Tag: stock market

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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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 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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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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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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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. 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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Carnival Corp. said Thursday that it has raised its quarterly dividend 12% to 45 cents per share, up from 40 cents per share. Payment date is December 15, 2017 for stockholders of record as of November 24, 2017. Dividends payable in pounds sterling will be converted from U.S. dollars according to the Bank of England in London exchange rate as of noon on December 1, 2017. Carnival shares are nearly flat in Thursday premarket trading and up 29.6% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 14.4% for 2017 to date.

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Quest Diagnostics Inc. said on Thursday that despite greater-than-expected proposed cuts to Medicare reimbursement for lab tests, the company should still meet the guidance it has set for coming years. Quest shares rose 0.9% in premarket trade. Though Quest disagrees with the proposed cuts, which it said do not represent market-based rates, “In whatever form CMS might implement [the Protecting Access to Medicare Act], we remain confident in our ability to meet the long-term commitments outlined at our 2016 Investor Day,” said Chief Executive Steve Rusckowski, referring to the raised outlook for profit and revenue growth between 2017 and 2020 that the company set in November 2016. Quest third-quarter earnings declined to $161 million, or $1.15 per share, from $192 million, or $1.34 per share in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings-per-share were $1.39, above the FactSet consensus of $1.35. Revenue rose to $1.93 billion from $1.89 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.92 billion. The company also narrowed its 2017 outlook due to the impact of three recent hurricanes. It now expects revenue of about $7.71 billion, compared with previous outlook of $7.69 billion to $7.74 billion, and adjusted EPS of $5.62 to $5.67, compared with previous outlook of $5.62 to $5.72. Quest shares have dropped 16.3% over the last three months, compared with a 3.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said Thursday that it will launch sales of smartwatches for the holidays, starting October 30. Brands will include Samsung, LG and Garmin. Wearables will be priced in the range of $155 to about $350, with an expanded assortment online. The retailer has also introduced a new Modern Bride concept, including new fixtures and merchandise presentation. Modern Bride began as a collaboration with Conde Nast in 2011. The fine jewelry department has been given a new trademark, JCPenney Co. Fine Jewelry, Est. 1902, and training for associates working in that department has been revamped in order to improve customer service. J.C. Penney shares are down 1.1% in Thursday premarket trading, and down more than 60% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 19.5% for the last 12 months.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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