Tag: stock market

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The executive board of the International Monetary Fund, as expected, on Friday said it has selected IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to serve a second five-year term as head of the international financial organization. Lagarde was the only candidate nominated for the top spot at the IMF after leading countries indicated they planned to support her bid last month. Aleksei Mozhin, the IMF executive director for Russia and the dean of the IMF’s executive board, said in a statement that Lagarde had revitalized the IMF’s relations with emerging market and developing countries during her first term.

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Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded Nordstrom Inc.’s rating by one notch to A-minus from BBB-plus, citing weaker credit metrics and the expectation that the retailer will keep leverage above 2.0 times for some time. “Weaker performance became apparent in the third quarter of fiscal 2015, a result of unseasonably warm weather denting sales of winter apparel and a protracted promotional environment that continued into the fourth quarter, which contributed to continued weak holiday sales with 1% consolidated same-store sales,” analyst Helena Song said in a statement. The outlook is stable, which means S&P is not expecting to change the rating again in the medium term. Nordstrom shares were trading down 9%, while the s&P 500 was down 0.3%.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was initiated at Nomura with a neutral rating based on the company’s unclear path to sales recovery. The bank set a price target of $420. Shares are trading at about $513 on Friday. “Management has laid out plans for investments to improve in these areas in 2016, but it is difficult to pinpoint when these efforts will translate into historical levels of customer traffic,” analysts wrote in a Friday note. Nomura is also concerned about potential food safety issues in the future, the battle between results and estimates, and rising labor costs. However, analysts believe Chipotle has a number of favorable qualities, including differentiated “Food With Integrity” brand positioning and opportunities for market share gains. Chipotle shares are down 23.7% for the past 12 months, but up 7% for the year-to-date. The S&P 500 is down 6.8% for the year so far.

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Starbucks Corp. was initiated at Nomura with a buy rating on analyst belief that the coffee company’s digital initiatives will maintain “robust” same-store sales in the Americas. The bank set a price target of $70. Shares are priced at about $57 in Friday trading. Nomura is particularly optimistic about the company’s Mobile Order & Pay system. “Going forward, we believe that the high customer frequency that Starbucks enjoys-it remains, to the best of our knowledge, of all large North American retailers the one with the highest customer frequency, thanks in part to the low average check and the desire by many folks to purchase coffee and/or coffee-based beverages once or more daily-will help it enhance its brand experience in ways that most other quick-service brands will find it much more challenging to do,” analysts wrote in a note. Analysts also “view Starbucks as the best-positioned beverage specialist in the restaurant industry,” driving potential market share gains. The outlook for coffee costs are also favorable, analysts said. Starbucks shares are up 22% for the past year while the S&P 500 is down 9% for the same period.

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Drug company Perrigo Co. Plc said Friday it is relocating more jobs to Ireland, including in supply chain and global operations, procurement, enterprise risk management and corporate finance and IT. The Dublin-based company said low-tax Ireland remains its gateway for expansion into Europe. Shares were down 1.5% early Friday, and are down 15% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 is down about 9%.

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Drug company Perrigo Co. Plc said Friday it is relocating more jobs to Ireland, including in supply chain and global operations, procurement, enterprise risk management and corporate finance and IT. The Dublin-based company said low-tax Ireland remains its gateway for expansion into Europe. Shares were down 1.5% early Friday, and are down 15% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 is down about 9%.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as lower oil prices weighed on sentiment. However, the main indexes were on track to finish the week higher. The S&P 500 opened 6 points, or 0.3%, lower at 1,911. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45 points, or 0.3%, to 16,368 shortly after the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day down 14 points, or 0.3%, at 4,472.

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Yahoo Inc.’s stock climbed 2.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the Internet company said it formed a committee to explore strategic alternatives. The company has engaged Goldman Sachs & Co. Inc. , J.P. Morgan and PJT Partners Inc. as financial advisors. The committee and advisors are reaching out with potentially interested strategic and financial partners. The company said it will still pursue a separation of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. . The announced in early February that it was pursuing strategic alternatives. Some analysts have speculated that a major media company might be interested in Yahoo’s Web properties if they came up for sale. Yahoo’s stock has tumbled 34% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has lost 8.6%.

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Choice Hotels International Inc. was upgraded to neutral from underweight at J.P. Morgan on the assumption that the company will add a significant of number rooms. J.P. Morgan raised the price target to $46 from $43. Choice Hotels had 720 hotels in the pipeline at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 638 hotels at the end of the third quarter, J.P. Morgan wrote in a Friday note. The domestic new contruction pipeline is up 22% year-over-year, led by the Comfort and Cambria brands. “[W]e believe Choice Hotels is at a point where it can sustain positive, low-single-digit growth,” analysts wrote. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents per share on Thursday, topping the FactSet estimate of 47 cents. Revenue of $211 million also exceeded the FactSet estimate of $195 million. Choice said it sees earnings for the first quarter of at least 38 cents per share, just below the 39 cents FactSet estimate. The company sees full-year 2016 earnings between $2.30 and $2.36, also below the FactSet estimate of $2.38. Choice shares are inactive in premarket trading and down 20.6% over the past year. The S&P 500 is down 8.6% over the past 12 months.

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Bebe Stores Inc. said Friday it was cutting 45 jobs, or about 15% of its corporate workforce, as it implements a restructuring that includes bringing back its former chief executive officer, Manny Mashouf, to run the company. The troubled apparel retailer said Walter Parks is rejoining as president, chief operating officer and interim chief financial officer. Former CEO Jim Wiggett and former CFO Liyuan Woo are no longer with the company. Bebe said it is streamlining its design and merchandising areas as part of the restructuring, while cutting support functions, as it looks to cut costs by $6 million. Bebe said it expects to take a one-time severance charge of $3.7 million in the third quarter. “We believe the changes we are implementing will enable us to become a leaner and more nimble organization, allowing us to increase our focus on profitability while enhancing our product offering,” said CEO Mashouf. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has closed below $1 ever since Nov. 11, 2015. It has plunged 88% over the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has slipped 8.7%.

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