Category: Stock Market News

Mattress Firm Holding Corp shares sagged in the extended session Thursday after the mattress retailer’s first-quarter results fell short of expectations. Mattress Firm shares fell 11% to $29.75 after hours. The company reported an adjusted loss of 10 cents a share on revenue of $839.4 million. Mattress Firm had forecast a break-even to a loss of 7 cents a share for the quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 4 cents a share on revenue of $867.2 million. For the year, the company sees adjusted earnings of $2.25 to $2.35 a share, compared with the analyst consensus of $2.49 a share.

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Shares of H&R Block Inc. soared in Thursday’s extended session after the tax services company said it is raising its quarterly dividend by 10% to 22 cents a share. H&R Block reported fourth-quarter earnings of $700.7 million, or $3.13 a share, compared with $738.8 million, or $2.66 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $3.16 a share. Revenue remained flat at $2.3 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of $3.16 a share on revenue of $2.28 billion. However, H&R Block’s fiscal 2016 revenue fell 1.3% to $3.04 billion while EPS slipped to $1.53 from $1.75, which Chief Executive Bill Cobb characterized as unacceptable. Going forward, the company plans to focus on halting the decline in clients and lowering costs. It also said it will hold annual reviews on dividends and decisions on payouts will hinge on operating results and capital needs. H&R Block shares rose 7% after hours.

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Urban Outfitters Inc. shares fell 6.3% in Thursday after-hours trading after the company’s 10-Q filing said same-store sales in the company’s retail segment for its fiscal second quarter are declining in the mid single-digit percentage range. The retailer, whose brands include Free People, Anthropologie and its namesake Urban Outfitters line, reported first-quarter same-store sales of 1% for the retail segment. Urban Outfitters shares are up 22.8% for the year so far, but down 22.6% for the last 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 1.7% for the last year.

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Applied Materials Inc. announced Thursday that its board of directors had approved a new $2 billion stock-repurchase plan, coming on the heels of a $3 billion repurchase plan. The chip-equipment company also approved a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share, payable on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 25. The previous $3 billion repurchase plan was announced in April 2015, when Applied Materials gave up its planned blockbuster merger with Tokyo Electron. Applied Materials shares gained about 1% in late trading Thursday after the announcement.

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Applied Materials Inc. announced Thursday that its board of directors had approved a new $2 billion stock-repurchase plan, coming on the heels of a $3 billion repurchase plan. The chip-equipment company also approved a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share, payable on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 25. The previous $3 billion repurchase plan was announced in April 2015, when Applied Materials gave up its planned blockbuster merger with Tokyo Electron. Applied Materials shares gained about 1% in late trading Thursday after the announcement.

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Gold futures rose for a second-straight session on Thursday to settle at their highest level since May 18. Prices got a boost as expectations for a U.S. interest-rate increase in the coming months eased and the market weighed the likelihood that the United Kingdom may leave the European Union. Gold for August delivery settled at $1,272.70 an ounce, up $10.40, or 0.8%.

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Uber Technologies Inc. will now allow business travelers to schedule pickups in advance, rather than on-demand, the company said Thursday. Rides can be scheduled up to 30 days in advance and the user will receive two reminders before the ride. The company is starting the feature in Seattle Thursday, where it is limited to riders who have a business account on the app. The company said it plans to roll out the feature to other “top business travel cities” in the future. Lyft Inc. announced in May that it would be rolling out a similar feature to allow scheduling of rides, which does not appear to be limited to business accounts.

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Natural-gas futures turned higher on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 3. That was below the average rise of 80 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.972 trillion cubic feet, up 660 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 722 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. July natural gas was up 7.4 cents, or 3%, at $2.542 per million British thermal units. It traded at $2.46 before the data.

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Health Insurance Innovations Inc. dropped almost 20% after a Raymond James downgrade Thursday. The company’s stock has dropped nearly 24% this week after the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday morning a proposal to cut down on short-term health insurance plans. Health Insurance Innovations sells 12-month short-term medical insurance plans as an alternative to traditional plans. The new rule, which would go into effect in 2017, limit short-term plans to three months or less, citing healthy individuals’ use of these plans instead of entering the regular insurance market. Raymond James analyst Steven Schwartz downgraded the company from strong buy to market perform, citing regulatory uncertainty. “We expect significant insurance industry push back and believe that an industry legal response will be likely if the proposal is adopted in its current form,” Schwartz said.

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From:: Stock Market News

Health Insurance Innovations Inc. dropped almost 20% after a Raymond James downgrade Thursday. The company’s stock has dropped nearly 24% this week after the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday morning a proposal to cut down on short-term health insurance plans. Health Insurance Innovations sells 12-month short-term medical insurance plans as an alternative to traditional plans. The new rule, which would go into effect in 2017, limit short-term plans to three months or less, citing healthy individuals’ use of these plans instead of entering the regular insurance market. Raymond James analyst Steven Schwartz downgraded the company from strong buy to market perform, citing regulatory uncertainty. “We expect significant insurance industry push back and believe that an industry legal response will be likely if the proposal is adopted in its current form,” Schwartz said.

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