U.S. stocks traded lower Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% to 11983, the Standard & Poor's 500 slid 1.1% to 1274 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1% to 2655. Among the companies whose shares are actively trading in the session are Travelers Cos. (TRV), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (LYV).
Insurer Travelers ($58.83, -$2.25, -3.68%) said it was slowing its share-buyback program after natural disasters cost the company about $1 billion over two months, already marking the second quarter as its most expensive for catastrophes since Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. in 2005.
Lululemon Athletica's ($90.34, +$4.20, +4.88%) fiscal first-quarter results came in ahead of both analysts' expectations and company guidance as demand for the company's high-end yoga wear continued to grow, leading the company to bump up its guidance for fiscal 2011.
Live Nation Entertainment ($10.86, +$0.56, +5.44%) Chairman Irving Azoff and the company's largest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp.'s (LSTZA, LSTZB) John Malone, are in early talks to consider taking the company private, the New York Post reported Friday on its website, citing a person close to Live Nation.
Two years after scrapping plans to sell its Adam Opel unit, General Motors Co. (GM, $28.86, -$0.59, -2.01%) is open to selling the struggling brand if it gets an offer more favorable than the one it rejected in 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Horace Mann Educators Corp. (HMN, $14.85, -$0.39, -2.56%) slashed its current-year earnings forecast as it estimated catastrophe losses of $45 million to $50 million for April and May due to deadly tornadoes and severe storms.
Barclays Capital cut its stock-investment rating on AstraZeneca PLC (AZN, $50.50, -$1.44, -2.77%) (AZN.LN) to underweight from overweight, citing uncertainty ahead of the key Brilinta regulatory decision--which is expected by July 20--and Crestor's weakening market share in the U.S. "While we remain optimistic the FDA will approve Brilinta, we see reasonable arguments both for and against approval," said the brokerage. Crestor performed poorly in the first quarter and that doesn't augur well for sales through the rest of the year, the firm said.
An Illinois jury on Thursday awarded $625,000 to the estate of a Chicago-area man who was administered a blood-thinning drug that contained a contaminated ingredient that medical-products company Baxter International Inc. (BAX, $57.99, -$0.91, -1.55%) manufactured in China.
Credit Suisse upgraded its stock-investment rating on Black Hills Corp. (BKH, $28.65, +$0.44, +1.56%) to outperform from neutral, citing the recent stock-price pullback as volatility in the non-regulated operations clouded a good story in the about 80% of regulated earnings.
Analysts are upbeat about Northera's prospects in the wake of the hypotension drug's latest drug data released by Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (CHTP, $4.99, +$0.79, +18.81%). Roth Capital sees FDA approval possible as early as the first quarter as it triples its price target to $18. It expects the drug could generate $250 million of annual U.S. revenue by 2015, with international sales starting that year.
DeVry Inc. (DV, $56.79, -$1.57, -2.69%) on Thursday said the for-profit college operator's chief financial officer, Richard M. Gunst, intends to retire to spend more time with his family.
Diana Containerships Inc.'s (DCIX, $7.28, -$0.67, -8.43%) bigger-sized offer of 14.3 million shares priced at $7.50, a 5.7% discount to Thursday's closing price.
Chip-product maker Diodes Inc. (DIOD, $24.09, -$3.27, -11.95%) lowered its gross-margin guidance for the second quarter, citing a mix shift due to softening demand and a slower-than-expected recovery from previously disclosed manpower shortages at its China packaging facilities. However, the company maintained its previous revenue guidance.
Gladstone Commercial Corp. (GOOD, $17.47, -$0.98, -5.31%) said its bigger-sized offering of 1.2 million shares priced at $17.55 a share, a 4.9% discount to Thursday's close, as the real-estate investment trust raises funds to acquire additional properties and repay debt.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT, $15.15, -$0.91, -5.67%) agreed to sell its global wire business to South Korea-based Hyosung Corp. (004800.SE) for $50 million.
Harbin Electric Inc. (HRBN, $16.60, +$1.12, +7.24%) said it received a letter from its chief executive reaffirming his proposal to take the Chinese electric-motor manufacturer private for $750 million, two weeks after disputing rumors that he and another top executive had "gone missing."
