Category: Stock Market News

Nasdaq Inc. said Thursday it is evaluating strategic options for its public relations and digital media services units as part of a broader strategic overhaul that aims to allocate more resources to technology, data and analytics. The exchange operator said the businesses include Nasdaq GlobeNewswire, Nasdaq Influencers, Nasdaq Media Intelligence and Nasdaq IR Websites and Newsrooms, and generated about $195 million in revenue in the 12-month period to June 30. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 15% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday waived the Jones Act for Puerto Rico at the request of the U.S. territory’s governor, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. The act bans foreign-flagged ships from carrying goods between U.S. ports. On Wednesday, Trump said he was thinking about lifting restrictions on foreign vessels’ operations, but also said some in the shipping industry were opposed.

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Conagra Brands Inc. said Thursday it had net income of $152.5 million, or 36 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter to Aug. 27, down from $186.2 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 39 cents, just below the FactSet consensus of 40 cents. Sales fell to $1.804 billion from $1.895 billion, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.786 billion. The owner of food brands, including Marie Callender’s, Reddi-Wip, Hunt’s, Healthy Choice and Slim Jim, said it still expects fiscal 2018 sales to be down 2% to flat. Adjusted EPS is expected to range from $1.84 to $1.89, wrapping around the FactSet consensus of $1.86. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have fallen 16% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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Shares of Rite Aid Corp. slumped 3.5% in premarket trade Thursday, after the drugstore chain that is being acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. matched loss expectations but missed on sales. Net income for the quarter to Sept. 2 rose to $170.7 million, or 16 cents a share, from $14.8 million, or a penny a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the adjusted per-share loss of 1 cent matched the FactSet consensus. Revenue fell 4.4% to $7.68 billion from $8.03 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $7.84 billion, as pharmacy segment sales declined 3.4%. Same-store sales declined 3.4%, while the FactSet average of two analyst estimates was a decline of 2.2%, as pharmacy sales fell 4.6% and front-end sales declined 0.9%. Separately, the company named Kermit Crawford as chief operating officer. Walgreens received regulatory clearance last week to buy Rite Aid assets, with store purchases expected to begin in October and be completed in spring 2018. Rite Aid’s stock has plunged 42% over the past three months, while Walgreens shares have gained 1.4% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 2.7%.

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Southwest Airlines Co. shares slid 1.2% in premarket trade Thursday, after the carrier said the recent natural disasters are expected to shave about $100 million off third-quarter operating revenue. The airline has canceled about 5,000 flights through Sept. 28 because of the natural disasters, which include hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the earthquake in Mexico. As a result, it expects third-quarter available seat miles, a measure of capacity, to increase about 3% from the year-earlier period. The company expects third-quarter operating revenue per available seat mile to be flat to down 1%. Operating expense per available seat mile, excluding fuel costs, special items and profit-sharing costs, is expected to rise 3% to 4%. The company is still expecting fuel costs of $2.00 to $2.05 a gallon, based on derivative contracts and market prices as of Sept. 22. Shares have gained 12% in 2017, roughly the same as the S&P 500’s gain.

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Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. soared 7.8% in premarket trade Thursday, after the mobile security software company reported a surprise fiscal second-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations. Net income for the quarter to Aug. 31 was $19 million, despite a per-share loss of 7 cents, after a net loss of $372 million, or 71 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 5 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of a breakeven quarter. Revenue fell to $238 million from $334 million, but beat the FactSet consensus of $222 million. Enterprise software and services revenue rose to $91 million from $84 million and licensing, IP and other revenue grew to $56 million from $16 million, while handheld devices revenue dropped to $16 million from $105 million. For the full fiscal year, BlackBerry expects “positive” adjusted EPS, compared with the FactSet consensus of 4 cents, and adjusted revenue of $920 million to $950 million. The FactSet revenue consensus is $916 million. The stock has dropped 9.8% over the past three months but has run up 34% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 12% this year.

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Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the country’s lower house of parliament on Thursday, with snap elections expected on Oct. 22, according to media reports. Abe is looking to boost his support from voters as his popularity has increased amid the crisis with North Korea. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) currently has a two-thirds “super” majority. Meanwhile, a new political party that launched on Wednesday by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is already gaining support, according to media reports. But that new party — the Party of Hope — has created turmoil for the LDP, which some say could be absorbed by the Party of Hope.

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While the use of targeted ads on Facebook Inc. has been the central focus of potential Russian election-meddling through fake news, Twitter Inc. may have been by Russian agitators used more extensively, the New York Times reported late Wednesday. The Times found a network of suspected Russian-linked Twitter accounts were still tweeting divisive messages last weekend about the many NFL protests during the national anthem. According to the Times report, there is evidence that Russian “bot” accounts spread misinformation during the 2016 presidential campaign, intended to spread discord among Americans. Twitter is scheduled to brief members of the Senate and House intelligence committees Thursday, and has been invited, along with Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, to testify publicly on Capitol Hill in November.

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Streaming software and device maker Roku Inc. has priced its initial public offering at $14 per share on Wednesday, according to Dow Jones sources. The company is set to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “ROKU” and should begin trading Thursday. The company will raise $219 million in funding at a value of $1.3 billion. Roku had expected to price the IPO between $12 and $14, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s net loss for the second quarter of 2017 widened to $15 million from $14 million in the year-earlier period, on sales of $99.6 million. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Allen & Co. are listed as underwriters, according to a filing with the SEC.

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Campbell Food Co. said late Wednesday that a lawsuit brought by the estate of a former Pacific Foods shareholder against Pacific Foods “creates an impediment” to the closing of the $700 million deal, announced in July, even as Campbell is not named in the suit. Campbell said it notified Pacific Foods on Wednesday that the company has 60 days under the terms of the agreement to resolve the issues arising from the suit if the transaction is to be completed. After that period, Campbell “has the option to extend the cure period or terminate the agreement,” the company said in a statement. Shares of Campbell were flat in late trading after ending the regular session up 0.8%.

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