Category: Stock Market News

iHeartMedia Inc. , the operator of radio and television stations, is planning to include language in its next quarterly report warning investors that it may not survive another year, according to a regulatory filing. The company, which owns iHeartRadio and outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings , said it continues to expect cash flow to be negative and is uncertain as to whether it will be able to refinance or extend the maturities of some of its borrowings. The company has almost $350 million of debt coming due this year, part of a massive $20 billion debt load it took on as part of a $24 billion leveraged buyout of then Clear Channel Communications Inc. by private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners in 2008.
“Management anticipates that our financial statements to be issued for the three months ended March 31, 2017 will include disclosure indicating there will be substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the date the first quarter 2017 financial statements are issued,” the company said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. iHeartMedia shares reversed early gains to trade down 3% on Friday, while Clear Channel Outdoors shares were down 2%.

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iHeartMedia Inc. , the operator of radio and television stations, is planning to include language in its next quarterly report warning investors that it may not survive another year, according to a regulatory filing. The company, which owns iHeartRadio and outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings , said it continues to expect cash flow to be negative and is uncertain as to whether it will be able to refinance or extend the maturities of some of its borrowings. The company has almost $350 million of debt coming due this year, part of a massive $20 billion debt load it took on as part of a $24 billion leveraged buyout of then Clear Channel Communications Inc. by private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners in 2008.
“Management anticipates that our financial statements to be issued for the three months ended March 31, 2017 will include disclosure indicating there will be substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the date the first quarter 2017 financial statements are issued,” the company said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. iHeartMedia shares were trading up 3% on Friday, while Clear Channel Outdoors shares were down 2%.

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Shares of Visa Inc. surged to another record high in morning trade Friday, in the wake of the credit card company’s fiscal second-quarter results. The stock ran up as much as 1.8% to an all-time intraday high of $92.80, before paring gains to be up 0.6% at $91.73. The stock had also closed at a record on Thursday, before reporting after the bell earnings and revenue that rose above expectations. No less than 17 of the 37 analysts surveyed by FactSet raised their stock price targets Friday, lifting the average to $101.81, or 11% above current levels. That helped lift rival MasterCard Inc.’s stock to record highs on Friday. Visa shares have now run up 18% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 4.1%.

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Industrial and defense stocks were major gainers Friday, as investors digested earnings reports from some big names in the sector, including General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc. . Rockwell Collins Inc. led S&P 500 gainers with a 3.4% gain, after it beat profit and sales expectations for its first quarter. Honeywell was in second place with a 2.5% gain after it reported stronger-than-expected earnings and raised the low end of its guidance range for the full year. Textron Inc. , which reported earlier this week, was up 1.8%. Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co. were both up about 1%. GE, which posted strong results for its industrial segment but weakness in oil & gas, bucked the trend to trade down 0.7%. The S&P 500 was flat.

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Uber Technologies Inc. has lengthened the timeline of its internal investigation into claims of sexual harassment at the company, Recode reported. The investigation began after a former engineer wrote a blog post detailing sexual harassment she had faced at the company. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is leading the investigation and has asked for more time to conduct interviews, Recode reported, citing sources. The results of the investigation are now expected to come out by the end of May. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Onconova Therapeutics Inc. shares dropped 12.3% to $2.19 in morning trade Friday after the company priced a stock offering at $2.10 per share. Shares were valued at $2.49 as of Thursday’s close. The company plans to offer about 2.5 million shares on or about April 26 for an expected $5.2 million that it plans to use to develop its drug for higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, which are considered a form of cancer and are related to bone marrow damage. Onconova shares have declined 10.9% over the last three months, compared with a 3.7% rise in the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stocks opened little-changed as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach ahead of the first round of voting in the French presidential election, which takes place Sunday. The S&P 500 index was unchanged at 2,355, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 20,592. The Nasdaq Composite Index was little-changed at 5,915. While centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron remains the favorite to win overall, some fear that the National Front’s Marine Le Pen and far-left contender Jean Luc Melenchon might advance to the second round, an upset that would lead to a “nightmare scenario” for markets. Corporate earnings reports released Friday before the bell were generally positive, as shares of industrial conglomerate General Electric Co. rallied after its earnings surpassed expectations. Honeywell International Inc. also beat, sending shares higher. Meanwhile, shares of Mattel Inc. slumped after the toy maker’s quarterly results, released late Thursday, missed the mark.

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Bebe Stores Inc. announced Friday that it will liquidate all merchandise and inventory and close all stores by the end of May 2017. In the 8K filing, the women’s clothing and accessories retailer said it would also sell certain furnishings, fixtures and equipment. The company expects an impairment charge of about $20 million from deferred rents and other credits, a result of the store closures. The impairment charge will be recorded with the third and fourth quarters of 2017. And it may incur a loss from the sale of its merchandise. Bebe had 180 retail stores as of Dec. 31, 2016 and about 2,601 employees as of July 2, 2016, according to filings. The company had anticipated closing up to 25 stores in 2017. Bebe shares are down 0.3% in premarket trading and down 37.3% for the past year.

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Mattel Inc. shares sank 6.8% toward a five-month low in Friday premarket trading after the toy company reported first-quarter earnings that missed expectations. The late-Thursday announcement also brought down Hasbro Inc. shares, which fell 2.1% in premarket activity. Mattel reported a loss per share of 33 cents and an adjusted loss per share of 32 cents. The FactSet consensus was a 17-cent loss. Sales plunged 15%, totaling $735.6 million down from $869.4 million last year. The FactSet consensus was $794.0 million. Mattel shares are down 19% for the last year, Hasbro shares are up 10.6% for the period, and the S&P 500 index is up 12.6% for the past 12 months.

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Wells Fargo & Co. said Friday it is expanding the class-action settlement for its retail sales practices by $32 million, bringing the total to $142 million. The settlement will now include customers who were impacted by the bank’s retail sales practices as early as May of 2002, the bank said in a statement. Wells Fargo became the subject of a major scandal last year, when it admitted that employees had opened as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization between 2011 and 2016 to meet sales targets. The bank said the new agreement has been submitted to the Northern District of California court. Wells Fargo is expecting this latest move to resolve claims in 11 other pending class actions regarding unauthorized accounts that were opened in customers names without their consent. Shares were slightly higher in premarket trade, but are down 3% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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