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its stock-investment rating on agency research broker and financial technology firm Investment Technology Group Inc. (ITG, $13.87, +$0.34, +2.51%) to market perform from underperform, noting that, with the stock down more than 30% since the end of February, it sees limited further downside though it doesn't expect a turn in earnings power yet.
Ernst & Young resigned as the outside auditor for Life Partners Holdings Inc. (LPHI, $3.34, -$0.43, -11.41%) and withdrew its opinion on fiscal-2010 results, a further blow to a company that has been reeling from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting and disclosure practices.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its outlook on Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX, $7.30, -$0.13, -1.75%) to negative Thursday, as the ratings agency weighs the risk of a more sluggish rebound in new-home construction.
The solar-wafer market is rapidly deteriorating, Stifel Nicolaus said, as it cut MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR, $8.60, -$0.48, -5.29%) to hold from buy. The firm noted that MEMC is moving in the right direction to cut costs, but it doesn't see investors warming up to the name over the next six to nine months. Stifel cited "acute" reductions in pricing and significant estimate cuts.
Micromet Inc. (MITI, $5.97, +$0.68, +12.83%) said a clinical study of its Blinatumomab treatment resulted in a 75% remission rate in patients who had suffered relapses of an acute form of leukemia, indicating potential to be used across the course of the disease.
Managed-care provider Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH, $25.61, -$0.73, -2.77%) said Friday it has lost a Louisiana Medicaid contract that earned it $32 million in revenue in last year. The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its Medicaid health-information management unit, Molina Medicaid Solutions, was notified Thursday that Louisiana intends to award the contract for a replacement Medicaid management-information system to Client Network Services Inc.
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB, $19.49, -$0.34, -1.71%) said it will buy the 235-room W hotel in Boston for $89.5 million, the latest addition to the company's growing portfolio of upscale properties.
RealD Inc. (RLD, $20.78, -$3.29, -13.67%), a licensor of 3D technologies, posted better-than-expected results in its fiscal fourth quarter, but William Blair noted the implicit fiscal-2012 revenue licensing guidance is below the Street, although the firm believes it will prove to be conservative. The firm reiterated its outperform rating and advocated using the weakness to buy the stock.
Rentrak Corp. (RENT, $20.56, -$1.88, -8.36%) swung to a surprise fiscal fourth-quarter loss as the media-measurement company reported lower revenue and higher operating expenses. Adjusted results missed analysts' expectations.
SeaChange International Inc. (SEAC, $10.49, +$0.39, +3.86%) swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss on lower revenue and falling gross margins, while the prior-year results benefited from a $25.2 million gain related to the sale of its equity investment in Casa Systems. The company's adjusted profit came in above SeaChange's muted expectations, and the company raised its full-year earnings outlook.
Thoratec Corp. (THOR, $30.66, -$1.48, -4.60%) said Friday that David Smith has resigned his post as chief financial officer, and is being replaced on an interim basis by Roxanne Oulman, who is currently vice president of finance.
Shares of Verigy Ltd. (VRGY, $14.95, +$1.46, +10.82%) are trading near the semiconductor-testing company's $15 buyout price as the company discloses U.S. antitrust regulators have completed their review of the $1.1 billion deal. Japan's Advantest Corp. (6857.TO)--whose mainstay product is a tester for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, chips--is the buyer as it diversifies. Verigy trended last month toward $14.50, but then sold off and has traded near $14 in recent weeks, amid apparent questions of whether the deal would close.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its stock-investment rating on jeweler Zale Corp. (ZLC, $5.70, -$0.56, -8.95%) to neutral from buy following the stock's recent rally. With few data points between now and late August when Zale will report fiscal fourth-quarter results, the firm said it sees the stock being rangebound.
J.P. Morgan said the recent pullback on Zipcar Inc. (ZIP, $20.31, +$0.96, +4.96%) presents an opportunity to invest in an early-stage, fast-growth leader in a multi-billion-dollar market, and upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. Zipcar has over a 75% share of the auto-sharing market, which yields the benefits of auto ownership without high cost and hassle and engenders sustainable consumption, the firm said, while Frost & Sullivan forecasts tenfold growth in car-sharing members through 2016.
