Category: Stock Market News

Visa Inc. on Thursday reported net income of $1.7 billion, or 71 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter, compared with 63 cents a share in the year-ago period. Adjusting for one-time items, Visa reported net income of $1.6 billion, or 68 cents a share, in the quarter. Sales hit $3.6 billion in the quarter, from $3.1 billion a year ago. The company cited “continued headwinds” of the strong U.S. dollar, lower oil prices, and an “uneven” global economy for driving continued weak cross-border spending, but said U.S. spending continued “at reasonably strong levels.” Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report earnings of 67 cents a share on sales of $3.6 billion. Shares of Visa fell 6% in late trading after ending the regular session down 0.4%.

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Oil futures settled lower Thursday as traders took time out to weigh the bigger influences in the market. China’s monthly crude imports jumped in March and weekly U.S. crude output fell a sixth straight week, but producers failed to reach a deal to cap output and U.S. stockpiles rose last week. June WTI crude fell $1, or 2.3%, to settle at $43.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Viacom Inc. and Dish Network said on Thursday they’ve agreed to terms for a multi-year contract renewal that will see Dish continue to provide Viacom’s slate of cable channels. Details of the deal were not disclosed. The deal comes after initial talks broke down earlier in the week, sending Viacom’s stock down. Viacom has been under pressure, as questions have been raised regarding the company’s management and its networks — generally targeted to younger audiences — have taken a hit from viewers opting out of traditional pay-TV packages. Viacom hopes the renewal, along with other affiliate agreements announced over the past year, will help the company drive growth, Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said in a statement. Shares of Viacom were up 7.7% and Dish shares were up about half of a percent intraday.

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Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. tumbled 10% in active morning trade Thursday, on the heels of the air carrier’s disappointing passenger revenue outlook. The stock’s percentage decline was the biggest among S&P 500 components, while it’s price decline of $5.86 accounted for more than half of the Dow Jones Transportation Average’s 60-point decline. Volume exceeded 8 million shares within the first 100 minutes of trade, compared with the full-day average of 4.2 million shares. The company reported late Wednesday first-quarter earnings that beat expectations, but disclosed in a filing that it expects second-quarter passenger revenue for available seat mile (PRASM) to decline 6.5% to 8.5% from last year. Analyst Helane Becker at Cowen & Co. was expecting PRASM to decline 5.9% in the current quarter. Shares of other air carriers also fell in United’s wake: American Airlines Group Inc.’s slumped 2.9%, Delta Air Lines Inc.’s shed 3.6% and JetBlue Airways Corp.’s slid 2.1%, while Southwest Airlines Co.’s was down less than 0.1%.

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Natural-gas futures saw volatile trading Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose 7 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 15. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a climb of 2 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.484 trillion cubic feet, up 881 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 811 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. May natural gas rose 1.9 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.088 per million British thermal units after briefly trading lower immediately after the supply data. Prices traded at $2.075 before the report.

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Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk said Thursday the electric car maker now has almost 400,000 orders for its model 3 sedan, Reuters reported. Musk made the comment at a conference held in Oslo, Norway. Telsa shares were down 0.8% in early trade, but are up 3.3% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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SunEdison Inc. said Thursday that it filed for bankruptcy protection, a move that has been expected by investors for weeks. The renewable energy company’s stock was halted for news. The last trade prior to the halt was at 34 cents, down 93% year to date. The company said it has secured $300 million in debtor-in-possession financing to minimize business disruptions while it restructures. “Our decision to initiate a court-supervised restructuring was a difficult but important step to address our immediate liquidity issues,” said Chief Executive Ahmad Chatila. SunEdison said its yieldcos, TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global were not part of the filing. TerraForm Power’s stock surged 4.1% in morning trade and TerraForm Global shares climbed 3%.

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U.S. stocks opened flat Thursday, struggling to build on a three-day rally carried them to their highest levels of the year. Sliding oil prices weighed on the energy sector, while the tone of corporate earnings reports was mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 23 points, or 0.1%, to 18,072. The S&P 500 rose 1 point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,102. The Nasdaq Composite was flat at 4,948. General Motors Co. and American Express Co. saw their shares rise after earnings surpassed expectations, while Verizon Communications Inc. reported soft results.

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PPG Industries Inc. said Thursday it raised its quarterly dividend by 4 cents, or 11%, to 40 cents a share. The paint seller’s new dividend will be payable June 10 to shareholders of record on May 10. Based on the stock’s Wednesday closing price of $116.07, the new dividend implies an annual dividend yield of 1.4%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.1%, according to FactSet. “This 11% increase in our per-share quarterly dividend reaffirms PPG’s commitment to sustainable dividend increases as an integral part of our capital allocation strategy,” said Chief Financial Officer Frank Sklarsky. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has soared 17% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.9%.

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Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. slid 1.6% after the internet, wireless and cable provider reported revenue fell short of expectations. The company said net income for the first quarter was $4.4 billion, or $1.06 per share, compared with $4.3 billion, or $1.03 a share during the same quarter last year. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting $1.06 earnings per share. Revenue for the quarter rose to $32.17 billion, up from the $31.98 billion in the prior year period, but fell short of the $32.45 billion FactSet consensus, however. During the quarter Verizon added 36,000 net new Fios video customers, as its subscriber numbers grew to 5.9 million, compared with 5.7 million a year ago. Shares of Verizon have gained nearly 12% in the year so far, while the Dow Industrial is up 3.9%.

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