Texas Instruments shares tick higher after earnings beat

Texas Instruments Inc. shares ticked higher in the extended session Wednesday after the chip maker’s earnings topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Texas Instruments shares rose 3.3% to $52.34 after hours. The company reported earnings of 80 cents a share on revenue of $3.19 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 69 cents a share on revenue of $3.2 billion. The company forecast first-quarter earnings of 57 cents to 67 cents a share on revenue of $2.85 billion to $3.09 billion. Analysts had estimated 64 cents a share on revenue of $3.11 billion.

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PayPal shares rise after solid Q4 earnings report

Shares of PayPal Holdings Inc. were up more than 6% following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, in which the company reported a net income of $367 million, or 30 cents per share. That’s up 28% from 23 cents per share a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 36 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 34 cents a share. Revenue increased to $2.56 billion from $2.19 billion last year, and was above the FactSet consensus of $2.51 billion. PayPal said the holiday season helped its active user base grow by 6.6 million in the fourth quarter as it processed $20 billion in mobile payment volume. The company’s social payment platform, Venmo, processed $2.5 billion of total payment volume, up 174% year-over-year. PayPal plans to later this year roll out an option for users to pay for merchant goods in-app using Venmo. The company also announced a $2 billion stock buyback program.

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Juniper Networks stock crushed by weak outlook

Juniper Networks stock plunged 12% after hours Wednesday, after the company offered an outlook for the current quarter that fell short of estimates. The company said it had net income of $197.8 million, or 51 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, after a loss of $796.6 million, or $1.81 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 63 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 60 cents. Revenue rose 20% to $1.32 billion, also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.30 billion. The company said it now expects first-quarter adjusted EPS of 42 cents to 46 cents and revenue of about $1.17 billion. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of 47 cents and revenue of $1.19 billion. Juniper said Chief Financial Officer Robyn Denholm is retiring following the filing of its 10-K. She will be replaced by Senior Vice President for Finance, Ken Miller. Shares have gained 22% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 is down about 7%.

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Bob Evans Farms to serve cage-free eggs by 2025

Bob Evans Farms Inc. will serve only cage-free eggs by 2025, the company said in a Wednesday afternoon release. It joins a long list of restaurant chains that includes Starbucks Corp. and McDonald’s Corp. . Bob Evans says it uses more than 100 million eggs each year in its dishes. Bob Evans shares are down 30.5% for the past year while the Nasdaq Composite is down 4.6% for the same period.

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EBay shares fall 9% on lower first-quarter expectations

EBay Inc. shares fell 9% on Wednesday after the online auction company reported earnings and revenue in line with expectations but predicted first-quarter earnings below forecast. EBay said it earned an adjusted $600 million, or 50 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with 55 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue hit $2.3 billion in the quarter, flat compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 50 cents on sales $2.3 billion. The company said it expects net revenue between $2.05 billion and $2.10 billion in the first quarter, and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations between 43 cents and 45 cents in the quarter. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expected first-quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents a share on sales of $2.15 billion.

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Qualcomm tops Street estimates on results, falls short on outlook

Qualcomm Inc. shares dipped in the extended session Wednesday after the chip maker topped Wall Street estimates for the fiscal first quarter but offered a weak outlook for the second quarter. Qualcomm shares declined 0.6% to $47.42 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal first-quarter earnings of 97 cents a share on revenue of $5.78 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast 90 cents a share on revenue of $5.69 billion. For the fiscal second quarter, Qualcomm said it expects adjusted earnings of 90 cents to $1 a share on revenue of $4.9 billion to $5.7 billion. Analysts had estimated $1.02 a share on revenue of $5.68 billion.

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FedEx’s stock climbs as analyst hails new buyback program

FedEx Corp.’s stock ran up 1.7% in afternoon trade Wednesday, after the package delivery company announced a program to buy back up to nearly 10% of its outstanding shares. Analyst Helane Becker at Cowen & Co. hailed the new buyback program, saying she believes management would be “smart” to increase share repurchases at current “undervalued” prices. “FedEx has ample cash flow and borrowing ability to repurchase shares without neglecting growth. The company said late Tuesday that authorized a new share repurchase program of up to 25 million shares, which is 9.1% of the total shares outstanding, according to FactSet. The new program follows the completion of the 15 million-share program announced in September 2014. FedEx’s stock has now climbed 5.1% since it closed last week at the lowest price since October 2013. It was till down 17% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has lost 8.4%.

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Zillow economist says underwater homes still holding Albuquerque back

By Stephanie Guzman

Albuquerque continues to struggle with the effects of the housing bust, and some homeowners may never see full relief.

Business First spoke this week with Zillow senior economist Skylar Olsen about Albuquerque’s housing market. She had some good news to share, including that Zillow forecasts home values will finally see a big jump in the metro area, around 3.1 percent this year.

But the number of people with underwater mortgages will continue to impact the housing market.

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From:: biz journal foreclosures

Dollar weakens after Fed statement

The dollar weakened against its main rivals after the Federal Reserve released an updated policy statement that Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange, said was “moderately more cautious than its last statement.” After rising initially after the released, the dollar soon turned lower. Esiner said the statement weighed on the dollar because it suggested the Fed might revise down its forecast for four interest-rate hikes this year at its next meeting. The dollar initially spiked after the statement, but quickly turned lower. It was recently trading at 118.68 yen , compared with 118.31 yen late Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.0883, compared with $1.0864 late Tuesday. The pound fell to $1.4252, compared with $1.4349.

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