Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Ruby Tuesday Inc. fell late Thursday after the restaurant chain reported a net loss and falling revenue in the fiscal third quarter. Ruby Tuesday said it lost $19.8 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.1 million, or 5 cents a share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Total revenue fell 16.8% to $225.7 million, which included a net reduction of 105 company-owned restaurants compared with the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. Ruby Tuesday closed 95 restaurants in connection with its reorganization last year. Same-restaurant sales fell 4%, compared with a 3.1% decline in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, the company lost $3.8 million, or 6 cents a share, in the quarter. Ruby Tuesday also said it named James F. Hyatt II its chief executive, effectively immediately. Shares of Ruby Tuesday fell 1.8% late Thursday after ending the regular trading day up 6.9%.

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PriceSmart Inc. shares slipped in the extended session Thursday after the warehouse club’s quarterly results fell short of Wall Street estimates. PriceSmart shares declined 3% to $90 after hours. The company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of 90 cents a share on revenue of $772.3 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 92 cents a share on revenue of $794.4 million.

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Twitter Inc. filed suit against the U.S. government Thursday on the grounds that government departments are violating free speech rights by directing Twitter to reveal the identities of users who had created “alternative” agency accounts critical of the administration. Specifically, the suit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protections and the Twitter account @ALT_USCIS, an immigration resistance account. The account and other related accounts purport to be run by government employees. The defendants had issued an administrative summons to Twitter on March 14, which directed Twitter to reveal the identity of that account. However, Twitter argues that the summons was unlawful and would violate free speech rights. “Permitting [Customers and Border Protections] to pierce the pseudonym of the @ALT_USCIS account would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account…and on the many other ‘alternative agency’ accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies,” the filing states. Twitter filed the suit in the Ninth Circuit Court and is asking the court to declare the summons unlawful and stop the enforcement of the summons.

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Oil futures rose for a third straight session and settled at a nearly one-month high on Thursday, finding support on expectations that a seasonal pickup in refining activity will help draw down massive U.S. crude stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 55 cents, or 1.1%, to close at $51.70 a barrel, the highest settlement for a most-active contract since March 7. Analysts said expectations a seasonal pickup in refining activity will lead to a fall in U.S. supplies helped offset disappointment a day earlier in an unexpected rise in inventories.

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Sales at privately-held company LunaPads, which makes menstrual products, increased by 25% last month. In mid-March, competitor Thinx weathered a scandal about workplace culture and a former employee charged that Thinx’s founder had sexually harassed her. Vancouver, Canada-based LunaPads, which has been making menstrual underwear since 2000, told MarketWatch it expects greater sales growth to come. Customers of start-up Thinx, which also makes menstrual underwear, told MarketWatch last month that they were disillusioned about the company, and weren’t sure they’d purchase its products again.

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Shares of Victoria’s Secrets parent L Brands Inc. were trading up 10% to lead S&P 500 gainers on Thursday, a surprising move coming after the company reported a 10% decline in March same-store sales. L Brands, which also owns Bath and Body Works, said net sales fell 7% to $951.4 million, hurt by a timing shift for Easter this year. Sales for the nine-week period to April 1 fell 8%, while same-store sales were down 11%. “For the nine week period, the exit of the swim and apparel categories had a negative impact of 6 percentage points and 9 percentage points to total company and Victoria’s Secret comparable sales, respectively,” the company said. Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen said the numbers were “likely better than feared”, but that the stock was probably also the subject of short covering. Short interest in the stock has climbed to 9.2 million shares, according to FactSet data. “Cowen remains very cautious on Victoria’s Secrets sports transition, bralette risk factors, and beauty turnaround – also, store footprint could become an issue if mall traffic weakness accelerates and digital importance increases,” Chen wrote in a note. Shares have fallen 28% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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Dustin Johnson has pulled out of The Masters, on the first day of the golf world’s first major tournament of 2017. Johnson had been set to tee off at 2.03 p.m. at Augusta National in Georgia but withdrew following a fall down a flight of stairs that injured his back on the eve of the historic tournament, according to reports. Besides being the top-ranked golfer, Johnson had entered the tournament on a three-gaming winning streak on the PGA tour and was a prohibitive favorite to don the “green jacket,” conferred upon the winner of the event that started in 1934 and is one of golf’s four major tournaments.

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Gold settled higher Thursday, its fourth gain out of five sessions, ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and on concerns that tax reform faces a rockier-than-expected road. Gold for June delivery settled up $4.80, or 0.4%, at $1,248.50 an ounce, on the heels of a surge following late Wednesday comments from House Speaker Paul Ryan that tax reform efforts could prove to be difficult. Silver for May delivery settled up 5.9 cents, or 0.3%, at just under $18.25 an ounce.

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Constellation Brands Inc. stock soared 7% Thursday, after the distributor of wine, spirits and Corona beer beat earnings estimates for the fourth quarter and offered upbeat guidance for fiscal 2018. Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog cited that outlook, along with margin expansion and strong volume growth in beer, as key positives in the report in a quick take note on the numbers. Herzog rates the stock outperform. Constellation Brands beat EPS estimates by 12 cents, while sales came in 2.4% above consensus, based on FactSet data. Beer shipment volumes rose 8.7% and pricing rose 4.6% to push beer sales growth to 10%, said Herzog. “We continue to think STZ has significant momentum and are encouraged by this quarter’s strong underlying results and FY18 outlook,” she wrote. Constellation Brands remains her top beverage stock pick, she said. Shares have gained about 13% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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Aetna Inc. said Thursday that it will not be selling Affordable Care Act plans in Iowa in 2018. The development, which was first reported by Modern Healthcare, a health care publication, was prompted by “financial risk and an uncertain outlook for the marketplace,” Aetna said. The health insurer, which sold ACA plans in 2017 in four states, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia, said it is still evaluating its participation in the three remaining states. Aetna’s decision follows an exit from the ACA exchanges by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Iowa’s largest insurer, which was announced earlier this week. The third insurer that currently has offerings on the Iowa exchanges is non-profit Medica. Health insurers have until June 21 to submit their bids for 2018, and have been contending with tremendous uncertainty around the future of the ACA, also called Obamacare. Though Republicans pulled their plan to repeal the ACA from a House of Representatives vote late last month, they’ve said they plan to try again, and it’s unclear how the law would fare under a hostile administration. Aetna shares have risen 3.0% over the last three months, compared with a 3.7% rise in the S&P 500 .

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