Insurer Travelers ($58.83, -$2.25, -3.68%) said it was slowing its share-buyback program after natural disasters cost the company about $1 billion over two months, already marking the second quarter as its most expensive for catastrophes since Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. in 2005.
Lululemon Athletica's ($90.34, +$4.20, +4.88%) fiscal first-quarter results came in ahead of both analysts' expectations and company guidance as demand for the company's high-end yoga wear continued to grow, leading the company to bump up its guidance for fiscal 2011.
Live Nation Entertainment ($10.86, +$0.56, +5.44%) Chairman Irving Azoff and the company's largest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp.'s (LSTZA, LSTZB) John Malone, are in early talks to consider taking the company private, the New York Post reported Friday on its website, citing a person close to Live Nation.
Two years after scrapping plans to sell its Adam Opel unit, General Motors Co. (GM, $28.86, -$0.59, -2.01%) is open to selling the struggling brand if it gets an offer more favorable than the one it rejected in 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Horace Mann Educators Corp. (HMN, $14.85, -$0.39, -2.56%) slashed its current-year earnings forecast as it estimated catastrophe losses of $45 million to $50 million for April and May due to deadly tornadoes and severe storms.
Barclays Capital cut its stock-investment rating on AstraZeneca PLC (AZN, $50.50, -$1.44, -2.77%) (AZN.LN) to underweight from overweight, citing uncertainty ahead of the key Brilinta regulatory decision--which is expected by July 20--and Crestor's weakening market share in the U.S. "While we remain optimistic the FDA will approve Brilinta, we see reasonable arguments both for and against approval," said the brokerage. Crestor performed poorly in the first quarter and that doesn't augur well for sales through the rest of the year, the firm said.
An Illinois jury on Thursday awarded $625,000 to the estate of a Chicago-area man who was administered a blood-thinning drug that contained a contaminated ingredient that medical-products company Baxter International Inc. (BAX, $57.99, -$0.91, -1.55%) manufactured in China.
Credit Suisse upgraded its stock-investment rating on Black Hills Corp. (BKH, $28.65, +$0.44, +1.56%) to outperform from neutral, citing the recent stock-price pullback as volatility in the non-regulated operations clouded a good story in the about 80% of regulated earnings.
Analysts are upbeat about Northera's prospects in the wake of the hypotension drug's latest drug data released by Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (CHTP, $4.99, +$0.79, +18.81%). Roth Capital sees FDA approval possible as early as the first quarter as it triples its price target to $18. It expects the drug could generate $250 million of annual U.S. revenue by 2015, with international sales starting that year.
DeVry Inc. (DV, $56.79, -$1.57, -2.69%) on Thursday said the for-profit college operator's chief financial officer, Richard M. Gunst, intends to retire to spend more time with his family.
Diana Containerships Inc.'s (DCIX, $7.28, -$0.67, -8.43%) bigger-sized offer of 14.3 million shares priced at $7.50, a 5.7% discount to Thursday's closing price.
Chip-product maker Diodes Inc. (DIOD, $24.09, -$3.27, -11.95%) lowered its gross-margin guidance for the second quarter, citing a mix shift due to softening demand and a slower-than-expected recovery from previously disclosed manpower shortages at its China packaging facilities. However, the company maintained its previous revenue guidance.
Gladstone Commercial Corp. (GOOD, $17.47, -$0.98, -5.31%) said its bigger-sized offering of 1.2 million shares priced at $17.55 a share, a 4.9% discount to Thursday's close, as the real-estate investment trust raises funds to acquire additional properties and repay debt.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT, $15.15, -$0.91, -5.67%) agreed to sell its global wire business to South Korea-based Hyosung Corp. (004800.SE) for $50 million.
Harbin Electric Inc. (HRBN, $16.60, +$1.12, +7.24%) said it received a letter from its chief executive reaffirming his proposal to take the Chinese electric-motor manufacturer private for $750 million, two weeks after disputing rumors that he and another top executive had "gone missing."
