Tag: stock market

McDonald’s Corp.’s price target was cut to $170 from $190 at RBC Capital Markets, which also cut its U.S. same-store expectations after a slow start to the $1 $2 $3 menu. RBC maintained its outperform rating on the fast-food giant’s stock. Analysts say “deteriorating industry conditions” and “disappointing” sales of the new value menu drove the U.S. same-store sales forecast for the first quarter down to 1% from 3.5%. The FactSet consensus is for 3.8% growth. “Our sense is that the $1 $2 $3 platform stole attention from local marketing, particularly at breakfast, which likely slowed as a consequence,” analysts led by David Palmer wrote. “In addition, we believe $1 $2 $3 menu’s positioning as a variety play protected franchisee profitability bit lacked the ‘hero’ item necessary to resonate with value-conscious consumers.” Analysts they’re cautious in the near term, but see opportunity for growth in the coming quarters. McDonald’s shares are down 1.7% in Friday premarket trading, but up 21.4% for the last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 17.2% for the period.

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Shares of Foot Locker Inc. tumbled 5.2% in premarket trade Friday, after the athletic shoe and apparel retailer missed sales expectations and provided a downbeat outlook. The company swung to a net loss for the quarter to Feb. 3 of $49 million, or 40 cents a share, from net income of $189 million, or $1.42 a share, in the same period a year ago. The results includes an expense of $99 million, or 81 cents a share, related to recent tax legislation. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share was $1.26, above the FactSet consensus of $1.25. Revenue rose 4.6% to $2.21 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2.22 billion, and the same-store sales decline of 3.7% missed expectations of a 2.4% fall. The company expects 2018 sames-store sales to be flat to up in the low single-digit percentage range.”The dramatic shifts influencing the expectations and behaviors of our customers continued to affect our business in the fourth quarter, just as they have throughout 2017,” said Chief Executive Richard Johnson. “The first quarter of 2018 will likely see the continuation of sales and margins in line with trends in the second half of 2017,” said Chief Financial Officer Lauren Peters. The stock has gained 5.9% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.3%.

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Ivanka Trump’s security clearance may be held up by a U.S. counterintelligence investigation into a real-estate deal she made, according to a CNN report Thursday. According to CNN, the FBI is scrutinizing the financial deal to see if it left her vulnerable to blackmail from foreign powers. The president’s daughter played
a key role in hammering out the deal, CNN reported. The project in Vancouver, Canada, opened in February 2017 and is owned by a wealthy Malaysian developer, from whom the Trump Organization receives licensing and marketing fees for the use of the Trump name. The $360 million development features a hotel and luxury residences that have been popular with foreign buyers, CNN said. The complexity of the deal’s international financing may be a reason why Trump’s full security clearance has not yet been cleared, CNN said, although a spokesman for Trump told CNN that no red flags have been raised.

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Shares of Ambarella Inc. rose more than 6% late Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and sales. Ambarella earned $1.3 million, or 4 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $18.4 million, or 53 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $15.8 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with $32 million, or 92 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 19% to $70.6 million, compared with $87.5 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $70.3 million. The company said it expects fiscal 2019 first-quarter revenue between $54.5 million and $57.5 million, which would compare with analyst expectations of $58.3 million according to FactSet.

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Nasdaq sued IEX Group claiming patent infringement Thursday, in the latest beef between the traditional exchange and the upstart profiled in the Michael Lewis book “Flash Boys.” Nasdaq claims that IEX is infringing on seven patents that relate to “closing auction processes, multi-parallel order processing, matching engine performance, and data feed optimizations,” according to Nasdaq’s announcement of the suit Thursday afternoon. Nasdaq notes that IEX employs “several” former Nasdaq employees, and that IEX says in public filings that “its closing auction process was ‘designed based on extensive review of’ Nasdaq’s patented process.” The suit, which Nasdaq said was filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, seeks to halt IEX’s use of the technology as well as financial remuneration, Nasdaq said. IEX was certified as an official exchange in 2016 despite massive resistance from Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. IEX seeks to slow down trades minutely to ward off high-speed traders, whom they believe seek to game the system by front-running other traders, which was also the theme of “Flash Boys.” “Similar to our exchange application process, this is yet another attempt by Nasdaq to obstruct an innovative new competitor,” an IEX spokesman said in response to the lawsuit.

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Nutanix Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday after the enterprise cloud computing company’s quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street estimates. Nutanix shares rose 2.6% after hours. The company reported a fiscal second-quarter loss of $62.6 million, or 39 cents a share, compared with $76.4 million, or 54 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted per-share loss was 14 cents a share. Revenue rose to $286.7 million from $199.2 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 20 cents a share on revenue of $283.2 million. For the third quarter, Nutanix estimates an adjusted loss of 21 cents to 19 cents a share on revenue of $275 million to $280 million. Analysts expect an adjusted loss of 23 cents a share on revenue of $268.4 million.

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Shares of Nordstrom, Inc. slid after hours even as the retailer posted fourth-quarter results that were slightly stronger than analysts expected. The company had net income of $151 million in the quarter, down 33% compared to a year ago. Revenues of $4.6 billion were 8.4% higher compared to a year ago and beat the FactSet consensus forecast of $4.5 billion. Same-store sales increased 2.6%, also topping the forecast of 1.0%. Earnings per share were 89 cents, with a tax charge of 25 cents per share and a “one-time pretax investment” in employees of 6 cents per share. All together, that total – $1.20 – missed analyst expectations for EPS of $1.24. The company pointed to “record sales” of $15.1 billion in the fiscal year, and 4% customer growth. It said it sees net sales of $15.2-$15.4 billion for fiscal 2018 and EPS of $3.30 to $3.55. Over the past 12 months, Nordstrom shares have risen nearly 10.7%, lagging the 11.7% gain for the S&P 500 . Management did not address ongoing efforts to take the company private in its earnings release.

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Equifax Inc. reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue beats on Thursday afternoon. Earnings for the latest quarter rose to $172.3 million, or $1.42 per share, from $123 million, or $1.01 per share in the year-earlier period. The FactSet adjusted earnings-per-share consensus was $1.35. Equifax excluded costs related to its massive 2017 cybersecurity breach from its adjusted EPS, as it has done before, including the cost of providing its own free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to consumers. Other costs were related to investigating and fixing the breach along with legal and other professional services and came to $26.5 million in the fourth quarter and $114 million in 2017, both of which are net of insurance recoveries, according to Equifax. Fourth-quarter revenue rose to $838.5 million from $801.1 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $825.7 million. The company also recorded a one-time net benefit of $48 million in the fourth quarter due to the U.S.’s corporate tax overhaul. Equifax shares lifted 0.5% after the bell. Company shares have declined 1.3% over the last three months, compared with a 1.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Splunk Inc. rose more than 6% late Thursday after the company beat expectations for fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and sales. Splunk said it lost $25 million, or 18 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $74 million, or 54 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 37 cents a share, versus an adjusted loss of 1 cent a year ago. Revenue rose 37% to $419.7 million, compared with $306 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 33 cents a share on sales of $391 million. Splunk said it expects fiscal first-quarter 2019 revenue between $295 million and $297 million, in line with expectations.

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VMware Inc shares sought direction in the extended session Thursday after the computer virtualization software company topped Wall Street estimates. VMware shares, which traded between slight gains and losses, were last down 2%. The company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $440 million, or $1.09 a share, compared with $441 million, or $1.04 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a $970 million charge from the U.S. tax overhaul, adjusted earnings were $1.68 a share. Revenue rose to $2.31 billion from $2.03 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of $1.63 a share on revenue of $2.26 billion.

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