Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Dollar Tree Inc. tumbled 7.3% in premarket trade Thursday, after the discount retailer missed fiscal-second quarter profit and sales expectations. For the quarter ended July 30, the company swung to earnings of $170.2 million, or 72 cents a share, from a loss of $98.0 million, or 46 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was 73 cents. Revenue rose to $5.00 billion from $3.01 billion, boosted by sales from Family Dollar stores, but was below the FactSet consensus of $5.08 billion. Same-store sales rose 1.2% on a constant currency basis, and 1.1% when adjusted for currency fluctuations. The FactSet consensus was for a 2.4% increase. The company expects third-quarter EPS of 76 cents to 82 cents and revenue of $5.02 billion to $5.10 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus for EPS of 76 cents and revenue of $5.13 billion. The stock had soared 23% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF had gained 5.5% and the S&P 500 had advanced 6.4%.

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Dollar General Corp.’s stock dropped 6.3% in premarket trade Thursday, after the discount retailer missed profit and sales expectations for its fiscal second quarter. For the quarter ended July 29, earnings rose to $306.5 million, or $1.08 a share, from $282.3 million, or 95 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.09. Revenue grew to $5.39 billion from $5.10 billion, but was below the FactSet consensus of $5.50 billion, with same-store sales growth of 0.7% missing expectations of a 2.7% rise. The company said retail food deflation and unseasonably mild spring weather were stronger-than-expected headwinds to its business. “The competitive environment also intensified in select regions of the country,” said Chief Executive Todd Vasos. The stock had soared 28% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF had gained 5.5% and the S&P 500 had climbed 6.4%.

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Shares of Mylan N.V. jumped 3.8% in premarket trade, after the drug maker said Thursday that it was taking “immediate action” to cut costs for its EpiPen injectors. The move comes after the Mylan came under intense scrutiny from Congress and Hillary Clinton for raising EpiPen prices on EpiPens six-fold over the last several years. Mylan said Thursday that it will now offer a “savings card” that will cover up to $300 for their EpiPen 2-Pak, which effectively cuts the cost in half. The company said it is doubling eligibility for its patient assistance program to 400% of the federal poverty level, which means a family of four making $97,200 would not pay anything for an EpiPen. “We recognize the significant burden on patients from continued, rising insurance premiums and being forced increasingly to pay the full list price for medicines at the pharmacy counter,” said Chief Executive Heather Bresch. “Patients deserve increased price transparency and affordable care, particularly as the system shifts significant costs to them.” The stock has tumbled 20% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.4%.

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Shares of Tiffany & Co. rose 1.6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the high-end jewelry retailer beat fiscal second-quarter profit expectations, offsetting a miss on sales. For the quarter ended July 31, earnings rose to $105.7 million, or 84 cents a share, from $104.9 million, or 81 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 72 cents. Revenue fell to $931.6 million from $990.5 million, below the FactSet consensus of $933 million, as sales in the Americas, Europe and Japan regions fell short of expectations. Same-store sales declined 8%, compared with the FactSet consensus of a 7.8% decline, with bigger-than-expected declines in the Americas and Europe offsetting a better-than-expected performance in Japan. “The global environment continues to reflect well known challenges that we believe have had broad effects on spending by local customers, as well as foreign tourists, especially from China,” said Chief Executive Frederic Cumenal. Tiffany said it was maintaining its full-year outlook for sales and EPS. The stock had dropped 9.7% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 6.4%.

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Guess Inc. shares soared 14.2% in Wednesday after-hours trading after the apparel and accessories company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings and same-store sales that beat consensus. Net income for the quarter totaled $32.3 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $18.3 million, or 21 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were 14 cents per share, beating the FactSet consensus of 6 cents per share. Sales totaled $545.0 million, down from $546.3 million, and below the $551.0 million FactSet consensus. Same-store sales for the Americas retail segment, including e-commerce, fell 2%, compared with the FactSet estimate of a 4.3% decline. Guess expects third-quarter sales to increase between 5% and 8% and earnings per share in the range of 11 cents and 16 cents. FactSet sees revenue totaling $568.5 million, about 9% higher than $521.0 million last year. And the FactSet third-quarter EPS consensus is 16 cents per share. Guess stock is down 25.6% for the past year while S&P 500 Index us up nearly 15% for the same period.

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Workday Inc. shares rose in the extended session Wednesday as the finance and human resources cloud company topped Wall Street revenue targets for the second quarter but forecast revenue that fell below the consensus. Workday shares rose 4.5% to $83.20 after hours. The company reported an adjusted second-quarter loss of 4 cents a share on revenue of $377.7 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast a loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $372.7 million. For the third quarter, Workday forecast revenue of $398 million to $400 million, while analysts expect $401.3 million.

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Shares of Williams-Sonoma Inc. fell in Wednesday’s extended session after the kitchenware retailer released a weak outlook for the current quarter. Williams-Sonoma reported second-quarter earnings of $51.8 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $53.7 million, or 58 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. The year-earlier quarter’s earnings per share included a 3-cent tax benefit. Revenue edged up to $1.16 billion from $1.13 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 58 cents a share on revenue of $1.17 billion. The San Francisco-based company projected third-quarter earnings of 75 cents a share to 80 cents a share and revenue in a range of $1.24 billion to $1.29 billion. Analysts are projecting EPS of 81 cents and revenue of $1.29 billion. Shares fell 0.8% after hours.

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HP Inc. , reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings Wednesday afternoon, but the company’s stock still declined in late trading. The PC and printer-focused arm of Hewlett-Packard, which split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. last year, reported net profit of $783 million, or 46 cents a share, on sales of $11.89 billion. After adjusting for discontinued operations, restructuring charges and other effects, HP claimed earnings of 48 cents a share. HP was expected to post adjusted earnings of 44 cents a share on sales of $11.46 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. HP shares fell as the company’s outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter came up short: HP predicted adjusted earnings of 34 to 37 cents a share, while analysts on average expect profit of 41 cents a share, according to FactSet. HP stock, which closed with a decline of 1.2% at $14.40, dropped under $14 in late trading, losing about 4%.

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Fitbit Inc. was cleared of accusations that it stole trade secrets from rival Jawbone Inc. on Tuesday. “No party has been shown to have misappropriated any trade secret,” U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Dee Lord said in her finding. If Fitbit had been found guilty, the ITC could have banned U.S. imports of its fitness trackers. The determination is still subject to review by the commission, and a final decision is expected in December. “Jawbone’s allegations were utterly without merit and nothing more than a desperate attempt by Jawbone to disrupt Fitbit’s momentum to compensate for their own lack of success in the market,” Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said in a statement. The dispute is not over yet, with Jawbone saying in a statement: “We intend to seek review of today’s ruling before the full Commission. The case in the ITC involved a very small subset of Jawbone’s trade secrets asserted against Flextronics and Fitbit.” Jawbone is also pursuing a separate trade-secrets case against Fitbit in California state court.

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Health-care shares tumbled Wednesday, making it the worst performing of the S&P 500 Index’s ten sectors, as pricing issues in the industry flared up again, first inflamed by an astronomical price hike of a cancer drug by then-Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli. The sector declined 1.7%, compared with a 0.7% slip in the broader index. Shares of Mylan dropped 6% on continuing controversy over the company’s EpiPen pricing. On the Dow Jones Industrial Average, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Merck Inc. were the worst performers. Meanwhile, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF fell 3.5%.

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