Tag: stock market

Dollar General Corp. shares jumped 7.5% in Thursday premarket trading after the discount retailer reported fourth-quarter same-store sales that beat expectations and gave an upbeat earnings outlook. Net income for the quarter totaled $712.2 million, or $2.63 per share, up from $414.2 million, or $1.49 per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was $1.48. Revenue for the quarter was $6.13 billion, up from $6.01 billion year-over-year. And same-store sales rose 3.3%. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.48, sales of $6.21 billion, and same-store sales growth of 2.5%. Dollar General opened 1,315 stores in 2017, a record, according to Chief Executive Todd Vasos, and plans to open 900 in 2018, along with 1,000 store remodels and 100 store relocations. On Tuesday, the company announced a 12% dividend increase to 29 cents per share, payable on or before April 24, 2018 to shareholders of record on April 10, 2018. Dollar General expects 9% sales increase for fiscal 2018, same-store sales growth in the mid-2% range and EPS of $5.95 to $6.15. Same-store sales FactSet consensus is for 2.5% growth and EPS of $5.63. Dollar General is down nearly 2% for the past three months, but up 22.5% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 15.3% for the past 12 months.

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President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked a federal judge on Wednesday to dismiss some of the criminal charges he faces related to foreign lobbying work on behalf of Ukrainian interests, the Associated Press reported. In a series of motions, Manafort’s attorneys argued that special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded his authority to prosecute Manafort on criminal charges that date back more than a decade, and thus predate the 2016 election, the AP said. The arguments largely mimic a civil suit Manafort filed earlier this year. Manafort potentially faces several years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. The Manafort team said the indictments are focused on foreign consulting work that ended in 2014 and on years-old bank accounts and tax filings that have no connection to either the Trump campaign or the Russian government, the AP said. Lawyers for the Justice Department, which represents Mueller’s office in the civil suit, have argued that Mueller is well within his authority.

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U.S. troops have been involved in more firefights in West Africa than previously revealed, including a December skirmish in Niger that left 11 militants dead, the New York Times reported late Wednesday. The incidents indicate that the ambush in western Niger that killed four Green Berets in October was not an isolated incident. In fact, there were at least 10 previously unreported firefights involving American soldiers in Niger and other areas of West Africa between 2015 and 2017, the Times said. One incident on Dec. 6 involved Greet Berets and Nigerien troops who came under enemy fire and killed almost a dozen militants believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State in West Africa, the Pentagon confirmed to the Times. No U.S. troops were killed or wounded in any of the incidents aside from the October ambush. The Pentagon did not say why the firefights were not disclosed. Niger is home to a large U.S. military drone base and little is known about shadowy missions there.

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Supervalu Inc. shares rose more than 8% in late trading Wednesday after the company said it was selling its Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy stores to other grocery chains as it focuses on its wholesale business instead of retail chains amid an activist-investor fight. The company said that it had agreed to sell 21 of its 38 Farm Fresh locations for about $43 million to grocery chains Harris Teeter, The Kroger Co. and Food Lion. Supervalu said it is continuing to discuss transactions for the other stores and is talking to companies and certain Farm Fresh employees about purchasing them. “Over the past two years, we’ve been working diligently and rapidly to transform our business to become the wholesale supplier of choice for grocery retailers across the United States,” Chief Executive Mark Gross said in Wednesday afternoon’s announcement, noting the company’s previous sale of the Save-A-Lot chain of stores and acquisitions of wholesale businesses. Supervalu stock gained about 8.5% in late trading after the deal was announced.

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A top lawyer with the Trump Organization worked on the case to silence former adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing arbitration documents. The lawyer, Jill A. Martin, was listed as counsel in documents from Essential Consultants LLC, the shell company established by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen in an agreement to pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence regarding an alleged 2006 sexual encounter between her and Donald Trump. Cohen has claimed he paid Clifford on his own, without Trump’s involvement. The documents are the first clear link between Trump’s company and the nondisclosure agreement. Cohen and the White House have denied there was an affair. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is currently trying to have the NDA ruled invalid so she can speak freely about the affair.

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U.S. tech companies could end up paying billions of dollars in new taxes under a plan the European Commission is considering, according to a report by the Financial Times late Wednesday. According to a draft report seen by the FT, a “digital tax” would be be assessed against companies’ revenues rather than profits. The tax, which the FT said was likely to be set at 3%, would apply to tech companies with more than 100,000 users in Europe, and cover everything from ad revenue from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. to subscription fees for companies such as Apple Inc. and Spotify AB. The tax, which may be announced next week in Brussels, is estimated to raise about 5 billion euros a year, the FT reported. The tax is likely to face stiff opposition from U.S. tech groups, but a number of EU member states, such as the U.K., France and Germany, complain tech companies don’t pay their fair share in EU taxes.

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The Senate approved a bipartisan bill to roll bank some crisis-era banking regulations Wednesday. The bill would exempt many small and midsize banks from parts of the Dodd-Frank banking reform bill passed in 2010, following the financial crisis. The plan, which was sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, passed 67-31, with the support of 17 centrist Democrats. Supporters say it would free smaller banks from burdensome rules and encourage more lending, while critics says it will hurt consumers and increase risk in the banking industry. The bill will now move to the House, where it is likely to face revisions that could delay its final passage.

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Sears Holdings Corp. shares rose 7.4% in the extended session Wednesday after the company reported earnings. The company reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $182 million, or $1.69 a share, compared with losses of $607 million, or $5.67 a share, in the year-ago period. Fourth quarter net income included a $470 million benefit due to the U.S. tax overhaul, and a $72 million charge related to the impairment of the Sears trade name. The company had previously guided for losses of $200 million to $300 million. Revenue fell to $4.38 billion from $6.05 billion in the year-ago period. Sears stock has dropped 73% in the past year, with the S&P 500 index rising 16%.

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Police in Evanston, Ill., have determined that the reported shooting incident at a Northwestern University graduate-student residence hall Wednesday afternoon was a “swatting” hoax. Such hoaxes typically center on an attempt among people connected via online groups or otherwise to outdo one another by drawing massive responses to fictitious reports of criminal activity. The university community had been notified just before 2:40 p.m. local time via text message and on Twitter that a person on campus was in possession of a gun. Recipients of the messages were advised to take shelter in a safe place and await further information and avoid the campus if not already on the premises. The Evanston Police Department said the department was investigating “shots fired” and later added that that it had not immediately located a perpetrator or victim or crime scene but that municipal and university police were continuing to search and secure the area. Just hours earlier, students across the country had participated in a nationwide walkout against gun violence to mark the passage of a month since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

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Solid Biosciences Inc. shares plunged in the extended session Wednesday, following a halt, after the muscular dystrophy treatment maker announced a clinical trial had been put on hold. Solid Biosciences shares sank 50%, after closing down 0.5% at $26.31 Wednesday. The company, which focuses on treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, said a study of its treatment SGT-001 was placed on clinical hold by the Food and Drug Administration following an unexpected adverse reaction in one of the patients on the treatment. Following the treatment, the patient was hospitalized for a reduced blood platelet and red blood cell count, and is now without symptoms, Solid said. In late January, gene therapy researcher James Wilson quit Solid Biosciences’s advisory board and the company revealed the FDA had placed a “partial clinical hold” on the SGT-001 study just before Solid priced its initial public offering.

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