J.C. Penney introducing appliances in three pilot markets

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said it will introduce kitchen and laundry appliances in 22 pilot stores across the San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa, FL markets starting Feb. 1. Each location will have between 90 and 150 appliance models featured. The company wants to address the needs of growing numbers of millennials diving into the real estate market and the rising number of homeowners who are updating their homes, it said in a Tuesday release. The retailer is designing a shopping experience to target women, which make up 70% of the company’s shoppers, J.C. Penney Chief Executive Marvin Ellison said in a statement . “The introduction of major appliances will help us continue to significantly improve sales and gross profit per square foot in our home department,” he said. J.C. Penney shares are down 5.8% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is down 6.9% for the same period.

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AIG’s stock climbs after Carl Icahn pushes for a breakup

American International Group Inc.’s stock ran up 1.7% in premarket trade Tuesday, after activist investor Carl Icahn issued an open letter to the insurer’s board, again pushing for a break-up of the company. Icahn wrote that in the wake of a recent shareholder poll, the breakup announcement by MetLife Inc. and conversations with shareholders, that to meet minimum expectations of shareholders, the company has to become a pure play property and casualty insurer by selling, spinning off or separating non-core operations. That would allow the company to apply to no longer be labeled by the government as a “systemically important financial institution” (SIFI), which is accompanied with burdensome regulatory requirements. MetLife announced plans last week to spinoff its U.S. retail business to de-SIFI. “I suspect, after two months of waiting, management will release a ‘strategic update’ on January 26th that fails to present a drastic strategic shift and instead is limited to only incremental changes such as small-scale asset sales and incremental cost cutting,” Icahn’s letter states. “If this occurs then the little credibility management now has will be lost.” AIG’s stock has lost 6.5% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has dropped 7.5%.

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Rouse Properties’ stock soars after Brookfield makes buyout bid

Rouse Properties Inc.’s stock soared 26% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the real estate investment trust said it received an unsolicited buyout bid from Brookfield Asset Management for $17 a share. The per-share bid was 26% above Friday’s closing price of $13.49. With about 58.02 million shares outstanding, according to FactSet, the bid would value Rouse at $986.3 million. Rouse said it established a special committee to evaluate Brookfield’s bid. Brookfield is Rouse’s largest shareholder, owning about 19.4 million Rouse shares, or about 33% of the shares outstanding, according to FactSet. Brookfield’s stock was indicated more than 2% higher ahead of the open. Rouse’s stock has tumbled 24% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has lost 7.5%.

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Incyte’s stock surges after receiving milestone payment from Eli Lilly

Shares of Incyte Corp. surged 4% in premarket trade Tuesday, after Eli Lilly & Co. said it will make a $35 million milestone payment to the biopharmaceutical company following the companies’ submission of a new drug application for a rheumatoid arthritis treatment. Eli Lilly said it will take a charge of $35 million to first-quarter earnings as a results. If the treatment–baricitinib–is granted approval, Lilly will pay Incyte an additional $100 million. Incyte will also be eligible for milestone payments for additional regulatory approvals and the achievement of sales goals, as well as royalties on baricitinib sales. “Lilly’s collaboration with Incyte has produced a rigorous phase 3 program and, if approved, the potential of a promising new treatment option for people with RA,” said David Ricks, president of Lilly Bio-Medicines. Lilly’s stock was still inactive ahead of the open. Over the past three months, Incyte’s stock has plunged 30% through Friday, while Lilly’s has gained 1.2% and the S&P 500 has lost 7.5%.

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AIG raises global commercial property limits to $2.5 billion per occurence

American International Group Inc. said Tuesday it is raising its global commercial property limits to $2.5 billion per occurrence from $1.5 billion in a move prompted by growing demand for capacity. The insurer said it has hired more than 500 engineers in the past four years to provide risk mitigation services to clients managing higher property values. “AIG has found that more companies, particularly those operating as multinationals, are looking to partner with insurers that have the capabilities and coverage limits to help protect them against the broad spectrum of risks they face worldwide,” it said in a statement. Shares rose 1.6% premarket and are up almost 10% in the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has fallen about 7%.

