Category: Stock Market News

Amazon.com Inc. announced Monday plans to open its first fulfillment center in Colorado, which the e-commerce giant said it expects will create 1,000 new full-time jobs. The one-million square foot facility will be opened in Aurora, which is less than 20 miles north of Denver. Amazon said the new jobs will pay 30% more than traditional retail jobs and receive benefits, including tuition reimbursement. Amazon already has “hundreds” of employees working at a sortation center in Aurora. Amazon’s stock, which slipped 0.3% in premarket trade, has rallied 36% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Avaya Holdings Corp., a communications and technology company, withdrew its initial public offering, according to a filing Monday. Avaya said it is withdrawing the IPO because its principal U.S. operating subsidiary filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Avaya had filed to go public in June 2011.

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Lowe’s Companies said Monday its chief marketing officer, Marci Grebstein, has left the company, after 14 months in the position. The home improvement retailer named Jocelyn Wong as chief marketing officer, effective immediately. Wong joined Lowe’s in September 2015, after a stint as chief marketing officer at Family Dollar. Grebstein had replaced Thomas Lamb as CMO in November 2015, after joining the company earlier that year. Lowe’s stock has gained 1.3% over the past 12 months, while the shares of its chief rival Home Depot Inc. have rallied 10% and the S&P 500 has run up 19%.

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Shares of TerraForm Global Inc. surged 2.5% in premarket trade Monday, after the renewable energy company announced an exclusivity deal to negotiate with Brookfield Asset Management regarding a potential buyout. Under terms of the deals being negotiated, Brookfield will buy either 100% of the company for as much as $4.35 a share, or Brookfield will buy 50.1% of its outstanding shares for as much as $4.25 each, and replace SunEdison Inc. as its sponsor. TerraForm’s stock closed Friday at $4. The exclusivity agreement will expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on March 6. TerraForm’s stock has gained 12% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%. SunEdison had filed for bankruptcy in April 2016.

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Shares of NCI, Inc. fell 13% in premarket trade Monday after the company said its controller had embezzled $18 million from the company over six years. NCI, a provider of information technology and professional services for U.S. government agencies, said it had fired the controller and has begun an internal investigation into the issue. The company believes it will be able to recover a large portion of the stolen money. NCI said it believes the controller was acting alone and had taken about $5 million in 2016 and $13 million over the prior five years. The company said this money showed up as expenses in NCI’s financial statements and that the unadited financial statements in the company’s form 10-Q’s for the first three quarters of 2016 cannot be relied on. NCI is working with legal counsel and federal authorities on the matter. Shares of NCI have gained 21% in the past three months, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 6%.

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Sprint Corp. said on Monday it’s acquiring 33% of Jay Z’s music streaming service Tidal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sprint plans to make Tidal available to its 45 million post and prepaid customers. “Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential,” Jay Z said in statement. “[Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure] understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint’s 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience.” Tidal has had a rocky start since Jay Z bought the company for $56 million in March of 2015. The music streaming platform, touting high quality audio and artist exclusive content, launched with a much-criticized concert and has since shuffled numerous top executives out the door. With the deal, Sprint Chief Executive Marcelo Claure will sit on the Tidal board. Sprint shares are up 211% in the trailing 12-month period, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up 19%.

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McDonald’s Corp. shares are nearly flat in Monday premarket trading after the fast-food giant reported earnings that beat expectations. Net income for the fourth quarter totaled $1.19 billion, or $1.44 per share, compared with $1.21 billion, or $1.31 per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.41. Sales for the quarter were $6.03 billion, down from $6.34 billion and beating the $6.00 billion FactSet consensus. Global same-store sales increased 2.7%, though same-store sales in the U.S. fell 1.3%. The FactSet consensus was for a 1.4% decline in U.S. same-store sales. McDonald’s attributes the U.S. same-store sales decline to a tough comparison with last year’s all-day breakfast launch. Fourth-quarter same-store sales rose 4.7% in the high growth segment, led by China. And same-store sales rose 11.1% in foundational markets, led by Japan and some Latin American markets. McDonald’s shares are up 3.3% for the last year while the the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 23.2% for the same period.

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Wells Fargo analysts downgraded Verizon Communications Inc. stock to market perform from outperform Monday morning, as they believe the company’s outperformance since the presidential election, up 10% vs. the S&P 500 Index up 5%, isn’t sustainable given growth headwinds in 2017. “While we still favor Verizon’s network superiority and free cash flow generation, we struggle with near term catalysts,” wrote senior analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in a note to Wells Fargo clients. “We believe Street estimates for 2017 revenue are too high and do not fully factor in headwinds.” Since the election, Verizon stock has benefited from expectations of corporate tax reform, which Fritzsche writes will likely happen, but the timing and impact is still uncertain. In the near term, Fritzsche says Verizon’s emerging businesses in digital media and the internet of things lack required scale and the company has been feeling increased competition from the likes of T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. . Shares of Verizon are up 12% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 Index is up more than 19% in the same time.

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WestRock Co. announced Monday a deal to sell its home, health and beauty business to Silgan Holdings Inc. for $1.025 billion, plus the assumption of $25 million in foreign pension liability. WestRock said it expects to receive net proceeds $1 billion from the sale. “We have a constant strategic focus at WestRock on aligning our portfolio and resources around our core paper and packaging solutions businesses, and the sale of our Home, Health and Beauty business is the next step in this process,” said WestRock Chief Executive Steve Voorhees. The deal is expected to close during the current quarter. Silgan expects the deal to add to earnings, and will add more to earnings over time as synergies, which are expected to be $15 million within 24 months, are phased in. WestRock’s stock has soared 53% over the past 12 months, while Silgan shares have tacked on 3.3% and the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Kroger Co. said Monday that it will fill 10,000 permanent positions across its supermarket divisions. In 2016, the grocer hired 12,000 associates, and said it has created 86,000 permanent jobs over the last eight years. In total, Kroger has 443,000 associates and says about 70% of its store managers started as part-time clerks. Kroger shares are up 0.8% in premarket trading, but are down 8.2% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 19.1% for the past 12 months.

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