Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. were up nearly 2% in premarket on Thursday after the company reported third quarter profit and revenue above Wall Street expectations. The wireless, internet and TV provider reported net income of $3.74 billion, or 89 cents per share, compared with $3.75 billion, or 89 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Per share earnings excluding special items was 98 cents, above FactSet’s 97 cents per share consensus. Revenue for the quarter was $31.72 billion, up from $30.94 billion. FactSet’s consensus on revenue was $31.44 billion. Verizon said it added 66,000 Fios internet subscribers and lost 18,000 subscribers in video, which the company said reflects the shift from traditional linear video to internet streaming. Verizon said Fios revenue increased 4.8%. In wireless, Verizon added 30,000 postpaid customers, after a loss of 107,000 customers in the year earlier period. Shares of Verizon are down nearly 9% 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 17%.

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Corbus Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc. shares surged 21.4% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported positive results from a phase 2 trial of its autoimmune disease drug. The drug, anabasum, is intended for the rare inflammatory condition dermatomyositis, which is associated with an itchy and painful rash and progressive muscle weakness, according to the Mayo Clinic. In the clinical trial, which enrolled 22 adults and lasted 16 weeks, the drug outperformed the placebo in the primary efficacy outcome and in multiple secondary efficacy outcomes, the company said. There were also no signs of safety issues, Corbus said. Currently, “we have little to offer patients with moderate to severe disease activity except immunosuppressive therapies with often limited efficacy and significant side effects,” said Dr. Victoria Werth, a principal investigator in the study and a professor of dermatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Corbus Pharma shares have surged 6.9% over the last three months to $7.00 per share, compared with a 3.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Winnebago Industries Inc. surged 3.6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the recreational vehicle maker beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales expectations, and launched a stock buyback program. Net income for the quarter to Aug. 26 rose to $24.92 million, or 79 cents a share, from $13.1 million, or 49 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet EPS consensus was 71 cents. Revenue rose to $454.9 million from $263.3 million,. That beat the FactSet consensus of $439.9 million. Motorized revenue fell 4.4% to $226.2 million, while towable revenue increased to $228.7 million from $26.6 million, boosted by the addition of $193.4 million in revenue from the Grand Design acquisition. The company authorized a $70 million stock repurchase program, which would represent about 5% of Winnebago’s market capitalization as of Wednesday. “We made significant progress in Fiscal 2017 to transform Winnebago Industries into a larger, more profitable outdoor lifestyle company offering a full line of RVs,” said Chief Executive Michael Happe. The stock has run up 40% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Philip Morris Inc. shares fell 1.3% in premarket trade Thursday, after the cigarette distributor missed profit and revenue estimates for the third quarter. The company said it had net income of $1.97 billion, or $1.27 a share, in the third quarter, up from $1.94 billion, or $1.25 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings also came to $1.27, below the FactSet consensus of $1.38. Revenue excluding excise taxes rose 7% to $7.5 billion, also below the FactSet consensus of $7.7 billion. For the full-year, the company said it expects EPS of $4.75 to $4.80, compared with a FactSet consensus of $4.84. Shares have gained 23% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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The Spanish government will move to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy on Saturday, media reports said Thursday, after the region’s leaders failed to drop a push for independence. The central government will trigger Article 155 of the country’s constitution, after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont missed a deadline of 10 a.m. local time to meet its demand to pullback from a breakaway. Instead, Puigdemont called once again for negotiations, saying the region’s parliament could set a vote on a declaration of independence — currently suspended, after a referendum backed the move — if Madrid declined to talk. “Consequently, the Spanish government will continue with the steps laid out in Article 155 of the constitution to restore the legality of self-government in Catalonia,” the Spanish government said in a letter. If home rule is suspended in Catalonia — known as the “nuclear option” — the central government would likely impose direct rule on the region, a big contributor to the country’s economy.

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U.S. stock futures fell sharply on Thursday, led by a hefty tumble for Nasdaq-100 futures as shares of eBay Inc. slid. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 115 points, or 0.5%, to 23,000, while S&P 500 futures dropped 13.10 points, or 0.5%, to 2,547.75. Nasdaq-100 futures slumped 46 points, or 0.7%, to 6,074. Shares of eBay slumped 6% in thin premarket trading — the online auctioneer’s shares took a hit late Wednesday after the company lowered its annual profit outlook. Other tech shares followed the shares lower in premarket trading, with Netflix Inc. down 1%, Apple Inc. off 1.6% and Nvidia Inc dropping 1.1%. European shares were also taking a hit with the Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.5%. Asia also saw heavy hits, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closing down 1.8% and the Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 2.1%. Growth data released earlier in the day revealed a slowdown in China.

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MongoDB Inc. priced its initial public offering at $24 a share Wednesday night, $2 higher than the price range it had already inflated just the day before. The database-software company originally targeted an IPO price in a range of $18 to $20, and increased that target to $20 to $22 Tuesday. MongoDB plans to sell at least 8 million shares at the $24 price, which would raise $192 million at an initial valuation of about $1.18 billion. The company was valued at $1.6 billion in its last round of private investment, the end of about $300 million in venture investment in the startup. Underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Barclays, have access to an additional 1.2 million shares that could sell and raise the total take and valuation. MongoDB is expected to begin trading under the ticker symbol MDB on the Nasdaq exchange Thursday morning.

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SendGrid Inc. filed documents for an initial public offering Wednesday, following through on a promise to debut in 2017 as it heads toward $100 million in annual revenue and potential profitability. SendGrid, which sells a software platform that helps companies manage email communications with customers, said it would seek $100 million in proceeds in the offering, though that is usually a placeholder figure that will be replaced in subsequent filings. The 8-year-old startup based in Denver has experienced strong revenue growth while losses have shrunk, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SendGrid reported annual revenue totals of $42.8 million, $58.5 million and $79.9 million for the past three full years, while annual net losses fell from $13 million to $5.9 million to $3.9 million. In the first six months of 2017, the company lost $3.1 million on revenue of $51.8 million, both improvements from the same period the year before, which puts it on track for a stated goal of $100 million in revenue along with an IPO this year. The company has raised more than $80 million in private investment, according to Crunchbase, and the SEC filing shows that venture capital investors own about 73% of the company, led by Foundry Group’s stake of 29.6%. SendGrid plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SEND, and the offering is being led by Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.

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Blue Apron Holdings Inc. has reduced its workforce by 6% to “support its strategic priorities,” the company said in a filing Wednesday. The layoffs happened in Blue Apron’s corporate offices as well as fulfillment centers. The company said it expects about $3.5 million in employee-related expenses, mostly in severance payments incurred in the fourth quarter. Blue Apron had 5,393 employees as of June. Blue Apron “did not take this decision lightly, and I want to assure you that we believe it was necessary as we focus the company on future growth and achieving profitability,” Chief Executive Matthew Salzberg said in a letter to employees in the filing. Shares of Blue Apron fell 1% in late trading after ending the regular trading day down 1.5%. The stock debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in June.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday it named Brett Redfearn, J.P. Morgan’s global head of market structure for its investment bank, to be director of the regulator’s division of trading and markets. Redfearn will oversee the major securities market participants and infrastructure including, among others, broker-dealers, self-regulatory organizations (including stock exchanges, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and clearing agencies), alternative trading systems, and transfer agents. Redfearn has also served on the boards of Bats Global Markets, the Chicago Stock Exchange, BIDS Trading, and the National Organization of Investment Professionals.

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