Category: Stock Market News

Supervalu Inc. said late Monday it will acquire grocery distributor Unified Grocers for $114 million. Under the agreement, approved by both company boards, Supervalu will also assume and pay off $261 million in United Grocer debt. The companies expect the deal to close in the mid-to-late summer. Shares of Supervalu rose 2.6% to $3.89 after hours.

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United Continental Holdings Inc. late Monday said its March traffic rose 3% to 17.61 billion revenue passenger miles from a year earlier. A revenue passenger mile is equal to one passenger flown one mile. Total capacity last month increased 3.4% to 21.66 billion available seat miles. However, load factor, or the percentage of available seats filled with passengers, fell 0.3% to 81.3%. The data release comes amid mounting negative publicity for the airline over an incident in which a passenger had to be forcibly removed from an overbooked United flight. Shares of United slipped 0.2% after hours.

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RetailMeNot Inc. , an online coupon site specializing in promotional codes for e-commerce, has agreed to be acquired for $11.60 a share, roughly 50% higher than its closing price of $7.75. Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., a subsidiary of Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., agreed to acquire the company to pair with a more traditional coupon business it acquired in 2013, Valassis Communications Inc. “RetailMeNot provides a new global digital channel to distribute our clients’ offers that perfectly complements Valassis’ current digital, mobile, mail and other print networks,” Victor Nichols, chief executive of HCH, said in the announcement. HCH, which plans a tender offer for shares at the announced amount with a second-step merger at the same price for any shares not procured in the tender, expects the deal to close in the current quarter. RetailMeNot will be a private company after the acquisition and will not release earnings guidance moving forward, the companies said. RetailMeNot went public in 2013 for $21 a share and shares sold for more than $40 at times on the public market; shares were halted ahead of the announcement, and were expected to begin trading again at 1:45 p.m. Pacific time.

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Shares of Hub Group Inc. were halted in the extended session Monday after the transportation management company forecast earnings well below Wall Street estimates. Hub Group shares were halted at $47.25, following a 1.8% rise in the regular session. The company forecast earnings of 30 cents to 32 cents a share for the first quarter, and $1.60 to $1.80 for the year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated first-quarter earnings of 45 cents a share, and full-year earnings of $2.39 a share. “We are experiencing a soft pricing environment due primarily to excess truck capacity and extraordinarily aggressive intermodal pricing,” the company said in a statement.

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Stocks closed fractionally higher Monday, but well off session highs as investors cautiously approached the beginning of earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.92 points at 20,658.02, led by gains in shares of Caterpillar Inc. and Travelers Cos. , and hampered by shares of Merck & Co. and Boeing Co. . The S&P 500 index finished up 1.62 points at 2,357.16, with a 0.8% rise in the energy sector and a 0.7% gain in real-estate stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.11 points to close at 5,880.93.

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Oil futures settled higher Monday, with prices up a fifth consecutive session. Geopolitical tensions following last week’s U.S. airstrike on Syria and the recent shutdown of Libya’s largest oil field raised concerns over disruptions to global crude supplies. May West Texas Intermediate crude rose 84 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $53.08 a barrel.

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The United States has joined Canada and Mexico, as anticipated, in launching a three-party bid to host soccer’s World Cup in 2026. The Guardian first reported last week that the bid was expected to materialize. In response to concerns that a U.S.-Mexico relationship complicated by the election of President Donald Trump would have a negative impact on the effort, the president of Chicago-based U.S. Soccer, Sunil Gulati, said, “We have the full support of the United States government in this project,” the Guardian reported Monday. The Guardian reported that the bid unveiled Monday calls for the U.S. to host 60 games, including all matches from the quarterfinals onward, with Mexico and Canada splitting the remaining 20 matches between them. The U.S. last hosted a men’s World Cup in 1994. Russia and Qatar are in line to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while the most recent World Cup, in 2014, was played in Brazil.

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Activist investor Jana Partners LLC has built a stake of almost 9% in Whole Foods Market Inc. and is pressuring the organic grocer to accelerate turnaround efforts and even explore a sale, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Jana is asking the company to upgrade technology and operations to better compete, the paper reported. It is also pushing for a board shake-up and urging the company to find out what a bidder might be willing to pay. Whole Foods declined to comment. Shares surged 9%, putting them on track for the best one-day gain in about two and a half years.

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Amazon.com Inc. was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham on the strength of the company’s growth prospects both in the U.S. and abroad. Analysts say Amazon’s U.S. market share could expand 16% in the next five years. Amazon’s U.S. market share was 34% in 2016 based on gross merchandise volume. The U.S. contributes nearly 70% of the company’s e-commerce revenue. Year-over-year revenue grew 30% in fiscal 2016, double the 15% retail industry average, according to Needham. Prime membership is a key driver of the company’s growth, along with mobile penetration and third-party growth. Overseas, Needham thinks Amazon has successfully used its U.S. playbook to expand in the U.K., Japan and Germany. India is also seen as a long-term opportunity. And Amazon Web Services will continue to drive bottom-line growth, with operating income of $3.7 billion in 2016, Needham said. Amazon shares are up 1.2% in Monday trading, and up 52.4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 15.1% for the last 12 months.

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Axovant Sciences Ltd. shares surged 28% in morning trade Monday after the biotech company said that David Hung is its new chief executive officer. Hung was the founder and CEO of the biotech Medivation, which was acquired by Pfizer last year for $14 billion. The Bermuda-based Axovant is frequently speculated about as an acquisition target. Axovant’s prior, founding CEO was Vivek Ramaswamy, who will stay on the company’s board of directors and will become full-time CEO of Axovant’s parent company, Roivant Sciences. The company also announced that Marion McCourt, Medivation’s former chief operating officer, would serve as Axovant president and chief operating officer. Axovant shares were valued at $19.41 as of Monday morning. Shares have surged 49.8% over the last three months, compared with a 4.0% rise in the S&P 500 .

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