Category: Stock Market News

Ahead of its third-quarter earnings release on Friday, AbbVie Inc. said the board will increase the company’s cash dividend by 11% to 71 cents a share from 64 cents. The dividend will be paid out Feb. 15, 2018 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 12, 2018. Since its inception in 2013, AbbVie has increased its dividend by more than 77%. Shares of AbbVie are up 43% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 14% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 18%.

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Macy’s Inc. shares fell 2.8% in Friday premarket trading and Kohl’s Corp. stock sank 4.8% after fellow department store J.C. Penney Co. Inc. issued a profit warning for the third quarter and full year. J.C. Penney shares are down 15.3% in premarket trading. J.C. Penney updated its guidance after the company said inventory clearance, primarily in the women’s apparel department, gave sales a boost in September and October, but hurt earnings and other metrics. J.C. Penney shares are down 56% for the year to date while Macy’s shares are down 40.4% for the period, and Kohl’s shares are down 9.6%. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 7.5% for 2017 so far, and the S&P 500 index has surged 14.4% for the period.

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J.C. Penney Co. Inc. shares sank 6.6% in Friday premarket trading after the retailer revised its third-quarter guidance below estimates and issued a profit warning for both the third quarter and full year. The company now expects same-store sales to increase in the range of 0.6% to 0.8%, and adjusted losses per share are expected to be in the range of 40 cents to 45 cents. The FactSet consensus is for a same-store sales growth of 0.1% and a 17-cents loss per share. Fiscal full-year 2017 same-store sales are now expected to be flat to down 1% and adjusted earnings are expected to be 2 cents to 8 cents. The previous guidance was for same-store sales from a 1% decline to 1% growth and adjusted EPS of 40 cents to 65 cents. The FactSet consensus is for a same-store sales decline of 0.9% and EPS of 42 cents. The company took steps to sell off “slow-moving” merchandise, primarily across the women’s apparel department, according to a statement from Chief Executive Marvin Ellison. The move gave a boost to sales in September and October, but hurt cost of goods sold and earnings in the short-term, he said. The company is also revising its expenses in order to align them with the same-store sales growth in appliances and omnichannel sales. J.C. Penney will announce third-quarter results on Nov. 10 before the opening bell. Shares are down 56% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 20% for the period and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged nearly 29%.

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Colgate-Palmolive Co. said Friday it had net income of $607 million, or 68 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from $702 million, or 78 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 73 cents, matching the FactSet consensus. Sales rose 3% to $3.974 billion to beat the FactSet consensus of $3.941 billion. Chief Executive Ian Cook said the company remained leader in the toothpaste market with global market share of 43.5%. The company is now expecting its Global Growth and Efficiency restructuring program to generate charges of $1.28 billion to $1.38 billion, up from a prior $1.12 billion to $1.17 billion. Shares fell 1.5% premarket, but are up 9% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Shares of Merck & Co. Inc. surged 1.8% in premarket trade Friday, after the drug giant beat profit expectations and raised its outlook. The company swung to a third-quarter net loss of $56 million, or 2 cents a share, from a profit of $2.18 billion, or 78 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a $2.35 billion charge related to the formation of a strategic oncology collaboration with AstraZeneca PLC , adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.11, above the FactSet consensus of $1.03. Revenue fell to $10.33 billion from $10.54 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $10.54 billion. Pharmaceutical sales fell 3% to $9.16 billion. Among the top drug sellers, Januvia/Janumet sales slipped 2% to $1.53 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.49 billion; Keytruda sales nearly tripled to $1.05 billion, just shy of expectations of $1.07 billion; and Gardasil sales dropped 22% to $675 million, missing expectations of $776.4 million. For 2017, Merck raised its adjusted EPS outlook to $3.91 to $3.97 from $3.76 to $3.88, and lifted its revenue outlook to $40.0 billion to $40.5 billion from $39.4 billion to $40.4 billion. Merck’s stock has gained 5.1% year to date through Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 18.4%.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw on Thursday night the launch of four nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as part of a test for Moscow’s strategic nuclear force, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agency TASS. “The exercise practiced interaction of the Strategic Missile Force, nuclear-powered submarines of the Northern and Pacific Fleets and long-range aviation of Russia’s Aerospace Force,” the spokesman said. A Topol intercontinental ballistic missile was tested from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, hitting a target thousands of miles away at a military testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to reports. Russia, in September, had launched two intercontinental missile tests amid escalating geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

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Google parent company Alphabet Inc. reached record price levels in after-hours trading Thursday and could top a $700 billion market capitalization if it holds the gains through Friday’s trading session. Shares gained about 3% in late trading after the internet company announced third-quarter earnings that easily beat expectations Thursday afternoon. The stock would need a 3% gain for Alphabet to become just the second U.S. company after Apple Inc. to achieve a $700 billion market cap, after ending Thursday’s regular session at $679.6 billion, according to FactSet. If Alphabet accomplishes the feat Friday, it would have been only 131 days since the company first topped $600 billion, according to the WSJ Market Data Group, which would make it the fastest $100 billion market-cap gain on record. Alphabet’s Class A shares have already gained 25.1% so far this year, while the S&P 500 index has increased 14.4%.

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There will only be a partial release of roughly 2,800 records Thursday from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a White House official said Thursday. President Donald Trump is giving federal agencies an additional 180 days to review documents around the assassination. The requests for redactions mostly came from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. The documents had been slated for release Thursday.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with the high-profile software company Zenefits over allegedly making false statements in a pair of private offerings about whether its employees were properly licensed to sell insurance. The SEC found Zenefits not only didn’t take steps to license its workforce, it also didn’t spend enough time on pre-licensing education, allowed employees to sell insurance before they had taken and passed their exams, and permitted some employees licensed in one state to sell insurance in states they weren’t licensed. Zenefits and its former CEO, Parker Conrad, didn’t agree or deny to the findings they violated securities laws. Zenefits agreed to pay a $450,000 penalty, and Conrad agreed to pay a total of $533,692 in a fine, interest, and disgorgement.

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Western Digital Corp. shares declined in the extended session Thursday after the computer memory company topped Wall Street expectations for the quarter. Western Digital shares rose 2% to $90.99, following an earlier decline after hours. The company reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $681 million, or $2.23 a share, compared with a loss of $366 million, or $1.28 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $3.56 a share. Revenue rose to $5.18 billion from $4.71 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of $3.31 a share on revenue of $5.13 billion.

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