Category: Stock Market News

Scholastic Corp. , which publishes the “Harry Potter” series of books, reported fiscal second-quarter net income that fell to $57.1 million, or $1.60 a share, from $67.9 million, or $1.92 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.92, which compares with the estimate of one analyst surveyed by FactSet of $1.75 a share. Revenue declined to $598.3 million from $623.1 million, below the analyst’s estimate of $601.4 million. Children’s book and publishing and distribution revenue fell to $411.8 million from $432.5 million, which was expected given the release of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them™: The Original Screenplay” a year ago, which was partially offset by the release of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Illustrated Edition” this year. The company affirmed its fiscal 2018 revenue outlook of $1.65 billion to $1.780 billion and ongoing EPS outlook of $1.20 to $1.30. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 11% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Linn Energy Inc. said Thursday it is planning to split into three standalone companies by mid-2018. The company, which currently trades on the over-the-counter market under the ticker symbol ‘LNGG’, will serve as holding company for the existing 50% equity interest of Roan, a company focused on developing assets in Oklahoma, and will apply to list on the NYSE and Nasdaq next year. Separately, it is in talks with Citizen Energy II, LLC to consolidate 100% of the equity in Roan into LNGG. The board is reviewing options for Blue Mountain Midstream LLC and will divest non-core assets at the time of the separation. Linn is also planning to tender for at least $250 million of its own shares, which were not active premarket.

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Shares of 21st Century Fox Inc. rallied 1.0% in premarket trade Thursday, after the TV and film studio company agreed to be acquired by Walt Disney Co. in a deal that valued at about $52.4 billion. Disney’s stock gained 0.8% ahead of the open. Under terms of the agreement, which has been anticipated in recent weeks, 21st Century shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each 21st Century share they own. Based on Wednesday’s closing prices, that would value 21st Century shares at $29.54 each, which is 9.8% below Wednesday’s closing price of $32.75. Disney will also assume $13.7 billion of net 21st Century debt. After the deal closes, 21st Century will spin off Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News, Fox Business, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network to its shareholders. Disney will issue 515 million new shares to fund the deal, which is expected to yield at least $2 billion in cost savings and add to earnings for the second fiscal year after the deal closes. Separately, Disney said Robert Iger will remain chairman and chief executive of Disney through 2021. 21st Century’s stock has rallied 23.6% over the past three months, while Disney shares have climbed 9.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 10.7%.

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Business activity in the eurozone revved higher in December, led by strong factory output and an upturn in the service sector, data firm IHS Markit said Thursday. The preliminary, or flash, composite purchasing managers’ index came in at 58.0, the highest since February 2011, and above FactSet’s consensus estimate of 57.2. “The PMI is signalling an impressive 0.8% GDP increase in the fourth quarter,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, in a statement. The manufacturing PMI rose to a record of 60.6 in December. Overall, French business-activity growth outpaced that of Germany’s for a third straight month, said IHS Markit. “France has been the big surprise this year, rapidly pulling out of its malaise to help shift the eurozone expansion into a higher gear,” said Williamson.

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Platinum producer Lonmin has agreed to a takeover by South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater , the companies said in a statement Thursday. Lonmin shareholders will receive 0.967 new Sibanye-Stillwater shares for each Lonmin share they own. The deal values Lonmin at £1 per share, compared with a closing price Wednesday of £0.863, a premium of about 35%, according to the companies.

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Music-industry legend Russell Simmons has been accused of rape by three women in a report released Wednesday afternoon. Four women spoke on the record to The New York Times about violent sexual experiences dating back to the late 1980s involving the hip-hop mogul, who founded the seminal Def Jam Records label. Former Def Jam A&R executive Drew Dixon, performer Tina Baker and former music journalist Toni Sallie levied the most serious accusations, of forcible rape. Simmons, who stepped down from the helm of the businesses he still ran in November after earlier reports of sexual misconduct, denied the rape allegations in a statement to the Times. “I vehemently deny all these allegations,” he said. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.” Simmons sold his stake in Def Jam to Universal Music Group in 1999, but has since founded other businesses in fashion and media.

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The U.S. Attorney’s office for Northern California confirmed the criminal probe into Uber Technologies Inc. in a court filing made public Wednesday. Typically, the Justice Department will not discuss criminal investigations, and the court filing does not describe the nature of the investigation, the targets, or specific offenses targeted by the probe. Dated Nov. 22, the filing is a letter from Acting U.S. Attorney for Northern California Alex Tse to judge William Alsup, who is presiding over a lawsuit Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Waymo filed against Uber. The suit is over self driving car technology that Waymo accuses an ex-Uber employee of stealing and using in Uber’s self-driving effort. The U.S. Attorney communication to Alsup describes what another ex-Uber employee, Richard Jacobs, told investigators about Uber’s use of devices which “store and transmit information they wished to separate from Uber’s official systems.” Jacobs, in the interview with investigators, said that he believed trade secrets stored on these devices wouldn’t be discovered in “a review of Uber’s systems,” according to the letter from Tse. Jacobs himself wrote a letter to Uber’s general counsel during his severance negotiations with Uber outlining the allegations; Jacobs’ letter was consistent with what he told investigators, according to the court filing. The revelations contained in the Jacobs letter came to light after federal prosecutors informed Alsup of its existence days before the Waymo-Uber litigation was set to begin trial. As as a result, Alsup has delayed the trial until 2018 and decided to make the Jacobs letter public. Pending additional legal machinations, the Jacobs letter will be entered into the record Dec. 15.

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Tintri Inc. shares fell in the extended session Wednesday after the flash-storage company disappointed on quarterly revenue and its outlook. The company also said it was exploring “strategic options” in only its second quarterly report as a public company. Tintri shares fell 9% to $4.99 after hours. The company reported a third-quarter loss of $37.9 million, or $1.21 a share, compared with a loss of $23.8 million, or $6.87 a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss was 79 cents a share. Revenue fell to $31.8 million from $33.9 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 79 cents a share on revenue of $36.6 million. “The company was impacted by delayed and reduced purchases by some accounts, but some of the delayed transactions closed in November,” said Ken Klein, Tintri chairman and chief executive, in a statement. For the fourth quarter, Tintri estimates an adjusted loss of 83 cents to 79 cents a share on revenue of $25 million to $27 million. Analysts had forecast a loss of 68 cents a share on revenue of $42.9 million. Shares of Tintri debuted at the beginning of July at $7 a share, the low end of an already reduced range.

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Shares of Pier 1 Imports Inc. fell more than 20% late Wednesday after the retailer lowered its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter and full-year 2018 guidance “to reflect the current tone and volatility of business” in December, and missed per-share earnings expectations for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Pier 1 said it earned $7.4 million, or 9 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $13.6 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales fell to $469 million, compared with $476 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 12 cents a share on sales of $467 million. Pier 1 said its EPS guidance for the full year is between 10 cents and 18 cents, compared with a prior guidance of between 31 cents and 41 cents. Adjusted earnings per share guidance was tweaked lower to between 17 cents and 25 cents, compared with a prior view between 38 cents to 48 cents. A detailed plan to lift the brand will be unveiled early next year, the company said. Shares had ended the regular trading day up 7%.

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The Dow closed at a record for a fourth straight session Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates and raised its U.S. gross domestic product growth target for 2018 to 2.5% from 2.1%. “Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate,” said the Fed in announcing its decision. The S&P 500 , however, slipped into the red toward the closing bell, dropping a point to 2,663. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 84 points, or 0.3%, to 24,589 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13 points, or 0.2%, to 6,875.

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