Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS:
AAPL -
News) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Lehman Bros., due primarily to valuation. The stock closed Wednesday up 0.8% at $84.61, after falling 6.2% over the previous three sessions. At Wednesday's close, the stock had lost 13% since reaching an all-time high of $97.80 on Jan. 10. Analyst Harry Blount said the stock's recent pullback "provides an attractive entry point and a favorable reward vs. risk ratio in front of an anticipated product cycle in 2007." Blount also sees lowered component pricing leading to additional potential operating margin expansion and the likelihood of PC market share gains.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE:
CTB -
News) said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $27.6 million, or 45 cents a share, from $6.85 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier, hurt by restructuring charges and the write-off of goodwill and intangible assets. The Findlay, Ohio, tire-maker said sales rose 29% to $739.1 million from $572.4 million in the year-ago period, helped in part by the addition of operations of Cooper Chengshan Passenger Tire Co. and Cooper Chengshan Tire Co. in China. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, breakeven earnings for the quarter.
DealerTrack Holdings (NasdaqGM:
TRAK -
News) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $5.7 million, or 14 cents a share, as revenue grew 37% to $45.7 million.
Del Monte Foods Co.'s (NYSE:
DLM -
News) third-quarter earnings fell 10%, due to lower sales volumes for consumer products, higher costs, and higher marketing and interest expense. The San Francisco canned food company had third-quarter earnings of $46.5 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $51.9 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. Del Monte said revenue for the quarter ended Jan. 28 rose 15% to $907.2 million from $789.6 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $943 million.
EchoStar Communications (NasdaqGS:
DISH -
News) said fourth-quarter net income rose to $153 million, or 35 cents a basic share, from $133 million, or 30 cents a basic share, with revenue up 17% to $2.58 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 32 cents a share on revenue of $2.54 billion. The operator of the DISH Network added 350,000 net new subscribers during the quarter, giving it a total of 13.1 million subscribers.
Greif Inc. (NYSE:
GEF -
News) reported fiscal first-quarter net earnings of $34 million, or $1.15 per Class A share, up slightly from $33.4 million, or $1.13 per Class A share, in the year-ago period. Revenue at the Delaware, Ohio-based industrial packaging company rose 29% to $750.8 million from $582.3 million.
Hana Biosciences (NasdaqGM:
HNAB -
News) was upgraded to buy from hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Leading Brands (NasdaqCM:
LBIX -
News) said its TrueBlue Blueberry Juice brand is now listed with The Kroger Co. (NYSE:
KR -
News).
Longs Drug Stores' (NYSE:
LDG -
News) fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 24% to $26.9 million, or 71 cents a share, from $35.4 million, or 93 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue for the quarter ended Jan. 25 increased 8% to $1.34 billion from $1.24 billion a year ago.
ManTech International Corp. (NasdaqGS:
MANT -
News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $13.9 million, or 41 cents a share, up 33% from $10.4 million, or 31 cents a share, during the year-ago period. The company posted revenue of $290.7 million vs. $261 million.
Martha Stewart Omnimedia (NYSE:
MSO -
News) was upgraded to equal-weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE:
MOT -
News) said it has been notified that certain Carl Icahn entities have filed to acquire additional shares of Motorola stock. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based telecommunications company said the notice stated that Icahn and Icahn Partners LP are each filing to acquire between $119.7 million and $500 million worth of Motorola stock, while Icahn Partners Master Fund LP and Icahn Partners Master Fund II LP are each filing to acquire more than $500 million, but less than 25% of Motorola's outstanding stock.
New Century Financial Corp. (NYSE:
NEW -
News) was upgraded to peer perform from underperform at Bear Stearns.
Oracle Corp. (NasdaqGS:
ORCL -
News) confirmed that it was buying business performance management software maker Hyperion Solutions Corp. (NasdaqGS:
HYSL -
News) in a deal valued at $3.3 billion, or $52 a share. The per-share bid represents a 21% premium to Hyperion's closing price of $42.84 on Wednesday. Oracle said the acquisition, which is expected to close in April, should to add 1 cent a share to fiscal 2008 earnings on an adjusted basis, and 4 cents a share to fiscal 2009 results.
Parallel Petroleum (NasdaqGM:
PLLL -
News) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $11.1 million, or 29 cents a share. In the same period a year earlier, the company earned $8.4 million, or 24 cents a share. The latest results include a $9 million pre-tax gain on an asset sale, and a $2.8 million gain related to the fair market value of derivative instruments and ineffective portion of hedges.
PharmaNet Development (NasdaqGS:
PDGI -
News) posted adjusted earnings of $6.8 million, or 36 cents a share, for the fourth quarter, and forecast an adjusted profit of $1.06 to $1.21 a share for fiscal 2007.
PRG-Schultz International (NasdaqGM:
PRGX -
News) reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.9 million, or 43 cents a share, narrower than a year-ago loss of $175.8 million, or $28.32 a share.
Smith Micro Software Inc.'s (NasdaqGM:
SMSI -
News) fourth-quarter net income rose 63% to $3.61 million, or 14 cents a share, from $2.21 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier. The Aliso Viejo, Calif., developer and marketer of software products and services said revenue more than doubled to $17.2 million from $8 million a year ago.
Stats Chippac Ltd. (NasdaqGS:
STTS -
News) shares surged after Temasek Holdings Ltd. said it would launch a cash offer, through its subsidiary Singapore Technologies Semiconductors Ltd., for the remaining shares in Stats Chippac that it does not already own. Temasek currently holds a 35.6% stake in the semiconductor test company. Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment company, is offering S$1.75 per share and S$17.50 per American Depositary share in cash. If the offer results in Temasek owning more than 90% of Stats Chippac, Temasek will raise the offer price to S$1.88 per share and S$18.80 per ADS.
Sun-Times Media Group (NYSE:
SVN -
News) said it received a favorable review on its international tax liability from representatives of a foreign taxing authority.
Todco (NYSE:
THE -
News) said its fourth-quarter net income roughly tripled to $64.1 million, or $1.11 a share, from $21.2 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose 73% to $260.1 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of $1.01 a share on revenue of $255 million. Todco said the improved performance was largely due to improved utilization and higher day-rates.
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Labels: AAPL, CTB, DISH, DLM, GEF, HNAB, HYSL, KR, LBIX, LDG, MANT, MOT, MSO, NEW, ORCL, PDGI, PLLL, PRGX, STTS, TRAK
