Under Armour upgraded as stock’s plunge helps balance out risk versus reward

Shares of Under Armour Inc. tacked on 0.4% in morning trade Tuesday, after the athletic apparel and accessories company was upgraded at Morgan Stanley, which citing a more balanced risk-versus-reward scenario following the plunge in the stock price over the past year. Analyst Jay Sole raised his rating to equal weight, after being at underweight for teh past 13 months, but he cut his stock price target to $20, which is below current levels, from $25. The stock has tumbled 46% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has climbed 25%. Sole said among some of the investor concerns are whether the Under Armour brand is broken and how well the company can control costs. “Visibility is still relatively low, but we think answers [will] begin to emerge over the next six months,” Sole wrote in a note to clients. “The stock now discounts more reasonable long-term assumptions, in our view, even though in the near term this means an elevated multiple.”

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Treasury yields jump as Yellen seen priming the market for more rate hikes

Treasury yields jumped on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen left the door open to an interest-rate increase at the central bank’s coming March policy meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 4.5 basis points to 2.481%, while the yield on the two-year note — typically the most sensitive to rate-hike expectations — rose 3.7 basis points to 1.246%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 3.5 basis points to 3.067%. Yellen said that Fed officials will consider raising interest rates “at our upcoming meetings,” a decidedly more hawkish message than the central bank’s latest policy outlook, which cautioned that the central bank would be careful to raise interest rates gradually. Yellen added that waiting too long to raise interest rates would be “unwise” because it could force the central bank to play catch-up.

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Gold futures off session highs as traders weigh Yellen’s remarks

Gold futures edged higher Tuesday, but traded well off the session’s highs as traders weighed prepared remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, as well as comments from Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker. In prepared remarks ahead of her testimony to Congress, Yellen said interest-rate hikes can be gradual but the central bank will look to incoming economic data to see if an adjustment to the federal funds rate would be appropriate. Separately, Lacker said that “significantly higher rates are warranted.” April gold rose $2.10, or 0.2%, to trade at $1,227.90 an ounce, below the intraday high of $1,236.

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Fed report says some smaller banks may be vulnerable to drop in commercial real estate prices

Rising commercial real estate prices may leave some small banks vulnerable to a drop in the market, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday. In a report to Congress on financial stability, which accompanied Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, the central bank said that commercial real estate prices, which have been an area of growing concern at the central bank, rose further. Overall financial vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system overall have continued to be moderate since mid-2016, the Fed said. Valuation pressure in some asset classes have been rising, particularly late last year, the report said. Outstanding riskier corporate debt edged down over the past year, but issuance of leveraged loans was strong.

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U.S. stocks open lower as investors await Yellen testimony

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Tuesday as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. The main three benchmarks retreated after touching the latest in a series of record highs on Monday, with the S&P 500 index down two points, or 0.1%, to 2,326. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, or 0.2%, to 20,381. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed eight points, or 0.1%, to 5,756. T-Mobile U.S. Inc. shares rose after the company reported strong fourth-quarter earnings. U.S.-listed shares of Credit Suisse Group AG rose after the Swiss lender posted a wider-than-expected loss on litigation costs and said it would cut 5,500 jobs this year. Shares of General Motors Co. rallied after the PSA Group, owner of French car maker Peugeot, said it is in talks to buy GM’s Opel brand. Shares of toy maker Mattel Inc. rose after it said it will team up with Alibaba to develop and sell new products for Chinese consumers.

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Cynosure’s stock rockets after buyout deal with Hologic

Shares of Cynosure Inc. soared 28% in active premarket trade Tuesday, after the medical aesthetics systems and technologies company announced a deal to be acquired by Hologic Inc. in a deal valued at $1.65 billion. With volume of 5.7 million shares, Cynosure’s stock was the most active ahead of the open. Under terms of the deal, Hologic will pay $66 a share in cash for each Cynosure share outstanding, which represents a 28% premium to Monday’s closing price of $51.50. Hologic said it expects the deal to reduce net earnings, but add 3 cents a share to 5 cents a share to adjusted earnings in fiscal 2017. Syngergies aer expected to be $25 million by the third year after the deal closes. Cynosure develops products used by plastic surgeons for noninvasive body contouring, hair removal and skin revitalization. Hologic’s stock slumped 5.1% ahead of the open. Cynosure’s stock has run up 47% over the past 12 months through Monday, while Hologic shares have climbed 23% and the S&P 500 has rallied 25%.

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Molson Coors’ stock falls after profit miss

Shares of Molson Coors Brewing Co. dropped 2.7% in premarket trade, after the brewer missed fourth-quarter profit expectations. Net income rose to $1.44 billion, or $6.65 a share, from $32.8 million, or 18 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as impairment charges related to Molson core brands, adjusted earnings per share came to 46 cents. The FactSet EPS consensus was 88 cents. Net sales rose to $2.29 billion from $844.4 million, as volume in hectoliters grew to 21.8 million from 7.8 million. The FactSet revenue consensus was $2.56 billion. “The biggest news for 2016 was completing our acquisition of the remaining 58 percent of MillerCoors and the Miller global brand portfolio for $12 billion, representing the largest transaction in the Company’s history, which made Molson Coors the third-largest global brewer,” Chief Executive Mark Hunter. The stock has lost 0.6% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 7.6%.

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Carnival Corporation increases cruise offerings to Cuba

Carnival Corporation said Tuesday that the company will expand its cruises to Cuba starting in June 2017. The company already began sailing to Cuba in May 2016 with its Fathom brand, but now has approval to began cruises with its largest cruise brand, Carnival Cruise Line. The company will be sailing its largest capacity ship, with 2,052 passengers, from Port Tampa Bay in Florida to Havana, Cuba. The company said it anticipates approval for its other brands to sail to Cuba as well. Shares of Carnival Corporation have gained 5.6% in the past month, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 2.4%.

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Dick’s Sporting Goods boosts dividend by nearly 12%

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. said Tuesday it was raising its quarterly dividend to 17 cents a share, a 11.5% increase over the previous dividend of 15.25 cents a share. The sporting goods retailer’s new dividend is payable on March 31 to shareholders of record on March 10. Based on Monday’s stock closing price of $52.42, the new annual dividend rate of 68 cents a share represents a dividend yield of 1.30%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.04%, according to FactSet. Dick’s shares, which were still inactive in premarket trade, have dropped 14% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 3.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.6%.

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Mattel’s stock surges after Alibaba partnership

Shares of Mattel Inc. rallied 2.4% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the toy maker announced a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. which includes selling Mattel toys in China through Alibaba’s Tmall.com marketplace. Mattel will work with Alibaba’s A.I. lab to develop new products for Chinese consumers. “By combining Mattel’s unmatched expertise in childhood learning and development, with Alibaba’s immense reach and unique consumer insights, our goal is to help parents in China raise children to be their personal best,” said Mattel Chief Executive Margo Georgiadis. Mattel will begin product development immediately, with initial availability expected in mid 2017. Alibaba’s stock tacked on 0.3% ahead of the open. Mattel shares have tumbled 17% over the past 12 months, while Alibaba’s stock has soared 69% and the S&P 500 has climbed 25%.

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