Category: Stock Market News

Oil prices settled with a modest gain on Friday, but fell for the month. Traders continued to weigh bullish prospects for an extension to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries production-cut deal against a bearish climb in U.S. output. June WTI crude rose 36 cents, or 0.7%, to settle $49.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were down about 2.5% from the March 31 settlement of the front-month May contract.

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Gold prices climbed on Friday, raising their monthly gain to roughly 1.3%, as weaker-than-expected first-quarter U.S. economic growth weighed on the dollar. Prices, however, ended the week about 1.6% lower as a rise in global equities from last Friday helped to dull safe-haven investment demand for the metal. June gold rose $2.40, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,268.30 an ounce for the session.

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Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by nine to 697 rigs this week. That marks a 15th weekly climb in a row. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also climbed by 13 to 870, according to Baker Hughes. June West Texas Intermediate crude was up 18 cents, or 0.4%, at $49.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the session– just a few pennies below the level it traded at before the data.

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Shares of Cloudera Inc. opened at $17.80 Friday morning, 19% above the company’s issue price, in the software company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The company sold 15 million shares at $15 each to raise $225 million. Though it priced above its range, Cloudera’s issue price still cut its private market valuation of $4.1 billion in half. With the opening price, Cloudera’s public market capitalization was $2.28 billion. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Company LLC were the lead underwrtiers on the offering. It has granted underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 2.25 million additional shares.

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Kellogg Co. said Friday it is planning to increase its quarterly dividend by 4% to 54 cents a share, starting with the third quarter. The cereal company made the announcement as it declared a dividend of 52 cents a share payable June 15 to shareholders of record as of June 1. Shares were slightly lower Friday, and are down 4% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.5%.

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Columbia Sportswear Co. was downgraded to hold from buy at Canaccord Genuity on Friday based on a slowdown at U.S. wholesale channels. Columbia Sportswear’s price target was cut to $60 from $64. Canaccord upgraded Columbia Sportswear in September 2016 on the belief the company could achieve mid-to-high single-digit sales growth this year. However retail bankruptcies and store closures along with “still-cautious” fall ordering has softened the company’s outlook, the note said. Columbia Sportswear Chief Executive Tim Boyle acknowledged that the closures, bankruptcies, liquidations and “ongoing efforts by U.S. retailers to rationalize their store fleets and square footage” are challenges in a late-Thursday earnings release statement. Long-term goals could also be in jeopardy since the “U.S. challenges appear structural.” Columbia Sportwear reported first-quarter earnings late Thursday that beat expectations. Net income was $36.0 million, or 51 cents per share, up from $31.8 million, or 45 cents per share, last year. The FactSet consensus was 41 cents. Sales were $543.8 million, up from $525.1 million last year and ahead of the $535.0 FactSet consensus. The company expects 2017 sales growth of 3%, and EPS after non-controlling interest of about $2.72 to $2.82 per share. The FactSet consensus is $2.80. Columbia Sportswear shares are down 6.4% in Friday trading and down 7% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 15% for the last 12 months.

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Shares of Carvana Co. were trading at $13 Friday morning, 13% below its issue price, in the car company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Carvana sold 15 million shares at an issue price of $15 to raise $225 million. With that issue price, Carvana had a market cap of $2.1 billion. Wells Fargo Securities, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Securities were the lead underwriters on the offering. Carvana has granted underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 2.25 million additional shares.

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Amazon.com Inc.’s investors may not agree, but the e-commerce giant continues to believe their are better uses for its cash than to buy back its own shares. Amazon disclosed Friday in its quarterly 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it didn’t repurchase any of its shares during the first quarter. The stock surged 2.4% in morning trade toward a record high after first-quarter results, and has run up 25% year to date. Amazon has a $5 billion share repurchase program in place, with no fixed expiration, and said it will “continually evaluate opportunities” to repurchase common stock. But filings show it hasn’t bought back any common stock since 2012, when it spent $960 million to buy back 5.3 million shares, which implies and average price of about $181.13. At current prices, Amazon’s repurchase program could buy back up to 5.3 million shares, or about 1.1% of the shares outstanding. Amazon had $15.44 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, filings show. Separately, Amazon has never paid a cash dividend. Amazon shares have soared 56% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index opened in record territory Friday after strong earnings from Google parent Alphabet Inc. helped lift the broader index. The S&P 500 [s spx] climbed 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,391, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 20,974. The Nasdaq [: comp] gained 20 points, or 0.3%, to 6,070. Shares of Alphabet , one of the index’s largest components, rose after the company late Thursday reported strong quarterly earnings. Meanwhile, shares of Western Digital Corp. surged after the computer-data storage company reported late Thursday that its quarterly revenue and profits had topped forecasts.

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Analyst Aaron Kessler at Raymond James, who downgraded Amazon.com Inc. ahead of the e-commerce giant’s first-quarter report, said Friday that he is sticking to his view that the stock is fairly valued. After having a bullish rating on Amazon for two years, Kessler cut his rating to market perform on Tuesday. After Amazon reported late Thursday what Kessler called “largely in-line 1Q results,” the stock surged 3.1% in premarket trade toward its 11th record close of the year. Kessler said he has a “positive fundamental view” on Amazon, but he believes Amazon “needs to begin to show more meaningful operating leverage–flat [year-over-year] in 1Q–for shares to move meaningfully higher.” The stock has rallied 9.9% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.1%.

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