Tag: stock market

Accenture PLC reported Thursday fiscal second-quarter earnings that fell to $876.7 million, or $1.33 a share, from $1.39 billion, or $2.08 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.30. Total revenue for the quarter to Feb. 28 rose 4% to $8.76 billion from $8.40 billion, as a 5% increase in net revenue offset a 2% decline in reimbursements. The FactSet total revenue consensus was $8.77 billion. Looking ahead, the consulting firm said it expects 2017 revenue growth in the range of 6% to 8%, compared with a previous outlook of 5% to 8%. The company lifted its EPS outlook to $5.70 to $5.87 from $5.64 to $5.87. Separately, Accenture said it expects to record a $425 million charge in connection with the termination of its U.S. pension plan. The stock, which slumped 2% in premarket trade, has gained 8% year to date, while the S&P 500 has advanced 4.9%.

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U.K. police have made seven arrests related to Wednesday’s deadly terror attack in London, Metropolitan Police said Thursday. The arrests were made after police raided six locations in London and Birmingham.
Sky News and other outlets reported the man suspected of carrying out Wednesday’s terror attack near the Houses of Parliament was said to have lived at a Birmingham residence. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the police arrested three men at the scene. Police said Thursday that four people have died, including a police officer and the attacker, and that seven of 29 injured people are in critical condition. The attacker plowed through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and stabbed Officer Keith Palmer.

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U.K. police early Thursday raided a residence in Birmingham that has been linked to the deadly Westminster attacks, with several arrests made, according to media reports. Sky News and other outlets reported that the man suspected of carrying out Wednesday’s terror attack near the Houses of Parliament was said to have lived at the residence. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the police arrested three men at the scene. Five people have now reportedly died after an attacker plowed through pedestrians near Westminster Bridge and stabbed a police officer on Wednesday.

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Apple Inc. has acquired Workflow, a popular mobile app for automating tasks, according to a TechCrunch report late Wednesday. Workflow allows users to group together a number of actions to complete tasks, such as creating GIFs from photos, posting photos to different social networks at once and calculating tips. “We are thrilled to be joining Apple,” Workflow co-founder Ari Weinstein told TechCrunch. Apple confirmed the acquisition, but did not disclose the price. In 2015, the app won an Apple Design Award for its accessibility features. TechCrunch said the app, which had been offered for $2.99 on Apple’s App Store, would be made free later Wednesday.

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The Virgin America brand will be dropped in 2019, Alaska Airlines announced Wednesday, three months after completing a $2.6-billion acquisition of the low-cost airline. Alaska Airlines had previously explored the idea of maintaining both brands. “While the Virgin America name is beloved to many, we concluded that to be successful on the West Coast we had to do so under one name — for consistency and efficiency, and to allow us to continue to deliver low fares,” Sangita Woerne, Alaska Alaska Airlines’ vice president of marketing, said in a statement. Alaska said it would keep a number of Virgin amenities that have made it a favorite among fliers, including enhanced in-flight entertainment, music and its signature mood lighting. Since closing the sale, Alaska has announced routes to 21 new markets in its effort to be the dominant airline on the U.S. West Coast.

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Shares of Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp. jumped nearly 8% late Wednesday after the company reported quarterly earnings above expectations and revenue that met guidance and Wall Street forecasts. PVH said it earned $101 million, or $1.26 a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $134 million, or $1.63, a year ago. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $1.23 a share, compared with $1.52 a share a year ago. Revenue reached $2.1 billion in the quarter, flat compared to the prior year. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1.19 a share on sales of $2.1 billion in the quarter. PVH’s board authorized a $750 million increase and extension until June 2020 for the company’s share buyback program, the company said. Shares of PVH, which also owns Heritage Brands and Tommy Hilfiger, had ended the regular session down 2%.

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Shares of Five Below Inc. rose nearly 7% late Wednesday after the discount retailer reported per-share earnings above expectations and called for more store openings. Five Below said it earned $49.8 million, or 90 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $42 million in the year-ago period. Net sales rose to $388.1 million, from $326.4 million a year ago, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected per-share earnings of 89 cents a share on sales of $388 million. The company said it plans to open about 100 new stores in 2017, including locations in California. Net sales for the first quarter are expected to be between $228 million and $232 million, assuming a 2% increase in comparable-store sales. Per-share earnings were seen between 12 cents and 14 cents in the first quarter, the company said. The stock ended the regular trading session down 1.9%.

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Nike Inc. is an easy scapegoat for the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s fifth-straight loss Wednesday, as the athletic apparel company’s stock suffered its biggest price decline since it went public in December 1980. The stock plunged $4.09, or 7.05%, after the company provided late Tuesday a tepid sales outlook along with its fiscal third-quarter results. The price decline shaved about 28 points off the price of the Dow, which closed down 6.71 points. In comparison, the S&P 500 closed up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, Nike’s one-day percentage decline was the biggest since June 29, 2012. The stock has lost 17% over the past 12 months, while the Dow has climbed 18%.

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The U.S. stock market rebounded from the previous day’s selloff to close slightly higher Wednesday as gains in tech stocks helped lift the main indexes. However, a 7% drop in Nike Inc. shares weighed on Dow industrials, which posted a fifth consecutive decline. The S&P 500 advanced 4.43 points, or 0.2%, to 2,348.45, with technology shares leading the gains. The Nasdaq Composite closed 27.82 points, or 0.5%, higher at 5,821.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 6.84 points, or less than 0.1% lower at 20,661.17, extending a losing streak to a fifth day.

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Shares of Frontier Communications Corp. plunged 12% in active trade Wednesday, toward the lowest close in three decades, after Goldman Sachs turned bearish on the telecommunications company. Analyst Brett Feldman downgraded Frontier to a rare sell rating, after being at neutral since September 2014. Of the 2,902 companies covered by Goldman analysts, only 14% are rated sell. Feldman slashed his stock price target to $1.50, which is 28% below current levels, from $3.00. Feldman said he’s concerned that Frontier may have to suspend its dividend after the first quarter in order to “build liquidity to address significant debt maturities” in 2020 to 2022. He believes that at current prices, investors are only pricing in a 50% dividend cut, which Feldman said “would not be sufficient” to drive meaningful debt reduction, and is therefore not likely to support the stock. The current annual dividend yield of 42 cents implied a 20.19% dividend yield. The shares recently traded at $2.08, which puts it on track for the lowest close since Aug. 3, 1984. Volume of 94.4 million shares was about double the full-day average, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on the Nasdaq exchange. The stock has plunged 38% year to date, while the iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF has lost 6.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.

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