Category: Stock Market News

ConAgra Foods Inc. said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officr John Gehrig is retiring after 14 years with the company. The company has started a search for a replacement. Gehrig has been CFO at ConAgra since early 2009. Before joining the company, he was a partner with Ernst & Young. He has also done stints at PepsiCo and KPMG. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 5% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 is up 0.2%.

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The pound climbed Tuesday, as investors reacted to a new poll that indicated most Britons will choose to stay in the European Union in an upcoming referendum. Sterling was up 0.8% at $1.4600. An ORB poll conducted for The Telegraph newspaper, released Tuesday, shows 55% of respondents who plan to vote in a June 23 in/out referendum support Britain sticking with the EU, compared with 42% favoring a so-called Brexit. The majority of older voters, Conservative Party supporters and men who participated in the survey are backing the Remain camp, the newspaper said.

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Shares of Apple are up some 0.6% in premarket action, off a gain of more than 1% overnight, after a report in Taiwan’s Economic Daily said the smartphone giant has asked its mostly Asia-based suppliers to make more iPhone 7s. The Economic Daily report said Apple asked suppliers to produce between 72 million and 78 million iPhone 7s by the end of the year, above Wall Street analysts’ current expectations for 65 million. The report was picked up by CNBC. AAPL shares are down about 8% so far this year and down about 29% from their February 2015 high of $133.

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House-builder Toll Brothers Inc. on Tuesday said profit for the fiscal second quarter rose to $89.1 million, or 51 cents a share, from $67.9 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed to $1.12 billion, up 31% from $852.6 million last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 46 cents a share on revenue of $1.04 billion. The luxury-homes builder said it expects to deliver between 5,800 and 6,300 homes in the full-year 2016. That means revenue should come in between $4.76 billion and $5.36 billion for the full year. Shares didn’t move in premarket trade.

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DuPont and The Dow Chemical Co. late Monday announced a slew of executive appointments for the newly minted DowDuPont Inc. following the companies’ merger announcement in late December. Howard Ungerleider will become DowDuPont’s chief financial officer; Stacy Fox will become general counsel; and Jim Fitterling will become the new company’s chief operating officer, among other appointments. The companies had previously disclosed that Andrew Liveris is to become executive chairman of DowDuPont and Edward Breen chief executive officer. Dow and DuPont’s ‘merger of equals’ is expected to close in the second half of the year after regulatory approval and the clearing of other hurdles. Shares of DuPont were flat in late trading Monday after ending the regular trading session up 1.9%; shares of Dow were down 0.2% after being 1.8% higher at the close.

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Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is under investigation by the FBI and prosecutors of the Justice Department’s public integrity unit, according to a report from CNN. The investigation into the Democrat dates back at least to last year and involves whether donations to his gubernatorial campaign broke the law. McAuliffe is a friend and political ally of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, and Virginia is a critical swing state in the presidential election.

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Varian Medical Systems Inc. will spin off its imaging components business as a standalone, publicly traded company by the end of the year, the Palo Alto, Calif., medical equipment maker said in a statement late Monday. “The spin-off will create two strong, independent companies,” Chief Executive Dow Wilson said. “It will enable Varian to focus on expanding its position as a global cancer company with leading technology and services. It will empower the new company to grow as a global leader in components, software and services for expanded imaging applications and markets.” The new imaging components company is expected to have yearly sales of about $575 million and 1,300 employees worldwide. Shares of Variant were flat late Monday after ending the regular session down 0.8%.

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U.S. stocks ended moderately lower on Monday amid a lack of fresh incentives with major indexes moving within a narrow range all session. “The U.S. equity market remains in the grips of a correction, although a period of stabilization appears likely this week. Short-term momentum is weak,” said Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, in a note. The S&P 500 shed 4 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,048 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points to finish at 17,494. The large-cap index stayed within a 9-point band while the blue chip index moved in a 70-point range. The Nasdaq slid 4 points to close at 4,765, moving less than 29 points during the day.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks ended moderately lower on Monday amid a lack of fresh incentives with major indexes moving within a narrow range all session. “The U.S. equity market remains in the grips of a correction, although a period of stabilization appears likely this week. Short-term momentum is weak,” said Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, in a note. The S&P 500 shed 4 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,048 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points to finish at 17,494. The large-cap index stayed within a 9-point band while the blue chip index moved in a 70-point range. The Nasdaq slid 4 points to close at 4,765, moving less than 29 points during the day.

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Pandora Media Inc. may be poised for some decent growth, according to B. Riley analyst Sameet Sinha. Sinha upgraded the stock to a buy rating from neutral on Monday, while also raising his 12-month price target to $15 from $10. He wrote in a note that expectations for Pandora are “very low,” indicated by its valuation — close to three-year lows — and estimates for listener metrics. “Even from a fundamental perspective, key revenue metrics, such as active listeners and listener hours are expected to grow by 1% and 4%,” he wrote. Sinha noted Pandora’s pricing power is growing, up 40% in the first quarter, compared with the previous year period. He also expects margins to grow, after negotiations over royalty rates with the Copyright Royalty Board drove up content costs in the first quarter. “Now the company has good visibility on content costs until 2020.”

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