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Perrigo Co. was upgraded to neutral from sell by Goldman Sachs with a price target of $79 early Friday. Perrigo shares closed at $76.84 on Thursday. The company reported second-quarter profit and revenue beats Thursday and raised its 2017 guidance, marking it as the rare generic drugmaker that isn’t suffering right now. Goldman Sachs analyst Jami Rubin, who had rated the company sell on concerns about pricing headwinds in February 2016, said that “this quarter may mark the beginning of an inflection point to stabilization, and pricing fears are fully appreciated by investors. While we are not prepared to call for a turn to growth, we think risk of future downgrades is probably behind us.” Perrigo may still face generic pricing pressure, but the majority of the company’s profits — about 70% — come from its consumer health business, Rubin said. Perrigo shares have surged 2% over the last three months, compared with a 1.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of meal kit maker Blue Apron Inc. slid another 2% in premarket trade Friday, after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgraded the stock to hold from buy after the company disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected guidance. The company said Thursday as it reported earnings for the second quarter that it had run into delays in the last month with its new factory in Linden, New Jersey. The plant is expected to eventually account for more than half of the meal kits Blue Apron sells, but only contributed about 3% of the network’s national volume this quarter. That means additional delays in new product rollouts, which will limit the company’s ability to gain new customers and retain existing ones. “While management is focused on speedy resolution and regaining execution velocity, the slowdown in business momentum highlights the risks in an operationally/logistically intensive business,” analysts wrote in a note. “We opt to move to the sidelines given a lack of visibility on timing for a full recovery and costs associated with the effort.” Blue Apron’s stock closed Thursday at $5.14, almost half its IPO price of $10, marking the worst performance for a big IPO this year. The stock has fallen 28% in the last month, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.5%.

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J.C. Penney Co. Inc. shares sank 16.4% in Friday premarket trading after the retailer reported second-quarter losses that exceeded expectations. J.C. Penney reported a net loss of $62.0 million, or 20 cents per share, after a loss of $56.0 million, or 18 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted losses were 9 cents per share, wider than the FactSet consensus for a 4-cent loss. Sales were $2.96 billion, up slightly from $2.92 billion, and ahead of the FactSet consensus of $2.84 billion. Same-store sales fell 1.3% for the quarter. Nearly all categories had improved sales results, according to Chief Executive Marvin Ellison, and the company liquidated inventory in 127 of its closing stores, which had an impact on earnings and margins. Inventory was $2.8 billion at the end of the second quarter, a 6.8% decline year-over-year. J.C. Penney reaffirmed its full-year 2017 outlook, expecting adjusted EPS of 40 cents to 65 cents and same-store sales between a 1% decline and 1% increase. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of 49 cents. J.C. Penney shares are down 11% for the last three months and 43.3% for the year so far. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 10.6% for 2017 to date, and the S&P 500 index is up nearly 9% for the period.

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Jeffrey Lord, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, has been fired from CNN after tweeting “Sieg Heil” at a liberal activist. “Nazi salutes are indefensible,” the network said in a statement. Angelo Carusone of Media Matters for America had criticized Lord and asked “why do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you don’t take yourself seriously,” when Lord responded with the German victory salute. In the Twitter thread, Lord said he opposed Nazis and fascists.

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From:: Stock Market News