Adobe jumps more than 10% to record high after raising outlook

Adobe Systems Inc. stock hit record highs in Thursday’s session, after the software company provided preliminary forecasts for its 2018 fiscal year Wednesday afternoon. At its annual Adobe Max conference in Las Vegas, executives said they expect revenue to increase 20% in 2018 to about $8.7 billion and adjusted earnings to increase to $5.50 a share from this year’s estimated annual total $3.75 a share. Analysts had expected profit in 2018 to be about $5.20, according to average estimates compiled by FactSet, though that average was quickly moving higher as notes poured in Thursday morning. “Better FY18 guidance, pricing power and pace of innovation reminds us how good a business Adobe is,” praised RBC Capital Markets analysts, who raised their price target to $177 from $157 and maintained an outperform rating. Adobe shares moved as high as $170.29 in Thursday’s morning trading session, 11.3% higher than Wednesday’s closing price and an all-time intraday record. Adobe shares have gained 64.8% this year, as the S&P 500 has increased 14.4%.

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Lyft raises another $1 billion in funding led by Google parent Alphabet’s CapitalG

Ride-sharing service Lyft said Thursday it has raised another $1 billion in funding in a round led by Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG, the company said in a blog post. CapitalG Partner David Lawee is joining the Lyft board as part of the deal, which has given Lyft a valuation of $11 billion. The Uber rival said its service is now available to 95% of the U.S. population, up sharply from 54% at the start of the year. Uber’s latest valuation is $68 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Billion Dollar club.

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Amazon, partner launch wind farm in Texas

Amazon.com Inc. and Lincoln Clean Energy have launched a 253-megawatt wind farm in Texas. That’s Amazon.com’s largest wind farm to date, and the latest in a string of wind and solar projects backed by the tech giant. The wind farm in northwestern Texas Scurry County has more than 100 wind turbines, each more than 300 feet tall. Amazon plans of 35 additional clean-energy projects for the coming years. Shares fell 1% in mid-day trading, compared with losses of 0.2% for the S&P 500 index.

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Hurricanes Behind Soaring Mortgage Delinquency

One-month delinquency on mortgages soared nearly a half-percentage point last month driven by deterioration in states impacted by the recent hurricanes.

Single-family loans that were either delinquent at least 30 days or in the foreclosure inventory numbered 2.603 million as of Sept. 30.

The non-current count was comprised of 2.245 million loans past due 30 days but not in foreclosure and 0.358 million loans in the foreclosure inventory.


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From:: Financing

MongoDB shares surge 35% in their trading debut after pricing IPO above price range

Shares of database-software company MongoDB Inc. soared 35% in their first minutes of trading Thursday, in the latest tech initial public offering to score early gains. The company priced its IPO at $24 a share late Wednesday, $2 higher than the top of the price range it had already inflated just the day before. The company originally targeted an IPO price in a range of $18 to $20, and increased that target to $20 to $22 Tuesday. The company sold 8 million shares to raise $192 million, and give it a valuation of over $1 billion, ensuring it retains its ‘unicorn’ status. Underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Barclays, have access to an additional 1.2 million shares. MongoDB is trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “MDB.” The S&P 500 was last down 0.3%.

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Alliance Data shares drop after revenue miss

Alliance Data Systems Corp. shares are down 3.2% in Thursday trading after the marketing company reported third-quarter revenue that missed consensus. Net income was $233.2 million, or $4.20 per share, up from $207.5 million, or 3.55 per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was $5.35, exceeding the $5.03 per share FactSet consensus. Revenue was $1.91 billion, up from $1.89 billion but below the $1.97 billion FactSet consensus. The earnings announcement includes the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which “prompted us to provide a two-month leniency period for cardholders in FEMA-designated ‘individual assistance’ disaster areas,” said Alliance Data Chief Executive Ed Heffernan in a statement. Affected cardholders won’t have to make payments during this period, nor will they incur interest charges or late fees. The company maintained its 2017 EPS guidance of $18.10. The FactSet consensus is $18.07. Alliance Data shares are down 16.1% for the last three months while the S&P 500 index is up 3.2% for the period.

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EIA reports a rise in U.S. natural-gas supply that nearly matches market expectations

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 51 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 13. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a climb of 50 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 3.646 trillion cubic feet, down 179 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 35 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. November natural gas fell 1.2 cents, or 0.4%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.842 per million British thermal units, down a bit from $2.861 before the data.

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HPE falls after detailing outlook, reorganization plan

Hewlett Packett Enterprise Co. stock dove more than 4% Thursday morning after laying out its plans for the rest of this year and the next at an Analyst Day meeting Wednesday afternoon. HPE executives outlined its previously announced “HPE NExt” plan, which it expects to “simplify the organizational structure, redesign business processes and prioritize investments.” The reorganization is widely believed to involve thousands of layoffs; HPE did not reveal cuts it may plan, but said the plan will drive savings of $1.5 billion over the next three years. Chief Financial Officer Tim Stonesifer confirmed HPE’s outlook for the rest of this fiscal year at 5% year-over-year revenue growth and earnings of $1 a share. For fiscal year 2018, HPE said it expects “modest” revenue growth and adjusted earnings of $1.15 to $1.25 a share, in line with expectations. HPE increased its dividend to 7.5 cents a share from 6.5 cents a share, and its stock-repurchase authorization to $5 billion. Shares ducked as low as $14.08 in the first hour of trading Thursday morning after closing at $14.70 Wednesday; HPE stock has gained 4.9% so far this year, as the S&P 500 index has gained 14.4%.

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Warrior Met Coal’s stock soars after plans for special dividend, debt offering

Shares of Warrior Met Coal Inc. surged 14% in premarket trade Thursday, after the metallurgical coal producer said it planned to offer debt to pay a special cash dividend of $600 million. The company said earlier that it proposes offering $350 million in senior secured notes due 2024 in a private offering. The company said it would use the proceeds from the offering and cash on hand of about $260 million to pay the special cash dividend to shareholders during 2017 to all of its stockholders on a pro rata basis. Based on 53.44 million shares outstanding as of July 31, the special dividend would be equal to $11.23 a share. S&P Global Ratings said Thursday it rated Warrior Met’s proposed debt at junk-level rating of B-. The credit rating agency said the rating was characterized by Warrior’s “narrow production base, low cash costs and volatile earnings owing to rpice an volume swings for metallurgical (met) coal.” Warrior Met went public on April 13 at an IPO price of $19. Since then, it has closed as low as $15.49 on June 21 and as high as $27.29 on Aug. 31. The stock has has shot up 49% since its IPO day, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.7%.

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U.S. stocks retreat from records; Dow remains above 23,000

U.S. benchmark stock indexes fell at the open on Thursday. Stocks are retreating from all-time highs, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged past the 23,000 level on Wednesday for the first time. The Dow gave back 65 points to slip to 23092. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to to 2553.59. While, the Nasdaq Composite [s:comp] shed 29 points to 6585.66.

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