Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Citrix Systems Inc. fell more than 1% late Monday after the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company said its board of directors has appointed David J. Henshall, Citrix’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, as the company’s president and chief executive officer, in addition to board member, effective immediately. Henshall’s appointment follows the “mutual separation decision” between the board and CEO Kirill Tatarinov, the company said in a statement. “The Citrix board has identified the leadership team to drive the company’s long-term strategy and growth, led by David Henshall,” the company said. Citrix is committed to operational efficiency and value creation, and this includes “a series of strategic initiatives intended to drive operating margin expansion, increase capital return and facilitate further investment in accelerating Citrix’s transformation to a cloud-based subscription business and in high-growth areas, such as data security and analytics services,” it said. The company will discuss its plan at its second-quarter earnings call. Citrix is scheduled to report results on July 26. The stock had ended the regular session up 0.8%.

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Shares of Barracuda Networks Inc. fell more than 5% late Monday after the cloud security and storage company reported fiscal first-quarter per-share earnings in line with expectations. Barracuda said it earned $2.7 million, or 5 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $2.8 million, or 5 cents a share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $10 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $10.7 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 9% to $94.2 million, compared with $86.7 million in the first quarter of last fiscal year. Gross billings reached $105.2 million, while the number of active subscribers grew 17% to more than 335,000, the company said in a statement. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted per-share earnings of 18 cents on sales of $91.2 million for the quarter. Billings were pegged at $104 million. The shares ended the regular session up 0.6%.

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Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares jumped 35% in late trading Monday after the company announced positive results from a drug study. The San Diego company said that a phase 2 study of a drug targeted at pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease that causes high blood pressure in the lungs, showed “a statistically significant absolute change from baseline.” In a study of 61 patients, those that received the drug, called ralinepag, showed 29.8% greater improvement than patients in a placebo group and 20.1% improvement compared with the baseline, the company said. Arena stock topped $25 in after-hours trading immediately following the announcement, after closing with a 4.5% decline at $18.39; Arena shares have not hit $25 in regular trading since 2015. Arena planned a conference call to discuss the results for 4:30 p.m. Eastern time Monday.

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The Trump administration is aiming to come to an agreement on a draft tax plan with the House and Senate before the August recess, with the goal of beginning legislative action after the break, a top official said Monday. White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short told reporters the administration is continuing to have discussions with lawmakers and would “hopefully” have a plan “locked in place” before the recess. Both President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are seeking tax cuts for businesses and individuals. Short did not provide a desired timetable for a final vote.

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U.S. consumer credit rose at a 5.8% clip, or by $18.4 billion, in May, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That’s the fastest rate in seven month, and comes as revolving credit like credit cards jumped 8.7%. Nonrevolving credit, typically auto and student loans, rose 4.7%.

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Shares of fertilizer companies were sharply higher Monday, as a spike higher in prices for corn, which is used to develop fertilizer, helped fuel and support the gains. CF Industries Holdings Inc.’s stock shot up 7.1% toward a three-month high, enough to make it the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P 500 index. Fellow fertilizer maker Mosaic Co.’s shares were the second biggest S&P 500 gainer, as they ran up 6.5% to a two-month high. Helping fuel the gains, corn futures soared over 2% to settle above $4.00 a bushel for the first time since June 2016, amid concerns over supply in the face of a drought and rising temperatures in the Great Plains region. Rising prices for corn and fertilizer could help fertilizer companies’ result. Among other fertilizer companies, shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. climbed 6.8%, also boosted by reports of an upgrade at Scotiabank, and Agrium Inc. hiked up 7.1%. Meanwhile, CF Industries’s stock was still down 4.8% year to date, while Mosaic shares had tumbled 18%, the SPDR Materials Select Sector ETF had closed 9.9% and the S&P 500 had advanced 8.5%.

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Shares of retailers were hammered Monday, as a wave of fears about the impact of juggernaut Amazon.com Inc. on the sector were highlighted in stories and commentary from analysts. Department store chain Macy’s Inc. , currently in the midst of store closures caused by weak revenue as shoppers switch to Amazon, led the decliners with a 7% fall, making it the worst performer on the S&P 500. Gap Inc. fell 6.5%, followed by Best Buy Inc. , down 6.3%. Best Buy has mostly escaped the pressure of the Amazon effect, but was hit Monday by a Recode report that Amazon has been hiring a team of people to offer in-home product installations, competing with Best Buy’s “Geek Squad.” Kohl’s Corp. fell 4.6% and Nordstrom Inc. was down 2.7%. Abercrombie & Fitch fell 20% after it said it had ended talks on a potential deal. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was down 2.5% and Foot Locker Inc. was down 2.3%. Costco Wholesale Corp. fell 1.7% after an analyst downgrade that suggested the company’s strong fundamentals are being overshadowed by Amazon fears, following its bid for Whole Foods Markets Inc. . The SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund was down 2% and is now down 11.7% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 9%.

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Oil prices settled with a minor gain on Monday as traders looked to the possibility that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries may set a production cap for cartel members Libya and Nigeria. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the two countries, which have been exempt from the OPEC-led output-cut agreement, have been invited to a meeting of major oil producers later this month in Russia. August WTI crude rose 17 cents, or 0.4%, to settle $44.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after losing nearly 3% on Friday.

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Southwest Airlines Co. shares fell 1.5% Monday, after Wolfe Research downgraded the stock to peer perform from outperform on valuation grounds. “Even though we take up our target multiple by one turn today from ~12x to 13x our 2018 EPS estimates, our EPS estimates are about as high as we feel we can go,” analyst Hunter Keay wrote in a note. “Valuation isn’t cooperating.” Southwest shares have gained 27% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 9%.

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CFRA said Monday it is sticking with its buy rating on Amazon.com Inc. shares, and said it expects the company to bring major long-term disruption to the grocery business after it made a $14 billion bid for Whole Foods Market Inc. . “We think the news could presage a major long-term disruption of the grocery business by AMZN, as the company further leverages its technology, logistics and fulfillment infrastructure,” CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi wrote in a note. Amazon is bidding about $42 a share for Whole Foods, equal to a 27% premium over the stock’s pre-bid closing price. The deal is expected to close in the second half, subject to approvals. Whole Foods stock was trading at $41.98 Monday, below the bid price. It traded above the price last week, prompting speculation that another bidder might emerge. Amazon shares were up about 2%, and have gained 33% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.5%.

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