Category: Stock Market News

Smith & Wesson parent American Outdoor Brands Corp. said Wednesday that a new $50 million stock repurchase program was approved, on the same day that it completed its previous $50 million program. The new program runs through March 28, 2019. Since 2012, the guns and firearms accessories maker said it has reduced its public float by 25.6% by buying back a total of 16.9 million shares at an average price of $12.67, which is 48% below Tuesday’s closing price of $18.75. The stock, which was indicated up about 0.4% in premarket trade, has tumbled 11% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.4%.

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The U.K. government letter formally starting the Brexit process has been received by Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, kicking off two years of negotiations. The letter, which invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally states the U.K.’s intention to withdraw from the European Union. It was handed over at lunchtime Wednesday in Brussels after being signed by British Prime Minister Theresa May the day before. “After nine months, the U.K. has delivered,” Tusk said in a post to Twitter. Speaking to lawmakers in the House of Commons, May said, “This is a historic moment, and there’s no turning back.” The pound nudged higher to $1.2468 after the letter’s delivery, after dropping to $1.2456 late Tuesday. U.K. stocks stayed 0.3% lower for the session, with the FTSE 100 at 7,332.69.

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BuzzFeed is making plans to go public in 2018, media site Axios reported, citing unnamed industry sources. The website, which started life with mostly viral videos involving cats, has grown into a news site with an entertainment division including an L.A. studio, has long planned to go public, Axios reported. BuzzFeed Chief Executive Jonah Peretti has turned down past offers from media companies, it said.

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U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric Co. plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, after the board of its parent company, Japan’s Toshiba Corp. , approved the move Wednesday, according to a report by Nikkei news service. Cost overruns at Westinghouse’s nuclear projects in Georgia and South Carolina have weighed heavily on Toshiba, which warned in February it may face up to a $6.2 billion writedown from its nuclear energy business. Toshiba bought Westinghouse in 2006 for $5.4 billion. The Japanese conglomerate also intends to spin off its memory-chip unit at the end of March to raise much-needed capital.

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged in the extended session Tuesday after the biotech drug maker said its cystic fibrosis treatment met endpoints in two late-stage clinical studies. Vertex shares rose 6.3% to $95.30 after hours, before being halted. As after-hours trading resumed, shares surged 21% to $108.60. The company said two studies showed its combination treatment of the drug tezacaftor and its branded drug Kalydeco significantly improved the lung function in cystic fibrosis patients. Vertex said it plans to submit marketing applications based on the results to both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in the third quarter.

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The Democratic National Committee has requested all current staffers to submit resignation letters by April 15, according to a report by NBC News. The report says DNC Chairman Tom Perez has launched an overhaul of the party’s organization, following a difficult year that included the abrupt resignation of former Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The DNC was also hit with charges it favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.

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Wells Fargo & Co. said late Tuesday it agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over the creation of millions of unauthorized customer accounts. The bank said it will set aside $110 million to settle a class-action suit filed in California in May 2015. “After attorneys’ fees and costs of administration, class members will be paid first for out-of-pocket losses, such as fees incurred due to unauthorized account openings,” Wells Fargo said in a statement. “Amounts remaining after out-of-pocket losses will be split among all claimants, based on the number and kinds of unauthorized accounts or services claimed.” In September, the bank agreed to a $185 million settlement with the $185 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after employees created more than 2 million unauthorized checking and credit-card accounts for customers. Wells Fargo shares rose 0.3% to $56.10 after hours.

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The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise of 1.9 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended March 24, according to sources. The API data also showed a decline of 1.1 million barrels in gasoline supplies and a fall of 2.0 million barrels in distillates, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an increase of 300,000 barrels in crude inventories. May crude was at $48.37 a barrel in electronic trading, unchanged from the contract’s settlement on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Sonic Corp. shares declined in the extended session Tuesday after the drive-in restaurant chain’s quarterly revenue came in below Wall Street expectations. Sonic shares slipped 3.3% to $23.13 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $100.2 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $104.5 million. For the year, Sonic forecast same-store sales to decline by 2% or be flat, while analysts expect a 0.9% decline.

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Shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. shares fell 6% late Tuesday after the casual-dining chain beat fourth-quarter per-share earnings expectations but called for lower-than-expected same-store sales for 2017. It also missed quarterly comparable-store sales expectations. Dave & Buster’s said it earned $27.4 million, or 63 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $23 million, or 53 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2015. Revenue rose 15% to $270.2 million in the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected per-share earnings of 59 cents on sales of $270 million. Comparable-store sales rose 3.2%, compared with expectations of a 3.7% growth, according to FactSet. The company said it expects 2017 sales between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion and a comparable-store sales increase between 2% and 3%. The analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a comparable-store sales growth around 3.6% for the year. Shares had ended the regular session up 2.3%.

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