Category: Uncategorized

Estee Lauder Cos. shares rose 4.7% in Friday premarket trading after the beauty company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat estimates. Net income was $229.0 million, or 61 cents per share, up from $94.0 million, or 25 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 51 cents, beating the 43 cents per share. Sales totaled $2.89 billion, up from $2.65 billion and ahead of the $2.85 billion FactSet consensus. Skin care sales were $4.52 billion, with La Mer showing double-digit gains. Makeup sales were $5.05 billion, driven primarily by incremental sales of Too Faced and Becca, which were acquired in the second quarter, and double-digit increases in brands including Tom Ford and Smashbox. The company expects fiscal first-quarter sales to increase 9% to 10%. EPS is expected to be between 85 cents and 89 cents, and adjusted EPS is expected to be between 94 cents and 97 cents. The FactSet consensus is 91 cents. Estee Lauder shares are up 28.5% for the year so far outpacing the S&P 500 index , which is up 8.5% for the period.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Deere & Co. dropped 4.0% in premarket trade, after a fiscal third-quarter profit beat was offset by a sales miss. The maker of construction and farming equipment said net income for the quarter to July 30 rose to $641.8 million, or $1.97 a share, from $488.8 million, or $1.55 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.93. Total revenue rose to $7.81 billion from $6.72 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $7.90 billion. Agriculture and turf sales rose 13% to $5.34 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $5.42 billion, while the 29% jump in construction and forestry revenue to $1.50 billion matched expectations. Deere expects 2017 agriculture and turf sales to rise about 9% from last year, while construction and forestry sales is projected to increase 15%. “We are seeing higher overall demand for our products with farm machinery sales in South America experiencing strong gains and construction equipment sales rising sharply,” said Chief Executive Samuel Allen. The stock has rallied 20% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR Industrial Select Sector ETF has gained 8.4% and the S&P 500 has advanced 8.5%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Foot Locker Inc. shares tumbled 15% in premarket trade Friday, after the sports apparel company missed profit and sales estimates for the second quarter. The company said it had net income of $51 million, or 39 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $127 million, or 94 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 62 cents, well below the 90 cents FactSet consensus. Sales fell 4.4% to $1.701 billion, also below the FactSet consensus of $1.801 billion. Same-store sales fell 6%, compared with a FactSet consensus of a gain of 0.8%. “Sales of some recent top styles fell well short of our expectations and impacted this quarter’s results,” Chief Executive Richard Johnson said in a statement, describing the results as disappointing. “At the same time, we were affected by the limited availability of innovative new products in the market. We believe these industry dynamics will persist through 2017, and we expect comparable sales to be down three to four percent over the remainder of the year.” The company is working with vendors to identify new trends more quickly and is reviewing its capex priorities and mulling spending cuts, he said. Shares are down 33% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.5%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The suspected driver of the van in Thursday’s terrorist attack in Barcelona has been named as Moussa Oukabir, according to multiple media reports Friday. Oukabir’s age has been given as 17 or 18. He is the younger brother of Driss Oukabir, a 28-year-old Moroccan who has been arrested and is alleged to have rented the vehicle, a Telegraph report said. Moussa Oukabir may have escaped a Barcelona drag net by stabbing a man to death and stealing his car, a report from The Australian said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

21st Century Fox Chief Executive James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch, denounced the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va., and President Donald Trump’s response to it in an email obtained and published late Thursday by the New York Times. Murdoch also said he will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League, and encouraged others to donate as well. A Fox spokesperson verified the email as authentic. In the email addressed to “friends,” Murdoch wrote: “What we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people. . . . I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists.” His father, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been a strong supporter and informal adviser of Trump, and 21st Century Fox is the parent of Fox News. Rupert Murdoch also controls News Corp. , the parent company of MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Chris Wanstrath will step down as chief executive of GitHub, the developer platform startup, according to a report late Thursday. Wanstrath, who co-founded San Francisco-based GitHub, will remain as CEO until a new one is hired, Forbes reported. He will then become the company’s executive chairman. GitHub says it has about 20 million users and has passed $200 million in annualized recurring revenue, and is valued by investors at about $2 billion. Wanstrath is in his second stint as GitHub CEO, after returning to the position in 2014. “I’m confident that this is the moment to find a new CEO to lead us into the next stage of growth,” Wanstrath said in a statement.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Calpine Corp. shares shot up more than 9% in after-hours trading late Thursday after a Wall Street Journal report that Energy Capital Partners is closing in on a $17 billion deal to acquire it. Energy Capital, a private-equity firm specializing in energy infrastructure, would pay $15.25 a share for the power-generating company, sources told the Journal, which would value Calpine at $5.5 billion. Including debt, the deal would be valued at about $17 billion, the Journal said, and may be announced as soon as Friday. Calpine is known mostly for its natural-gas power plants, and provides power for about 6.5 million residential customers across the U.S.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News