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T. Rowe Price Group on Tuesday announced that Céline Dufétel has been hired as vice president. Dufétel will also assume the roles of chief financial officer and treasurer in the first quarter of 2018, replacing Ken Moreland, who is retiring after nearly 14 years at the firm. Dufétel, who joins from Neuberger Berman, will report to CEO Bill Stromberg. In a release, Stromberg called her “a dynamic and strategic leader.” Dufétel is a native of France who spend part of her childhood in Bethesda, Maryland. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from École Polytechnique and served as a navigation officer in the French Navy aboard an oil tanker while in college. T. Rowe Price has $927 billion in assets under management and is headquartered in Baltimore.

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Tempur Sealy International Inc. was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel based on the company’s quick recovery from contract terminations with Mattress Firm earlier this year that sent Tempur Sealy shares to a three-year low. Its price target was raised to $80 from $60. “Industry trends are soft,” analysts led by John Baugh said. “While this in a way provides less tailwind for the company, it also accentuates what we believe will be sizable market share gains (pro-forma or excluding Mattress Firm from the prior year) for the rest of this year and into 2018.” Tempur Sealy lost access to 3,500 locations when the Mattress Firm contracts were terminated. But “comparisons do get easier as Mattress Firm was already sliding with Tempur Sealy in 2016,” Stifel says. Tempur Sealy shares are unchanged in premarket trading, and down nearly 10% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 8.5% for 2017 to date.

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Kohl’s is continuing to push toward smaller physical locations, as it plans to open four small format stores and a fifth e-commerce fulfillment center in the third quarter, the company said Tuesday. The fulfillment center will be a 937,000-square-foot facility in Plainfield, Ind and will process online orders. The four 35,000-square-foot stores will be in North Smithfield, RI.; Blue Ash, Ohio; East Windsor, N.J. and Montebello, Calif. These will bring Kohl’s to a total of eight small format stores. Overall, Kohl’s plans to move close to half of its stores to smaller locations by the end of 2017. In 2018, Kohl’s will move its larger store in Greenfield, Wis. to a new 55,000 square-foot store nearby. The store moves are calculated based on customer and inventory needs, and result in a more efficient store experience, Kohl’s said. Shares of Kohl’s have fallen 7.7% in the past month, while the S&P 500 has lost 1.8%.

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Sears Holdings Corp. said Tuesday that it has entered into two licensing agreements to manufacture and sell Kenmore and DieHard brand products. Cleva North America Inc. will manufacture Kenmore and Kenmore Elite vacuums and accessories for retailers around the world. And Dorcy International will make DieHard alkaline batteries and flashlights for distribution in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America, along with some South Pacific locations. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. Sears shares are unchanged in premarket trading, and down 8% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 8.5% for 2017 so far.

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Homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. said Tuesday it had net income of $148.6 million, or 87 cents a share, in the third quarter to end July, up from $105.5 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $1.50 billion from $1.27 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 69 cents and revenue of $1.51 billion. Deliveries rose 26% to 1,899 units. The average price of homes delivered was $791,400, compared to $842,700 a year ago, mostly due to an expected change in mix. The company said it now expects to deliver between 7,000 and 7,300 homes in fiscal 2017, up from earlier guidance of 6,950 to 7,450 units, at an average delivered price of $800,000 to $825,000 a home. Shares fell 0.7% premarket, but have gained 23.4% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.4%.

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Coty Inc. shares fell 3.2% in Tuesday premarket trading after the beauty company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations. The company had a net loss of $304.8 million, or 41 cents per share, wider than a loss of $31.0 million, or 9 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was breakeven, below the 9-cent FactSet consensus. Revenue for the quarter was $2.24 billion, up from $1.08 billion last year and ahead of the $2.17 billion FactSet consensus. Standout brands include Wella and OPI in the Professional Beauty category and Hugo Boss, Gucci, Chloe and Philosophy in the Luxury category. Covergirl struggled during the quarter. Coty shares are up 6.8% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 8.5% for the period.

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JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. U.S.-listed shares jumped 7.4% premarket after the Bejing-based company blew past estimates for the second quarter. JA Solar said it had net income of $19.9 million, or 42 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $24.2 million, or 3 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2017. Revenue rose 61% to $878.1 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 3 cents and revenue of $603 million. Total shipments were 2,389.2 megawatts. Chief Executive Baofang Jin said the numbers exceeded the company’s expectations, driven by robust shipments in China ahead of subsidy reductions. “We remain cautious on our business outlook as we enter the second half of 2017, given the slowdown in demand in our domestic market, coupled with the uncertainty around the Section 201 trade case in the U.S.,” Jin said in a statement. The company is expecting total shipments to range from 1,600 to 1,700 MW in the third quarter. U.S.-listed shares have gained 30% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.5%.

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BBX Capital Corp. said Tuesday its timeshare unit Bluegreen Corp. has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. No price range or other terms have yet been determined and there is no guarantee a transaction will take place.

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Medtronic Plc. said Tuesday it had net income of $1.016 billion, or 74 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter to July 28, up from $929 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.12, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.08. The Dublin-based medical equipment maker said sales rose to $7.39 billion from $7.17 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $7.45 billion. Chief Executive Omar Ishrak said revenue was hurt by a global IT disruption in June and temporary Diabetes sensor supply constraints. “While these temporary issues had affected first quarter revenue growth, we continued to drive operating margin expansion,” Ishrak said in a statement. Shares were indicating higher in premarket trade, but have gained 17% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.5%.

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Provident Financial PLC shares plunged 57% after the company issued its second profit warning in recent months on Tuesday. The U.K. lender said Tuesday that it expects to log a loss between 80 million pounds and £120 million in the third quarter, citing a “substantial deterioration” in the performance of its home credit business. In June, Provident warned of a £60 million loss for the period. The company said in its trading update Tuesday that it is withdrawing the interim dividend declared on July 25 and signaled that a full-year dividend is unlikely. Provident’s chief executive, Peter Crook, is stepping down with immediate effect. It said debt collections are at 57% compared with 90% in 2016, and sales are £9 million a week lower. The disappointing home credit performance comes after Provident shifted to using full-time “customer experience managers” rather than self-employed agents.

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From:: Stock Market News