Ralph Lauren’s stock tumbles after missing sales expectations, cutting outlook

Ralph Lauren Corp.’s stock tumbled 12% in premarket trade Thursday, after the fashion apparel and accessories company beat fiscal third-quarter earnings expectations, but missed on sales and cut its full-year outlook. For the quarter ended Dec. 26, earnings fell to $131 million, or $1.54 a share, from $215 million, or $2.41 a share. Excluding non-recurring items, such as one-time restructuring charges, adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.27, above the FactSet consensus of $2.13. Revenue slipped to $1.95 billion from $2.03 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $2.03 billion, with wholesale and retail sales both declining. For the full fiscal year, the company now expects revenue to down 3%, compared with previous guidance of flat. Operating margin is now expected decline 2.9-to-3.2 percentage points from a year ago, compared with previous guidance of a decline of 1.8-to-2.3 percentage points. “While our recent results have been disappointing, I am greatly encouraged by the changes that are already taking place since the appointment of Stefan Larsson as our new CEO,” said Executive Chairman Ralph Lauren. The stock has gained 1.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had lost 9%.

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Yahoo stock upgraded on buyout potential

Shares of Yahoo Inc. rose 1% in premarket trade Thursday after the company was upgraded to buy from neutral/high risk at Citi. The bank raised its outlook two days after Yahoo reported stronger-than-expected revenue growth and in-line earnings for its most recent quarter, announced layoffs and said its board was exploring “strategic alternatives.” Citi analyst Mark May said the company’s disappointing guidance will likely increase pressure on management and the board to seriously consider buyout options, and because of that, now sees the risk/reward for Yahoo investors as favorable. May also raised his price target on the stock by a dollar to $32. Shares of Yahoo have fallen 21% over the last three months, versus a 9% decline for the S&P 500. They were on track to open around $28 on Thursday.

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Boston Scientific matches profit expectations, but sales fall shy

Boston Scientific Corporation reported Thursday a fourth-quarter loss of $142 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a loss of $299 million, or 23 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted EPS, which excludes one-time litigation and restructuring charges, was 26 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 25 cents. Revenue rose to $1.99 billion from $1.89 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2 billion. For the first quarter of 2016, the company expects adjusted EPS of 23 cents to 25 cents, surrounding the FactSet consensus of 24 cents. Revenue is expected to be $1.89 to $1.94 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $1.93 billion. The stock, which was not yet active in pre-market trade, had lost 5% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has dropped 9%.

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ConocoPhillips shares fall after missed profit, lowered dividend

Shares of ConocoPhillips fell 4% Thursday after the company missed fourth-quarter profit expectations and lowered its dividend. The company reported a net loss of $3.5 billion, or a loss of $2.78 per share, wider than a net loss of $39 million, or a loss of 3 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. The company reported an adjusted loss per share of 90 cents, a wider loss than the FactSet consensus of a loss of 64 cents. The company did not disclose sales figures for the quarter or the full year. The company reduced its quarterly dividend to 25 cents from 74 cents, payable on March 1, 2016 to stockholders of record on Feb. 16. The company lowered its 2016 capital expenditures and said it expects flat production for the year. “While we don’t know how far commodity prices will fall, or the duration of the downturn, we believe it’s prudent to plan for lower prices for a longer period of time,” said Ryan Lance, the company chief executive officer in the release.

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Philip Morris’s stock drops after sales miss, downbeat profit outlook

Philip Morris International Inc.’s stock slumped 3.1% in premarket trade Thursday, after the cigarette seller missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations and provided a downbeat profit outlook for 2016. Earnings for the latest quarter fell to $1.25 billion, or 80 cents a share, from $1.61 billion, or $1.03 a share, a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 81 cents, matching the FactSet consensus of 81 cents. Revenue fell 11% to $6.39 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $6.52 billion, with revenue declining in every geographic region. Cigarette shipment volume declined 2.4% to 209.8 billion units. For 2016, EPS is expected to be $4.25 to $4.35 at prevailing currency rates. The FactSet EPS consensus was $4.52. The stock has gained 2% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has lost 9%.

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Bank of England holds key rate at 0.5% in unanimous decision

The Bank of England on Thursday kept its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and made no changes to its 375-billion-pound ($548 billion) asset purchase program. Both decisions were widely expected, as the outlook for U.K. growth and inflation has been hurt by the slide in oil prices. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 9-0 to keep the key rate where it’s been since March 2009. “The MPC judges that inflation expectations remain well anchored, though it remains watchful for signs that low inflation is having more persistent second-round effects on wages,” the BOE’s monetary policy committee said in a statement. The pound fell, buying $1.4565 compared with $1.4600 just before the announcement. The pound earlier hit an intraday high of $1.4668, according to FactSet, as the dollar extended losses in a selloff that began Wednesday.

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Duke Energy considering sale of International Energy unit

Duke Energy Corp. said it’s considering the sale of all or a portion of its International Energy unit in a Thursday release. Duke, which owns power plants in Central and South America, said there are no binding or non-binding offers at this time. The company willl provide an update during its earnings call on Feb. 18. Duke Energy shares are inactive in premarket trading and up 9.2% for the past three months. The S&P 500 is down 9% for the past three months.

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U.N. panel rules in Julian Assange’s favor in detention complaint: BBC

A United Nations panel has found Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has been unlawfully held in a case related to sexual assault allegations against him, the BBC reported Thursday. The uncomfirmed report said the Geneva-based panel decided Assange has been “arbitrarily detained.” Assange in June 2012 took refuge at Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces an investigation for assault. Assange hasn’t been charged and he denies allegations he raped one woman and molested another woman in Stockholm in 2010. Assange has argued the investigation is politically motivated. If the U.N. panel had ruled against Assange in his detention complaint against the U.K. and Sweden, he said he would surrender to British police.

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Less risk now from ‘too big to fail’ banks: Fed’s Rosengren

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said on Thursday that progress has been made on reducing risks from “too big to fail” financial institutions, according to media reports. In prepared remarks for a speech given in Cape Town, South Africa, Rosengren said there had been “significant progress” which should reduce the “the possibility that taxpayers in the United States would need to bail out” large financial companies in times of stress. “Too big to fail” institutions are companies, such as Lehman Brothers, considered systemically important because their failure could threaten the entire financial system. Rosengren also said he backs tougher stress tests for those institutions, including higher capital requirements, according to Reuters. The Boston Fed President didn’t comment on monetary policy.

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Euro jumps to 3-month high after Draghi speech

The euro on Thursday jumped to the highest level since October after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi discussed the pros and cons of using monetary policy to fight off low inflation. In a speech delivered at a conference at Germany’s Bundesbank, the ECB boss said the central bank will not “surrender” to low inflation. “Adopting a wait-and-see attitude and extending the policy horizon brings with it risks: namely a lasting de-anchoring of expectations leading to persistently weaker inflation,” he said. “And if that were to happen, we would need a much more accommodative monetary policy to reverse it. Seen from that perspective, the risks of acting too late outweigh the risks of acting too early,” he added. The speech was mainly interpreted as dovish. However, the euro rose after the comments to trade at $1.1168, the highest level since October, according to FactSet data. Ahead of the comments the shared currency traded around $1.1069, compared with $1.1104 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar on Wednesday logged its largest one-day drop versus the euro in two months, after a disappointing reading on U.S. service-sector activity was seen as putting Federal Reserve interest-rate increases on hold.

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