Category: Stock Market News

Discount shoe retailer DSW Inc. said Tuesday it had net income of $30.5 million, or 38 cents a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter to Jan. 28, up from $11.7 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 20 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 16 cents. Same-store sales fell 7%, while net sales rose to $674.6 million from $672.0 million. The FactSet consensus was for for same-store sales to fall 5.2% and for net sales of $692 million. “After making fundamental changes to our core business last year, we are laser focused on driving comp growth through our merchandise and allocation initiatives and the elevation of our customer’s digital experience,” Chief Executive Roger Rawlins said in a statement. The company is investing in Ebuys and Town Shoes and aiming to harness synergies across its retail brands, he said. DSW is now expecting fiscal 2017 EPS to range from $1.45 to $1.55, compared with a FactSet consensus of $1.53. Shares were indicating slightly higher premarket, but are down 28% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17.5%.

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Amid blizzard conditions in the Northeast and snowfall elsewhere, cancellations of flights within, into or out of the U.S. on Tuesday reached 5,414 as of about 6:30 a.m. Eastern, according to FlightAware’s live tracking tool. At least American Airlines , United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have issued travel alerts and generally began waiving rebooking fees for flights within affected regions. AAL, DAL and UAL shares, as well as Southwest , had not yet registered a premarket trade.

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Solar-power company Sungevity Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell its assets to an investment group, the company said Monday. Sungevity said the investors, led by Minnesota-based private equity firm Northern Pacific Group, would “acquire substantially all of the company’s assets.” The filing in Delaware bankruptcy court hopes to “facilitate a financial and corporate restructuring to strengthen its balance sheet and recapitalize the company,” Oakland, Calif.,-based Sungevity said in a statement. The investment group will provide about $20 million to help finance the restructuring, and Sungevity said it hopes to close the asset sale by the end of April. The residential solar-installation company said day-to-day operations would not be impacted, although it reportedly laid off two-thirds of its staff last week. “We believe that this represents a step forward for the company,” Sungevity Chief Executive Andrew Birch said in a statement.

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Synopsis Inc. is set to become a part of the S&P 500 index , S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Monday. The automation software company will replace Harman International Industries, which was acquired by Samsung. The change to the index will occur before the open of trade on Thursday, S&P said. Synopsys shares rose 0.2% to $72.23 in after-hours trading.

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JBS USA, a subsidiary of Brazil’s JBS S/A, has bought Plumrose USA, the U.S.-based bacon and deli-meats business of Denmark’s Danish Crown A/S, for $230 million, JBS USA said late Monday. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year, subject to regulatory review and approvals, the company said. The acquisition includes five prepared-foods facilities and two distribution centers in the U.S. Plumrose’s net revenue is around $500 million, JBS USA said. Danish Crown is one of Europe’s largest pork processors and exporters as well as among the largest meat processing companies in that continent.

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Staples Inc. said late Monday it plans to sell its Australian and New Zealand business to Platinum Equity for an undisclosed amount. “As we execute our plan for long-term growth we want to focus primarily on our Staples’ North American business, and this will allow us to better do that,” said Shira Goodman, Staples chief executive, in a statement. Shares of Staples rose 0.8% to $8.64 after hours.

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Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. sank in Monday’s extended session following a CNBC report that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has sold his stake in the company and plans to step down from the board. Ackman had steadfastedly expressed support for the drug company even after the company’s stock plunged in the aftermath of an accounting scandal. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital owned 2.88 million shares, or 9.96% of the company, at the end of 2016. Valeant dropped more than 7% after hours.

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Oil prices settled with a modest loss Monday, but registered a sixth consecutive session decline. In a monthly report Monday, the Energy Information Administration forecast a rise of 109,000 barrels a day in April shale oil production, from a month earlier, feeding concerns that rising U.S. crude output will offset OPEC-led efforts to rebalance the global market. April West Texas Intermediate crude lost 9 cents, or 0.2%, to settle $48.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said Monday that it is launching J.C. Penney Home Services this month in order to capitalize on the housing market. The retailer is partnering with companies like Samsung Electronics Co. and Trane to test six programs in about 100 stores, including heating and cooling systems and bathroom remodeling. Services and marketing will vary by location. Consumers are spending $300 billion on home upgrades, according to a statement from Chief Executive Marvin Ellison. He also cited data showing that two-thirds of homes in the U.S. are over 30 years old. “There’s a tremendous opportunity to capture additional revenue and minimize our dependence on apparel by catering our services to female homeowners who represent over 70% of our loyal customer base, and make the primary decisions regarding any home renovations,” he said. J.C. Penney shares are down nearly 5% in Monday trading, and down 46% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 17.2% for the last 12 months.

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The British pound strengthened temporarily Monday after a spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May indicated that the formal process to begin the country’s exit out of the European Union won’t be triggered this week. The spokesman said the so-called Article 50 process wound’t be initiated until next week at the earliest, the Independent newspaper reported. May had been expected to invoke Article 50 as early as Tuesday. “We have been clear. The prime minister will trigger Article 50 by the end of March,” the spokesman said, according to the report. The pound traded as high as $1.224 versus the dollar in the wake of the report. But it pulled back to around $1.2229 in recent action, near where it traded ahead of the report but still up from $1.2168 in late New York trade on Friday. The euro traded at 87.23 pence, down 0.6%.

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