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Sam’s Club to accept Visa in February

Wal-Mart-Stores Inc. said on Tuesday that it will accept Visa Inc. credit cards at Sam’s Club locations starting Feb. 1. Sam’s Club has more than 650 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The retailer currently accepts Visa debit and prepaid cards. Visa credit is already accepted at Sam’s fuel stations in the U.S. and online. SamsClub.com will start supporting Visa Checkout later this year, the company said in a release. Wal-Mart shares are up 1% in premarket trading and 5.2% over the past three months. Visa shares are up 1.8% in premarket trading, but down 6.7% for the past three months. The S&P is down 7.5% for the past three months.

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Campbell Soup upgraded, McCormick downgraded as J.P. Morgan swaps soup for spices

Campbell Soup Co. was upgraded Tuesday to neutral from underweight at J.P. Morgan, which cited increased optimism about margins. Analyst Ken Goldman said in a research note that he was “swapping soup for spices,” as he simultaneously downgraded McCormick & Co. to underweight from neutral, on the belief that earnings expectations and valuations are too high. Goldman said he believes Campbell Soup’s projection that gross margins will improve by one percentage point in fiscal 2016 is conservative–he expects a 1.4-percentage point improvement–and that the company is underestimating the strength of the tailwind from cheaper input costs. For McCormick, while Goldman said he remains “constructive” on the spice category, he’s concerned that the stock is being valued as a growth company despite recent tepid earnings growth. He said he believes the stock’s relative valuation “has seldom been this high.” Neither stock was active in premarket trade. Over the past three months, Campbell Soup’s stock has climbed 7.3%, McCormick shares have edged up 1.3% and the S&P 500 has lost 7.5%.

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Global Water Resources files to go public

Global Water Resources Inc., a Phoenix, Ariz.-based water management company, filed to go public Tuesday morning. The company manages the “entire water cycle” in nine water and wastewater utilities in Phoenix. Global Water said it had revenues of $32.6 million in 2014 and $24.8 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2015 on net income of $64.9 million and $21.4 million respectively. Along with the public offering, GWR Global Water Resources Corp., which is publicly listed in Canada, will merge with Global Water Resources Inc. The company has applied to list on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “GWRS.”

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Procter & Gamble’s stock climbs after analyst upgrade

Procter & Gamble Co.’s stock climbed 1.8% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the consumer products giant was upgraded at Stifel Nicolaus, which cited expectations of accelerating sales and attractive valuation and dividend yield. Analyst Mark Astrachan raised his rating to buy from hold, and established a stock price target of $85, which is 13% above Friday’s closing price of $74.98. He wrote in a note to clients that he believes sales growth with accelerate in the coming year, “driven by improving market share trends resulting from improving execution, innovation, selective reinvestment of cost savings and increasingly favorable [year-over-year] comparisons.” Astrachan believes P&G’s size, scale and diverse product portfolio, and 3.5% current dividend yield–the S&P 500’s dividend yield is 2.37%, according to FactSet–provides downside protection for investors. The stock has slipped 0.2% over the past three months through Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 7.2%.

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Delta Air Lines misses on fourth-quarter profit, sales expectations

Delta Air Lines said it had a net income of $980 million, or $1.25 per share, in the fourth quarter 2015, compared with a loss of $712 million, or a loss of 86 cents per share, for the same period one year ago. Adjusted earnings were $1.18 per share, below the FactSet consensus of $1.19 per share. Revenue for the quarter was $9.5 billion, down from $9.65 billion for the same period last year. FactSet consensus was for revenue of $9.6 billion. Passenger unit revenue declined 1.6% to $8.1 billion, according to the company. Delta sees passenger unit revenue to decline between 2.5% and 4.5% for the first quarter of 2016 due to global volatility and currency pressures, Delta President Ed Bastian said in a statement. Delta shares are down 11.5% over the past three months while the S&P is down 7.5% for the same period.

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