Category: Stock Market News

Actua Corp. shares jumped in the extended session Monday after the cloud-based software and services company said it was selling three of its majority-owned businesses and distributing proceeds to shareholders. Actua shares soared 28% to $15.65 after hours, following a brief halt. The company said it plans to sell interest in its VelocityEHS, Bolt Solutions and FolioDynamix businesses for a total of $549 million cash. Actua said it is selling its interest in the software company VelocityEHS and online insurance service platform Bolt Solutions to CVC Growth Fund, and web-based wealth management technology platform FolioDynamix to Envestnet Inc. . Envestnet shares were unchanged at $49.90 after hours. Actua said it expects proceeds of $14.35 to $15.18 a share from the sales with distribution to shareholders in the first quarter of 2018.

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Synnex Corp. shares rallied in the extended session Monday after the business process services company’s earnings and outlook topped Wall Street estimates. Synnex shares surged 9% to $127 after hours. The company reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $75.2 million, or $1.87 a share, compared to $58.7 million, or $1.47 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $2.16 a share. Revenue rose to $4.28 billion from $3.67 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated $1.97 a share on revenue of $4 billion. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Synnex estimates adjusted earnings of $2.63 to $2.73 a share on revenue of $4.75 billion to $4.95 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings of $2.52 a share on revenue of $4.47 billion.

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Shares of Ascena Retail Group Inc. rose more than 14% late Monday after the parent company of Ann Taylor, Dressbarn and other apparel retailers swung to a surprise adjusted profit in the fiscal fourth quarter and reported higher sales and half the decline in comparable-store sales that Wall Street expected. Ascena said it lost $16 million, or 8 cents a share, in the quarter, versus a net income of $14 million, or 7 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Ascena earned 5 cents a share, compared with 8 cents a share a year ago. Revenue reached $1.66 billion in the quarter, compared with $1.81 billion in the year-ago period. The decrease in sales reflected a 4% comparable sales decline, caused primarily by mid single-digit declines in average selling price and store traffic, the company said in statement. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 3 cents a share on sales of $1.57 billion, and a decline of more than 8% for comparable-store sales. Shares ended the regular trading session up 3.3%.

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Red Hat Inc. shares rose in the extended session Monday after the open-source software company topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Red Hat shares advanced 4.5% to $110.50 after hours. The company reported second-quarter net income of $96.9 million, or 53 cents a share, compared to $58.8 million, or 32 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 77 cents a share. Revenue rose to $723.4 million from $599.8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $699.6 million. For the third quarter, Red Hat estimates earnings of 70 cents a share on revenue of $730 million to $737 million. Analysts had estimated earnings of 70 cents a share on revenue of $710.5 million.

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Oil prices rallied Monday, with West Texas Intermediate crude marking a more than five-month high and Brent crude settling at its highest level since 2015. “Oil prices have been going higher in recent weeks due, first and foremost, to evidence that OPEC and Russia’s efforts to reduce the global supply glut was showing positive results and that the group was somewhat surprisingly sticking to their agreement,” said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com. “Talks that the production cuts could be extended has been providing further confidence to oil investors that the rally could be sustained,” he said. November WTI crude rose $1.56, or 3.1%, to settle at $52.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent crude rose $2.16, or 3.8%, to end at $59.02 on ICE Futures Europe.

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President Donald Trump will give a speech Wednesday in Indianapolis that includes “new details” about tax cuts and reform, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday. Sanders told reporters that the details will include proposed rates for individuals, corporations and small businesses. Trump and congressional leaders will reportedly propose cutting the corporate rate to 20% from 35%, and the top individual rate to 35% from 39.6%.

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Gold prices settled at their highest level in more than a week Monday, as growing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea and declines in the U.S. stock market lifted the metal’s appeal as a safe-haven investment. December gold rose $14, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,311.50 an ounce. That was the highest finish since Sept. 15, according to FactSet data.

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Exchange-traded funds that track the Germany stock market fell on Monday, in the wake of an election in the country that suggested political turbulence could be ahead in Europe’s largest economy. The iShares MSCI Germany ETF fell 1% in its biggest one-day decline since Aug. 29, though it remains up by 20.3% for 2017. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance won the German election; however, the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party saw their worst result since 1949, losing around a fifth of the 41.5% support they garnered just four years ago. Meanwhile, an anti-immigrant party saw a surge in support. Among other funds, the First Trust Germany AlphaDEX Fund fell 1.4% and the iShares MSCI Germany Small-Cap ETF lost 1.1%. The euro fell to $1.1840 from $1.1948 late Friday in New York.

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Alphabet Inc. self-driving vehicle unit Waymo LLC said it seeks $1.86 billion in damages from Uber Technologies Inc. in its lawsuit over a trade secret related to technology that Waymo says a former Uber executive stole from it, according to court papers filed late Friday. Uber has denied the allegations. Alphabet stock is down 1.7% to 927.08 in early afternoon trading. Last week, an Uber attorney had said in a San Francisco federal court that Waymo wanted $2.6 billion in damages for a single trade secret it is accused by Waymo of appropriating. The Friday filing also notes that the damages Waymo seeks aren’t additive and that if the jury says that Uber did steal every trade secret it has been accused of, Waymo would still seek $1.86 billion. The litigation is set to begin jury selection on Oct. 10, though Waymo’s lawyers have asked federal magistrate William Alsup for more time because it recently received a large document cache from Uber and needs more time to prepare for trial. The judge has told Waymo to make a “good college try” to be prepared for the scheduled date. Alphabet shares are up 17% this year, with the S&P 500 index up 11.8%.

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Shares of Colgate-Palmolive Co. ran up 3.4% toward a 2 1/2-month high in midday trade Monday, after the consumer products company was upgraded at Morgan Stanley, citing valuation and expectations of a re-acceleration in sales growth. Analyst Dara Mohsenian raised his rating to overweight from equal weight, and lifted his stock price target to $84 from $75. In a recent survey of investors, Mohsenian said Colgate-Palmolive scored the lowest on sentiment among the mega-cap consumer staples companies covered, which likely stems from three-straight quarters of sales growth disappointments and subpar earnings quality. But Mohsenian said he believes revenue growth will accelerate given easier comparisons and a rebound in emerging markets, at a time when the market is “mispricing” the company’s strategic options and competitive position. “We see a rare opportunity to buy a well-positioned business at a valuation level close to structurally less-attractive peers, as [Colgate-Palmolive’s] topline slowdown vs. peers has driven stock underperformance,” Mohsenian wrote in a note to clients. The stock has lost 3.1% over the past three months, while the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector ETF has eased 2.2% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.2%.

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