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its stock-investment rating on agency research broker and financial technology firm Investment Technology Group Inc. (ITG, $13.87, +$0.34, +2.51%) to market perform from underperform, noting that, with the stock down more than 30% since the end of February, it sees limited further downside though it doesn't expect a turn in earnings power yet.
Ernst & Young resigned as the outside auditor for Life Partners Holdings Inc. (LPHI, $3.34, -$0.43, -11.41%) and withdrew its opinion on fiscal-2010 results, a further blow to a company that has been reeling from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting and disclosure practices.
The solar-wafer market is rapidly deteriorating, Stifel Nicolaus said, as it cut MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR, $8.60, -$0.48, -5.29%) to hold from buy. The firm noted that MEMC is moving in the right direction to cut costs, but it doesn't see investors warming up to the name over the next six to nine months. Stifel cited "acute" reductions in pricing and significant estimate cuts.
Micromet Inc. (MITI, $5.97, +$0.68, +12.83%) said a clinical study of its Blinatumomab treatment resulted in a 75% remission rate in patients who had suffered relapses of an acute form of leukemia, indicating potential to be used across the course of the disease.
Managed-care provider Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH, $25.61, -$0.73, -2.77%) said Friday it has lost a Louisiana Medicaid contract that earned it $32 million in revenue in last year. The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its Medicaid health-information management unit, Molina Medicaid Solutions, was notified Thursday that Louisiana intends to award the contract for a replacement Medicaid management-information system to Client Network Services Inc.
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB, $19.49, -$0.34, -1.71%) said it will buy the 235-room W hotel in Boston for $89.5 million, the latest addition to the company's growing portfolio of upscale properties.
RealD Inc. (RLD, $20.78, -$3.29, -13.67%), a licensor of 3D technologies, posted better-than-expected results in its fiscal fourth quarter, but William Blair noted the implicit fiscal-2012 revenue licensing guidance is below the Street, although the firm believes it will prove to be conservative. The firm reiterated its outperform rating and advocated using the weakness to buy the stock.
Rentrak Corp. (RENT, $20.56, -$1.88, -8.36%) swung to a surprise fiscal fourth-quarter loss as the media-measurement company reported lower revenue and higher operating expenses. Adjusted results missed analysts' expectations.
SeaChange International Inc. (SEAC, $10.49, +$0.39, +3.86%) swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss on lower revenue and falling gross margins, while the prior-year results benefited from a $25.2 million gain related to the sale of its equity investment in Casa Systems. The company's adjusted profit came in above SeaChange's muted expectations, and the company raised its full-year earnings outlook.
Thoratec Corp. (THOR, $30.66, -$1.48, -4.60%) said Friday that David Smith has resigned his post as chief financial officer, and is being replaced on an interim basis by Roxanne Oulman, who is currently vice president of finance.
Shares of Verigy Ltd. (VRGY, $14.95, +$1.46, +10.82%) are trading near the semiconductor-testing company's $15 buyout price as the company discloses U.S. antitrust regulators have completed their review of the $1.1 billion deal. Japan's Advantest Corp. (6857.TO)--whose mainstay product is a tester for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, chips--is the buyer as it diversifies. Verigy trended last month toward $14.50, but then sold off and has traded near $14 in recent weeks, amid apparent questions of whether the deal would close.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its stock-investment rating on jeweler Zale Corp. (ZLC, $5.70, -$0.56, -8.95%) to neutral from buy following the stock's recent rally. With few data points between now and late August when Zale will report fiscal fourth-quarter results, the firm said it sees the stock being rangebound.
J.P. Morgan said the recent pullback on Zipcar Inc. (ZIP, $20.31, +$0.96, +4.96%) presents an opportunity to invest in an early-stage, fast-growth leader in a multi-billion-dollar market, and upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. Zipcar has over a 75% share of the auto-sharing market, which yields the benefits of auto ownership without high cost and hassle and engenders sustainable consumption, the firm said, while Frost & Sullivan forecasts tenfold growth in car-sharing members through 2016.
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