Dex Media files prepackaged plan of reorganization under Chapter 11

Dex Media Inc. said Tuesday it has filed a prepackaged plan of reorganization under Chapter 11, after reaching an agreement with its senior lenders. The provider of marketing for local businesses said its senior lenders have agreed to swap $2.12 billion of claims for a new $600 million first-lien term loan, 100% of the equity of the restructured entity, subject to potential dilution from a management incentive plan, and a cash distribution upon emergence from bankruptcy. The company’s unsecured creditors will receive a $5 million cash payment and warrants to purchase up to 10% of the post-reorganized equity. The company is expecting to pay all of its vendor bills in full. The company, which missed an interest payment in the fourth quarter, did not obtain debtor-in=possession financing, because it still has large cash balances and to generate positive cash flow. Shares trade over the counter.

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Home Depot quarterly results outstrip expectations, raises 2016 view

Home Depot on Tuesday raised its yearly outlook and posted better-than-anticipated same-store sales figures in a quarter that was “marked by week-to-week demand spikes caused by weather variability.” The home improvement retailer said first-quarter net profit were $1.8 billion, or $1.44 share, compared with $1.58 billion, or $1.21 a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.35 a share. Sales rose to $22.76 billion from $20.89 billion in the same period last year. Wall Street had pegged sales at $22.38 billion. Home Depot said quarterly U.S. same-store rose 7.4%, above expectations of a 5.2% increase. The company now expects fiscal 2016 per-share earnings to rise 14.8% to $6.27, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $6.22 a share. It also lifted its fiscal 2016 sales view, foreseeing a same-store sales rise of 4.9%.

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Home Depot quarterly results outstrip expectations, raises 2016 view

Home Depot on Tuesday raised its yearly outlook and posted better-than-anticipated same-store sales figures in a quarter that was “marked by week-to-week demand spikes caused by weather variability.” The home improvement retailer said first-quarter net profit were $1.8 billion, or $1.44 share, compared with $1.58 billion, or $1.21 a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.35 a share. Sales rose to $22.76 billion from $20.89 billion in the same period last year. Wall Street had pegged sales at $22.38 billion. Home Depot said quarterly U.S. same-store rose 7.4%, above expectations of a 5.2% increase. The company now expects fiscal 2016 per-share earnings to rise 14.8% to $6.27, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $6.22 a share. It also lifted its fiscal 2016 sales view, foreseeing a same-store sales rise of 4.9%.

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Paulson & Co. sheds AbbVie, picks up more Pfizer

Hedge-fund manager James Paulson shed some positions in healthcare stocks while taking a few new positions in tech, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Monday. Paulson & Co. eliminated its stake in AbbVie Inc. , while increasing its position in Pfizer inc. . Paulson also lowered its stake in Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. , and created a new stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. and a small position in Facebook Inc.

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Paulson & Co. sheds healthcare stocks, picks up some tech

Hedge-fund manager James Paulson shed positions in healthcare stocks while taking a few new positions in tech, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Monday. Paulson & Co. substantially reduced its stakes in Allergan PLC, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. , while eliminating its stake in AbbVie Inc. . Paulson also lowered its stake in Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. , and created a new stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. and a small position in Facebook Inc.

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Soros Fund reveals stakes in Apple, Fitbit, Yahoo; trims stakes in Google, Facebook

Soros Fund Management LLC, George Soros’ hedge fund, took new stakes in Apple Inc. , Fitbit Inc. , Netflix Inc. , Nike Inc. , Starbucks Corp. , and Yahoo Inc. , according to a regulatory filing submitted Monday. Most of the new holdings were on a relatively small scale, ranging from 3,100 shares in Apple to 141,924 shares in Yahoo. The fund also pared its stakes in several large companies and held 6,637 shares of Alphabet Inc. at the end of the first quarter compared with 65,570 at the end of the fourth quarter. Its stake in Facebook Inc. fell to 442,696 from 816,761 and it trimmed its stake in Amazon.com Inc. to 71,140 versus 106,363 shares. The one notable increase was eBay Inc. from 3,434,592 shares to 3,704,830. Meanwhile, Soros Fund no longer hold call options–an option to buy an asset at a specified price–in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. .

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Twitter adds BET chief executive to its board

Twitter Inc. added Debra Lee, the chief executive of entertainment network BET, to its board, Omid Kordestani, Twitter’s executive chairman, tweeted Monday. Twitter announced Hugh Johnston, chief financial officer and vice chairman at Pespi Co. and Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of a travel website and founder of a private karaoke company, as additions to the board last month. The stock was unchanged after hours Monday.

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Dow, Nasdaq log 3-days of gains in a row as energy, Apple lift Wall Street mood

U.S. stocks finished sharply higher Monday as gains in tech and a rally in crude futures helped the Dow and Nasdaq Composite score three straight days of gains. The S&P 500 also closed firmly higher led by advances in the energy, materials and technology. Tech’s rally was partially inspired by a nearly 4% rise in the shares of Apple Inc. . The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 178 points, or 1%, to 17,710, with Apple serving as the blue-chip gauge’s biggest gainer. The S&P 500 closed 20 points, or 1%, higher at 2,066, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 57 points, or 1.2%, higher to 4,775. Meanwhile, June West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.51, or 3.3%, to settle at $47.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude’s early ascent helped underpin the day’s gains after a report from Goldman Sachs indicated that oil inventories were shrinking. Apple received a boost after it was revealed in a regulatory filing on Monday that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had purchased a roughly $1 billion stake in the iPhone maker during the first quarter. Investors also appeared to cheer a flurry of mergers and acquisitions news, including Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreement to be bought by Pfizer Inc. .

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EIA: U.S. shale oil output to fall by 113,000 barrels a day in June

Oil production from seven major U.S. shale plays is expected to fall by 113,000 barrels a day to 4.96 million barrels a day in June from May, according to a monthly report from the Energy Information Administration released Monday. Oil output at the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas is expected to see the largest decline, down 58,000 barrels in June. The Bakken shale play, which stretches from Canada into North Dakota and Montana, is expected to see output fall by 28,000 barrels a day, the report said. June oil continued to trade higher, up $1.53, or 3.3%, to $47.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Delta plans to boost dividend by 50%, step up stock buybacks

Delta Air Lines Inc. said Monday in a presentation to analysts that it will increase it’s annual dividend by 50% to 81 cents a share from 54 cents a share, in the third quarter. At current prices, the new annual dividend would imply a dividend yield of 1.9%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 yield of 2.2%, according to FactSet. Delta’s stock shot up 3.3% in midday trade. The airline company said it planned to buy back $3 billion worth of its shares, which is what remained from the $5 billion stock repurchase program announced last year, by May 2017, including $375 million in accelerated share repurchases planned for the current quarter. Delta said it expects to remove about 1 percentage point of planned capacity growth during the second half of the year. The stock has dropped 15% year to date, while the NYSE Arca Airline index has slipped 3.2% and the S&P 500 gained 1%.

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