Category: Stock Market News

Starz and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. both gained in late trading Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the two entertainment companies were in advanced talks to merge. Lions Gate was close to acquiring Starz for more than $30 a share and a deal could be announced in the next few days, Bloomberg reported. Rumors of a deal between the two media companies has circulated for more than a year, after Starz’s largest investor, Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone, swapped out a stake in Starz for one in Lions Gate and took a seat on the company’s board. Lions Gate produces film and television content, while Starz owns a premium cable network. Starz shares gained more than 6% in late trading Wednesday to top $30 a share after closing at $28.25; Lions Gate stock added 5% to $22.

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Google Capital, a venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc. , bought a stake in Care.com Inc. for $46.35 million to become its biggest shareholder, the company said in a statement late Wednesday. Care.com issued convertible preferred shares to Google Capital at an initial conversion price of $10.50 a share, which represents roughly a 20% premium to the stock’s closing price of $8.13 on June 27. Shares of Care.com soared 12% after hours.
Care.com is an online marketplace for managing family care.

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Seagate Technology PLC said late Wednesday it was cutting 3% of its workforce to save about $100 million a year. Seagate said it plans to cut 1,600 jobs, which will result in $62 million in charges in the fourth quarter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company expects cost savings to begin in September, with an estimated annual savings of $48 million in cost of revenue and $52 million in operating expenses. Seagate shares rose 0.2% to $23.99 after hours, following a 6.3% rally in the regular session.

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Tractor Supply Co. late Wednesday said it expects second-quarter earnings in a range of $1.15 to $1.16 after its same-store sales in the quarter shrank 0.5%. Analysts surveyed by FactSet are projecting adjusted quarterly EPS of $1.26. The company blamed weak sales of spring seasonal products for the sharp drop in comparable sales. However, net sales rose 4.5% to $1.85 billion. The retailer, whose range of products include tractor parts to animal feed, cut its 2016 net sales outlook to $6.8 billion to $6.9 billion from a range of $6.9 billion to $7 billion and lowered its EPS target to $3.35 to $3.40 versus $3.40 to $3.48. It also trimmed the full year same-store sales forecast to 2.5% to 3.5% from 3.5% to 5.0%. Tractor Supply is scheduled to announce its second-quarter earnings on July 20. Shares of Tractor Supply were halted after hours after rising 1.1% to close at $95.17.

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U.S. stocks extended gains for a second session on Wednesday as a rally in crude oil upstaged Brexit worries, pushing key indexes back toward levels prior to the U.K. vote to leave the European Union. August West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 4.2% to $49.88 a barrel as data showed a continued decline in supplies. The S&P 500 added 35 points, or 1.7%, to close at 2,071 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 284 points, or 1.6%, to finish at 17,693. The Nasdaq rose 87 points, or 1.9% to close at 4,779.

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Apple Inc.’s stock is rallying 0.8% in midday trade Wednesday, to extend the 1.7% surge in the previous session, but is lagging the post-Brexit bounce in the broad stock market. The technology behemoth’s stock has now climbed 2.5% since Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 2.9%, the S&P 500 has run up 3.3% and the Nasdaq Composite surged 3.9%. But underperforming on the way back up is the price investors should be surprised to pay, when a stock outperforms on the way down. In the two sessions post Brexit, Apple’s stock had dropped 4.2%, while the Dow slumped 4.8%, the S&P 500 shed 5.3% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 6.4%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 229 points in midday trade Wednesday, to take back more than half of what it lost during the Brexit shock. The Dow has not gained 499 points since Monday, after tumbling 871 points in the two sessions after the Brexit vote. Within the Dow, the shares of seven components are trading above the pre-Brexit closes–Nike Inc. , Pfizer Inc. , Travelers Companies Inc. , Exxon Mobil Corp. , Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , Verizon Communications Inc. and Johnson & Johnson . Of those stocks, Johnson & Johnson’s reached a record intraday high, while Verizon’s stock reached a 16-year high. Home Depot’s stock traded above its pre-Brexit close in intraday trade, before erasing the gains to slip 0.3%.

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Oil futures added to earlier gains on Wednesday after theU.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies fell by 4.1 million barrels for the week ended June 24. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 3.9 million-barrel drop, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected a decline of 2.4 million barrels. Gasoline supplies climbed 1.4 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 1.8 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. August crude was at $48.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.06, or 2.2%, from Tuesday’s settlement. Prices traded at $48.52 before the data.

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Shares of Worthington Industries Inc. rallied 4.7% in morning trade Wednesday, after the metals manufacturing company reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations. For the quarter ended May 31, earnings rose to $58.5 million, or 92 cents a share, from $28.9 million, or 44 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The results include one-time items that boosted earnings per share by 5 cents. The FactSet EPS consensus was 64 cents. Revenue fell to to $714.7 million from $846.0 million, as a result of lower average selling prices in steel processing, but beat the FactSet consensus of $692 million. “While we expect some headwinds to continue, our legacy businesses are performing well and we anticipate a good start to our new fiscal year,” said Chief Executive John McConnell. “The Company’s two underperforming businesses, engineered cabs and oil and gas, are in better positions with smaller footprints and the cryogenics business is repositioning with its moves to new facilities later this year and new markets.” The stock has soared 28% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.5%.

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U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday, building on Tuesday’s gains, as global markets continued to shake off worries about the impact of the U.K.’s vote last week to quit the European Union. A rise in crude-oil prices also offered support to stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 103 points, or 0.6%, to 17,516, the S&P 500 index rose 15 points, or 0.8%, to 2,052, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 41 points, or 0.9%, to 4,733. The two-day climb comes after a brutal two-day rout in global equities that saw more than $3 trillion in value washed away following Britain’s referendum to leave the EU, known as Brexit.

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