Category: Stock Market News

Aaron’s Inc. , a company that provides sales and lease ownership services and specialty retailing for furniture, consumer electronics, appliances and more, has acquired all of the assets of its largest franchisee SEI/Aaron’s Inc. The all-cash transaction is valued at about $140 million. Aaron’s expects the deal to be accretive in 2017. SEI was founded in 1995 and serves more than 90,000 customers through 104 Aaron’s stores in 11 states, mostly in the Northeast. Aaron’s shares are unchanged Friday premarket trading, and are up 27% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 10.6% for 2017 so far.

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Merck & Co. reported Friday a second-quarter net profit that rose to $1.95 billion, or 71 cents a share, from $1.21 billion, or 43 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the drug giant said adjusted earnings per share came to $1.01, beating the FactSet consensus of 87 cents. Revenue rose 1% to $9.93 billion from $9.84 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $9.75 billion. Among Merck’s top selling drugs, Januvia/Janumet revenue fell 8% to $1.51 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $1.62 billion, while Keytruda revenue nearly tripled to $881 million, beating expectations of $787.5 million. For 2017, Merck affirmed its adjusted EPS outlook of $3.76 to $3.88, but revised its revenue guidance higher to $39.4 billion to $40.4 billion from $39.1 billion to $40.3 billion. “We continued to deliver strong results in the second quarter, driven by robust momentum for KEYTRUDA and good progress with other products in our portfolio,” said Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier. The stock was indicated up about 1% in premarket trade. It has climbed 8.2% year to date, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has run up 15.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 10.6%.

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Russia has told Washington to cut its diplomatic and consular staff in the country, in retaliation against new U.S. sanctions . The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday the U.S. has until Sept. 1 to bring the number of staff to 455 people, to match the tally of Russian diplomatic and technical personnel in the U.S. In addition, the ministry has suspended the use by the U.S. Embassy of a warehouse in Moscow and a holiday residence. The move comes after the U.S. Senate on Friday voted 98-2 in favor of tighter sanctions on Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election. “The adoption of the new law on sanctions clearly showed that relations with Russia have become hostage to the internal political struggle within the United States itself,” the ministry said in its statement. “In addition, the new law sets the goal, using political instruments, to create unfair competitive advantages for the U.S. in the global economy.”

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The French economy expanded 0.5% in the second quarter, statistics agency Insee said Friday. The agency’s first estimate of activity on a quarter-over-quarter basis met expectations in a FactSet survey of economists. Insee noted gross domestic product has expanded by the same pace for three consecutive quarters. In the most recent three months, exports climbed 3.1% after shrinking in the previous quarter, while imports markedly slowed to 0.2%.

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A Senate vote on a slimmed-down bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, failed in the early hours of Friday after a debate that dragged through the night. The final tally was 49 voting for and 51 against, with Sen. John McCain (R. Ariz.), who recently underwent surgery that revealed a brain tumor, among the “no’s.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky) had pitched the so-called “skinny repeal bill” in recent days, and GOP leaders said passing it was the only option they had after abandoning hope for a bill that would repeal and replace the health care law simultaneously. McConnell introduced the text of the plan just before 10 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, following talks with House Republican leaders. Speaking on the Senate floor after the vote, McConnell described the outcome as a “disappointment.” Of those who voted against, he said it will be “interesting to see what they had in mind … the government take over everything, European health care? Maybe that’s what they want to happen.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) expressed relief at the vote, saying millions will now retain their healthcare. “We are relieved. Not for ourselves, but for the American people,” he said, speaking from the Senate floor.

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Redfin Corp. priced its initial batch of shares at $15 Thursday night, higher than the company’s expected range, to achieve a valuation of $1.2 billion. The real-estate company, which mixes online technology with traditional agents, had expected to command a price of $12 to $14 a share in its initial public offering. The company has agreed to sell 9.23 million shares at that price, to collect more than $138 million, and underwriters have access to another 1.38 million shares at the same price. Redfin shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday under the ticker symbol RDFN.

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American depositary receipts of Baidu Inc. rose more than 7% late Thursday after the company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings and sales above Wall Street expectations. Baidu reported net income of $651 million, or $1.67 a share, in the quarter, compared with 95 cents a share in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Baidu earned $2.36 a share, compared with $1.16 a year ago. Revenue rose 14% to $3.08 billion, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $1.44 a share on sales of $3.06 billion. Baidu said it expects revenue of $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion for the third quarter. The analysts surveyed by FactSet peg sales at $3.4 billion in the quarter. The ADR ended the regular trading session down 0.1%.

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Republican senators including John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Thursday they want assurances from the House that there will be a conference before voting for a so-called “skinny” bill to repeal Obamacare. The Senate is debating passing such a bill, which would repeal the employer and individual mandates. But McCain and Graham said they don’t want the House to pass that bill, and instead hammer out a more-comprehensive version.

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Jonathan Golub has left RBC Capital markets to take up a similar position at Credit Suisse Group as chief U.S. equity strategist, according to a media report late Thursday. Reuters reported that Golub will begin at Credit Suisse in August, citing an internal memo. Back in June, Golub raised his year-end target for the S&P 500 index to 2,600 from 2,500.

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Amazon.com Inc. suffered in late trading Thursday after earnings showed higher spending than expected, but the company’s forecast suggests that it expects to continue spending rapidly in the current quarter. Amazon predicted third-quarter revenue will be in a range of $39.25 billion to $41.75 billion, after posting sales of $32.7 billion in the third quarter last year. However, Amazon said it expects operating income to be in a range from a loss of $400 million to a gain of $300 million, after posting operating income of $575 million a year ago. The profit forecast was well lower than what analysts expected, even as the sales forecast was strong: Analysts on average expected third-quarter operating income of $931 million on sales of $39.98 billion. Amazon shares were down about 3% in late trading Thursday.

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