Tag: stock market

Dollar General Corp. announced Thursday new parental leave and adoption assistance benefits, effective April 1. The new parental-leave benefit will include two weeks of paid time off for all qualifying “parent” employees and an additional six weeks of paid leave for birth mothers. The company will also provide up to $4,000 in adoption assistance. The discount retailer’s stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 4.3% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has gained 1.4% and the S&P 500 has advanced 2.8%.

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Shares of Burlington Stores Inc. surged 3.4% in premarket trade Thursday, after the off-price apparel retailer beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit and same-store sales expectations and provided an upbeat outlook, although revenue came up shy. Net income for quarter to Feb. 3 rose to $240.7 million, or $3.47 a share, from $125.6 million, or $1.77 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as the benefit of recent tax legislation, adjusted earnings per share came to $2.17, above the FactSet consensus of $2.10. Total revenue rose to $1.94 billion from $1.69 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.10 billion, but same-store sales growth of 5.9% beat expectations of a 3.1% rise. For the first quarter, the company expects adjusted EPS of $1.05 to $1.09, above the FactSet consensus of 99 cents, and sales growth of 9.5% to 10.5%; the FactSet revenue consensus of $1.46 billion implies 8.5% growth. The stock has gained 2.8% over the last three months, matching the gain in the S&P 500 .

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Health insurance company Cigna Corp. said Thursday it will purchase Express Scripts Holding Co. in a cash-and-stock deal worth $67 billion. The agreement includes Cigna’s assumption of about $15 billion in Express Scripts’s debt. The transaction consists of $48.75 in cash and 0.2434 shares of stock for each Express Scripts share. The deal represents a premium of 31% to Express Script’s closing price of $73.42 on Wednesday. Shares of Express Scripts climbed 16% to $85 in premarket trade. Cigna shares were down 2% in scant premarket volume.

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Ignoring his lawyers’ advice, President Donald Trump has asked at least two witnesses interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation what they talked about, the New York Times reported Wednesday. While the conversations with the two — White House counsel Don McGahn and former chief of staff Reince Priebus — likely did not amount to witness tampering, experts told the Times, they are potentially problematic. In both instances, sources familiar with the conversations reportedly alerted Mueller about them, in case they posed conflicts. Additionally, after a Times report in January said Trump ordered McGahn to order Mueller to be fired last summer, Trump told an aide that McGahn should issue a statement denying the report, the Times said. McGahn refused to do so, and confronted Trump, reminding him that he had in fact ordered him to fire Mueller, according to the Times.

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FTD Companies Inc. announced preliminary results for 2017 late Wednesday, more than two months after the end of its fiscal year, and admitted that it had fumbled one of the biggest days of the year for florists. FTD said that its outlook for 2018 was hit by a miss on Valentine’s Day, with first-quarter outlook now expected to be about $20 million less than internal expectations due to a woeful performance on the holiday. “We took a different approach to media-based marketing in certain brands, and the results were substantially short of our expectations,” Chief Executive John Walden said in Wednesday’s release. “We will incorporate our many learnings from Valentine’s Day to inform our plans throughout this year and in the future.” FTD, which did not explain why it has not released earnings more than two months after the close of the year, said that it expects 2017 results to fall within previously stated forecast ranges, and now expects to fall in the lower half of guidance ranges provided for 2018 after the Valentine’s Day flub. The company did say that its outlook for 2018 leads executives to anticipate that it will not live up to certain obligations in its credit agreement, and it is discussing $50 million in credit support from its largest shareholder, Liberty Interactive Corp. FTD shares have declined more than 71% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index has gained 15.1%.

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Agilent Technologies Inc. announced Wednesday evening that it has agreed to buy Advanced Analytical Technologies Inc. for $250 million in cash. The 20-year-old private company, which is based in Iowa and has about 100 employees, focuses on tools to analyze molecules using a technique called electrophoresis. “Technology advances in genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics are driving growth and demand for innovative new solutions,” Agilent executive Stefan Schuette said in Wednesday’s announcement. Agilent did not provide information on how the acquisition would affect its finances nor a targeted closing date. Agilent shares were stable in late trading following the announcement, after closing with a 2.3% gain at $69.70.

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Agilent Technologies Inc. announced Wednesday evening that it has agreed to buy Advanced Analytical Technologies Inc. for $250 million in cash. The 20-year-old private company, which is based in Iowa and has about 100 employees, focuses on tools to analyze molecules using a technique called electrophoresis. “Technology advances in genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics are driving growth and demand for innovative new solutions,” Agilent executive Stefan Schuette said in Wednesday’s announcement. Agilent did not provide information on how the acquisition would affect its finances nor a targeted closing date. Agilent shares were stable in late trading following the announcement, after closing with a 2.3% gain at $69.70.

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A letter from 107 House Republicans, including Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, is asking for President Donald Trump to tailor steel and aluminum tariffs. The letter calls for exclusions of fairly traded products and those that don’t pose security threats, allowing companies to petition for duty-free access for imports that are unavailable from U.S. sources, and grandfathering of existing contracts to purchase aluminum or steel.

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Tronc Inc. shares were flat in the extended session Wednesday after the company reported earnings that missed Wall Street expectations but higher-than-expected revenue. The company reported fourth-quarter net losses of $373 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with net income of $19.4 million, or 53 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 30 cents a share. Fourth-quarter net income was impacted by a $10.8 million one-time reduction in deferred tax assets related to the changes in the U.S. tax code. Revenue rose to $435 million from $425.4 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated adjusted earnings of 65 cents a share on revenue of $424 million. The company said it will provide 2018 outlook on its first-quarter 2018 earnings conference call. Earlier this year the company announced an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune and other California properties for $500 million in cash, plus the assumption of about $90 million in pension liabilities. Tronc stock has gained 43% in the past year, with the S&P 500 index rising 15%.

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Rent-A-Center Inc. said late Wednesday it is laying off about 25% of its corporate workforce in Plano, Texas, to “better align” the company’s structure with its operations under a plan to save $65 million to $85 million. Rent-A-Center also said its board is still reviewing “strategic and financial alternatives” to maximize stockholder value, including evaluating the sale of the company. “The company has received proposals from bidders interested in acquiring the company and the board and its advisors remain actively engaged with these parties,” Rent-A-Center said. A decision whether to pursue a sale is expected for the second quarter, with no further updates on that part of its strategic review, the company said. The headcount reduction of about 250 positions is expected to generate some $28 million in annual run-rate cost savings, with approximately $20 million realized in 2018, Rent-A-Center said. Severance charges and other one-time costs relating to the layoffs are seen around $3 million in the first quarter of 2018, the company said. “While major reductions in work force are difficult, we are confident that Rent-A-Center will be better positioned for long-term growth and profitability,” Chief Executive Mitch Fadel said in a statement. Shares of Rent-A-Center were halted.

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