Smith & Wesson shares slip about 3% premarket as Wedbush downgrades to neutral

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. shares fell nearly 3% premarket Wednesday, after Wedbush downgraded the stock to neutral from outperform following a big move in its shares. Smith & Wesson rallied this week along with other gun stocks on expectations that new gun checks will prompt a surge in sales of guns and after the company raised its outlook for its January quarter. “While gun industry sales are clearly in ‘surge’ mode, it is difficult to discern just how much of these sales are in fact incremental to the industry versus pulled-forward demand, with plenty of historical examples of both,” analysts wrote in a note. Given a healthy valution and a stock that has climbed more than 150% in a year, “we are taking money off the table, and downgrading,” said the note.

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T-Mobile adds 2.1 million customers in the fourth quarter

T-Mobile US inc. said Wednesday it added 2.1 million customers in the fourth quarter, bringing the total net additions for 2015 to 8.3 million. The company had more than 63 million customers at the end of the year, Chief Executive John Legere said in a statement. The company added 1.3 million branded postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, and added 4.5 million for the full year. Wholesale net customer additions totaled 301,00 in the quarter and 2.4 million for the year. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 50% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.7%.

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Panera Bread removes artificial colors, flavors and preservatives from its soups

Panera Bread Co. on Wednesday became the latest company to move toward using more natural ingredients with the news that its soups no longer contain any artificial colors flavorings or preservatives. Panera said it sells about 200 million services of soup a year, and they no longer contain any of the common ingredients found in commercial soup, such as soy and corn protein, maltodextrin and sodium phosphate. The company said it’s the first national restaurant to offer ‘clean’ soups. Shares were down 1.1% in premarket trade, but are up 11.5% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.7%.

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Yahoo urged to change management, board and strategy in Starboard letter

Activist investor Starboard Value LP on Wednesday delivered a letter to Yahoo Inc. management, urging it to accept that major changes are needed at the company, including changes to management, the board composition, strategy and execution. “Despite over three years of effort and billions spent on acquisitions, the management team that was hired to turn around the core business has failed to produce acceptable results, in turn, causing massive declines in profitability and cash flow,” Starboard wrote in the letter. Investors have lost all confidence in the management team and the board, the letter continued. Most of Yahoo’s current value stems from its investment in Alibaba over ten years ago, “and the good fortune that Alibaba’s management team has executed well such that this investment today is worth over $30 billion,” it said. Yahoo’s current market cap is about $30.5 billion. The current valuation is either a massive tax liability, or reflects the fact that the company’s core business is worthless, or a combination of the two, it said. “We are confident that a separation of these assets can be accomplished through either a sale of the core business or a spin of the core business,” it said. Yahoo shares fell 0.9% in premarket trade, and are down about 35% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.7%.

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Ecolab to suspend using Venezuela operations in results

Ecolab Inc. said it will stop consolidating results from its Venezuelan operations into financial results beginning in the first quarter because of currency issues and deteriorating economic conditions in the country. The pest control and sanitizing products company said charges from the deconsolidation and headwinds from devaluation of the Venezuelan bolivar will hurt 2016 earnings by about 17 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect 2016 earnings of $4.98 a share. Ecolab shares were flat at $112.90 after hours.

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Volkswagen sales in Canada up 3% in December to 4,508 units

Volkswagen late Tuesday reported its sales in Canada rose 3% to 4,508 units last month, its best December ever. Total sales in Canada climbed 7% to 70,344 in 2015 from 65,677 vehicles in 2014, marking the first time the German automaker sold more than 70,000 units in the country. The automaker made no reference to how its emission-cheating scandal has affected sales.

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China oil demand sees slowest growth since February: Platts

China’s oil demand rose 1.5% to average 10.95 million barrels per day in November compared to a year earlier, according to a late Tuesday report from Platts China Oil Analytics, which is based on the latest Chinese government data. That was the slowest growth since February 2015. Platts expects China’s 2015 oil demand to show an increase of 581,000 barrels a day, or 5.5% year over year.

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