morning, continuing a sharp selloff seen on Friday.

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Horizon Pharma PLC announced Monday a deal to buy Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. in cash deal valued at about $800 million. Under terms of the agreement, Horizon will pay $9 in cash for each Raptor share outstanding, representing a 21% premium to Friday’s closing price of $7.45. “The proposed acquisition of Raptor furthers our commitment to helping people with rare diseases and is a significant step in advancing our strategy to expand our rare disease business,” said Horizon Chief Executive Timothy Walbert. Raptor’s stock, which is still inactive in premarket trade, has soared 43% year to date, while Horizon shares have fallen 20% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.1%.

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Shares of Perrigo Co. PLC surged 2.9% in premarket trade, after activist investor Starboard Value LP disclosed a 4.6% stake in the drug maker. Starboard said in a press release Monday that it believes Perrigo’s stock trades at a “significant discount to fair value,” and that “substantial opportunities exist” to boost shareholder value. The stock had plunged 39% year to date through Friday, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF had lost 0.7% and the S&P 500 had gained 4.1%. Perrigo’s stock has gained 3.4% since it closed at a five-year low of $85.80 on Aug. 11. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Starboard had built an equity stake in Perrigo, and sent a letter to Perrigo urging the company refocus on its core business.

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Treasury prices fell further on Monday, pushing yields higher as expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates continued to drive financial markets. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.688%. The interest rate on the U.S. benchmark note on Friday climbed 5.7 basis points to 1.671%, it’s highest level since June 23, the day of the Brexit vote. The rise in yields came after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren on Friday said a “reasonable case can be made” for raising interest rates, fueling expectations a rate hike could happen as soon as next week. The CME FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 24% probability of a tightening at the Fed’s Sept. 20-21 meeting and an almost 60% chance for an increase in December. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note , which is most sensitive to Fed rate changes, gained 1 basis point to 0.7942% on Monday.

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