Posts tagged news
Dollar Tree Beats Estimates
Feb 22nd
Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) reported Q4 EPS of $1.60, topping estimates of $1.58.
Revenues in the quarter rose 12.8% to $1.95 billion, inline with estimates.
President and CEO Bob Sasser said, “I am pleased to report that our business momentum remains strong as Dollar Tree’s sales, operating margin, and earnings continued to expand in the fourth quarter. Dollar Tree is focused on providing a broad, balanced assortment of merchandise that customers need and want at surprising values. Our stores are clean, bright, convenient, seasonally relevant and fun to shop. We are looking forward to an exciting Spring and Easter selling season.”
Yahoo Shareholder Blasts Current Board
Feb 17th
Yahoo shareholder Dan Loeb blasted the current board line-up of the
company. What did he suggest? Well, that they appoint him to the
board.
Loeb runs an activist hedge fund, Third Point, and this isn’t unusual
- he’s a regular critic of Yahoo’s company’s management.
He weighed in on the recent departures of co-founder Jerry Yang and
Board Chairman Roy Bostock on Tuesday, recommending some new directors
in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition to himself, he also suggested former NBC Universal boss
Jeff Zucker and former MTV President Michael Wolf.
Top Hedge Fund Managers Invest in Apple
Feb 17th
Top hedge fund managers including David Tepper, Andreas Halvorsen and
David Einhorn smartly added to their holdings of Apple in the fourth
quarter after the death of Steve Jobs.
Their stakes have likely provided a quick pay-off.
Shares of Apple are up 26 percent this year. Apple posted spectacular
quarterly results on January 24th, and in the weeks that followed,
its shares have surged to over $500.
Zale Shares Pop 5.4% On Signet Buyout Speculation
Feb 16th
Zale (NYSE:ZLC) shares are trading 5.4% higher premarket on speculation that the jeweler could prosper in a merger with its larger competitor Signet (NYSE:SIG).
One investment banker told Reuters yesterday evening. “The Zale name has taken a beating, but it’s still a brand that people know. Signet is more skilled at marketing, so with them at the helm at Zale, it could become a prominent name again.”
The Reuters article said that Signet could afford to pay $5 – $6 per share, or approximately $161 million – $193 million, and still have the deal adding to its EPS after the 1st year.
PF Chang’s Reports Mixed Earnings For Q4
Feb 16th
PF Chang’s (NASDAQ:PFCB) reported Q4 EPS of $0.30, missing analyst estimates of $0.45 per share. Revenues for the quarter were $311.20 million, better than consensus estimates of $308.26 million.
Chairman and CEO Rick Federico commented, “While we were not satisfied with our earnings in the fourth quarter, we were pleased with our progress on the top line. We remain confident in the direction of recent initiatives to restore positive sales momentum, which have shown encouraging early signs in the first half of our first fiscal quarter. We believe 2012 will be an inflection point for our business and look forward to delivering on the goals we have articulated to our shareholders over the past several months.”
PF Chang’s China Bistro (NASDAQ:PFCB) has potential upside of 0.2% based on a current price of $34.66 and an average consensus analyst price target of $34.72.
Wal-Mart Selects Quintiq For Supply Chain Optimization
Feb 15th
Quintiq announced today that Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) chose Quintiq to provide a next-generation load assignment and dispatch system designed to lower the total miles driven and improve the efficiency of the retailer’s U.S. fleet.
Victor Allis, CEO of Quintiq says: “We are delighted with Walmart’s choice of Quintiq. We believe this demonstrates that no supply chain is too large or complex for our state-of-the-art Supply Chain Optimization software.”
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) has potential upside of 0.9% based on a current price of $62 and an average consensus analyst price target of $62.56.
Citigroup Wins Mandate To Provide Admin Services for $28 Billion of Assets
Feb 15th
Citi (NYSE:C) announced an agreement with Credit Suisse’s Asset Management division (NYSE:CS) to provide a comprehensive suite of middle office, custody and hedge fund administration services to support a portion of its US-based Alternative Investments business.
As part of the mandate, a portion of the middle office operations within Credit Suisse’s Asset Management division will be fully transitioned onto Citi’s service platform, which includes operations, technology and data management capabilities. Mike Sleightholme, Head of Global Hedge Fund Services, with Citi’s Global Transaction Services said, “We are pleased to demonstrate the value of our expert staff and leading technology to Credit Suisse’s Asset Management division.”
Citigroup is currently above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $29.36 and above its 200-day of $32.52.
Apple Works With Component Supplier To Test New Smaller Screen iPad
Feb 14th
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working with component suppliers in Asia in order to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Unnamed officials at some Apple suppliers say the company has shown them designs for a new device with a screen size of about 8 inches, and say it is qualifying suppliers for it.
The current Apple model, the iPad 2, sports a 9.7-inch screen.
This news comes after Apple reached a milestone yesterday, surpassing the $500 threshold, finishing at $502. The stock is up 19% since posting its December quarter results this past January.
Hospira Tops Estimates As Top Line Rises 2.2%
Feb 14th
Hospira (NYSE:HSP) reported Q4 EPS of $0.51, topping estimates by $0.04.
Revenues in the quarter rose 2.2% to $1.01 billion.
F. Michael Ball, chief executive officer said, “While 2011 was a challenging year as a result of our quality transformation efforts, we met our revised financial expectations, generating over $4 billion in sales, and advanced our remediation efforts. We made significant progress on many fronts during the year, including the launch in the United States of two important oncolytic products and an anti-infective drug, as well as initiating the Phase III U.S. clinical program for our biosimilar erythropoietin. We remain firmly committed to reinforcing our foundation and instilling a culture of high quality throughout the organization, actions we believe will create a strong competitive advantage for Hospira and position us for sustainable, long-term growth and increased shareholder value.”
Hospira is currently above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $31.52 and should find resistance at its 200-day MA of $41.54.
18,000 IPads for the Airforce
Feb 10th
The U.S. Air Force may buy as many as 18,000 iPad 2s. This would be one of the military’s biggest orders of computer tablets, accelerating Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s inroads into the federal government.
According to a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, The service’s Air Mobility Command plans to issue a request for proposals to buy between 63 and 18,000 iPad 2s or similar devices to lighten the load of flight crews.
