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Weather Clouds Lowe’s Companies Earnings

Paul Ausick — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:25:24 +0000

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported first-quarter 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The home improvement retailer posted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.49 and $13.1 billion in revenues. In the same period a year ago, the home improvement retailer reported EPS of $0.43 on revenue of $13.2 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.51 and $13.46 billion in revenue.

Lowe’s also revised guidance for the full year. The company now expects revenues to rise by 4% year-over-year, which is 0.5% higher than the company’s estimate at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. That implies revenues of around $52.54 billion for the year, compared with a consensus estimate of $52.38 billion. EPS guidance was reaffirmed at $2.05, below the consensus estimate of $2.08.

The company’s CEO said:

Cooler than normal temperatures and greater precipitation resulted in a delayed spring selling season which impacted our results in exterior categories. While overall performance in the month of March was particularly soft, April improved significantly and we have maintained that positive momentum through the first few weeks of May.

Competitor Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported results yesterday, and the company posted a new 52-week high based both on its results and its improved forecast. Lowe’s is not likely to follow suit today.

Lowe’s same-store sales in the first quarter fell 0.7%, but the company improved its gross margins from 34.7% a year ago to 34.8% this year.

Shares are down about 2.5% in premarket trading, at $41.40 in a 52-week range of $24.76 to $43.55. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $41.60 before today’s results were announced.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings, Housing Tagged: featured, HD, LOW

Top Analyst Upgrades and Stocks to Buy: Chesapeake, Citigroup, Monster and More

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:20:19 +0000

Investors and traders are always looking for new research ideas that will lead to higher income or more profits. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls each morning to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We are breaking out the positive analyst calls as far as stocks to buy and positive research calls today. These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls seen from Wall Street today.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was reiterated Buy and the ADR price target was raised to $56 at Canaccord Genuity.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was reiterated Outperform but the target price was raised to $60 from $53 based on earnings diversification and Latin American growth prospects.

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) was raised to Buy with $72 price target from Neutral and $59 target at Stern Agee.

Galena Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: GALE) was started as Outperform at JMP Securities.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was reiterated as Buy at Argus but the target price was raised to $90 from $85 based on higher earnings estimates for 2013 and 2014.

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) was reiterated Buy at Argus but the target price was to $93 from $87 based on higher earnings expectations.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) was raised to Buy from Hold late on Tuesday by S&P Capital IQ.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was started as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was started as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

UBS gave a list of 10 wireless trends for investors to bank on 2013.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: ARMH, BMY, BPOP, C, CHK, CREE, GALE, HD, IFF, MDT, MNST, PEP, TEX

Closing Bell for Tuesday on Wall Street: Markets Open Higher, Manage to Hold Decent Gain

Paul Ausick — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:04:51 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened slightly higher this morning on another day when very little economic data was released anywhere around the globe. There was no data released at all in the U.S., and in Asia, Hong Kong’s inflation rate rose to 4% in the past 12 months, ahead of projections. In Europe, German PPI rose 0.1%, which was less than expected, and the U.K.’s CPI came in at 2.4%, below the estimate of 2.6%. Core CPI in the U.K. came in at 2%, well short of the predicted 2.3%. A substantial amount of U.S. economic data will be announced over the next few days to make up for the dearth of the last few days.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.14% today, now at 83.8540. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.5% at 635.02. WTI crude oil closed down 0.6%, at $96.16 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.9% at $103.90 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.5% today at about $4.19 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.5% today at $1,377.60.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 52 points to 15,387.42 (0.34%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 6 points (0.16%) to 3,502.12, and the S&P 500 rose 0.17% or nearly 3 points to 1,669.16.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including:

Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: LIFE) cut to ‘underperform’ at CLSA;
Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) cut to ‘neutral’ at Sterne Agee;
Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) started as ‘buy’ at Jefferies;
Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) reinstated as ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; and
Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) started as ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have resulted in some price changes for reporting companies as of the last half hour of trading today:

Kid Brands Inc. (NYSE: KID) is down 0.6% at $1.58;
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) is up 2.5% at $12.97;
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is down 3.7% at $25.83;
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) is up 1.2% at $52.83 after posting a new 52-week high of $54.25 earlier today;
The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) is up 2.8% at $78.89 after posting a new 52-week high of $79.47 earlier today;
Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) is up 9.8% at $13.48 after posting a new 52-week high of $13.60 earlier today;
TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) is up 0.8% at $51.76; and
Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD) is up 0.1% at $30.14.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings from Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO), Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW), Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), and Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) is up 19.3% at $3.70 after posting a new 52-week high of $4.83 earlier today. The Chinese solar panel maker increased its first quarter shipment forecast, although year-over-year volume will still be lower.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is up 4.9% at $3.42. The wireless carrier received a sweetened offer this morning from Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is down 11.1% at $45.85. The solar energy installer is giving back some recent gains, as investors may have figured out that there is a limit to optimism.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify in front of a joint House/Senate committee and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
2:00 p.m. – FOMC minutes released

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, AET, BBY, BZH, CLWR, DKS, HD, INTU, KID, LIFE, LOW, MAT, NTAP, S, SCTY, SKS, SNE, SPLS, TGT, TIVO, TJX, TOL, VOD, YGE

Home Depot Earnings Overcome Effects of Hurricane Sandy, Cold Weather

Paul Ausick — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:15:54 +0000

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported first-quarter 2013 diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.83 and $19.1 billion in revenues before markets opened this morning. In the same period a year ago, the home improvement store operator reported EPS of $0.68 on revenue of $17.81 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.77 and $18.68 billion in revenue.

Home Depot’s revised its 2013 guidance higher following the better-than-expected results. Now the company expects revenue growth of 2.8%, up from 2% previously; same-store sales growth of 4%, up from 3%; and diluted EPS of $3.52 for the full year, up from $3.37. Consensus estimates called for EPS of $3.54 on revenues of $77.01 billion.

The company’s guidance is a bit shy of consensus expectations, but Home Depot is historically cautious and typically revises its guidance periodically as the year progresses.

Home Depot’s CEO said:

In the first quarter, we saw less favorable weather compared to last year, but we continue to see benefit from a recovering housing market that drove a stronger-than-expected start to the year for our business.

U.S. same-store sales for the quarter rose 4.8% year-over-year, and the rise for all stores was 4.3%. The totals have been adjusted to exclude a 14th week in the comparable quarter in 2012.

Analysts had been concerned that the colder weather during the quarter would have a negative effect on Home Depot’s sales and profits. The CEO did not mention any positive impact from rebuilding in the Northeast following Hurricane Sandy, instead calling out a “recovering housing market” as a driver for the first quarter. That impact should have a longer-lasting effect on Home Depot’s business, and investors are quite likely to run the share price higher today, anticipating an even better year ahead.

Shares are up about 4.2% in premarket trading, at $80.00, which would mark a new 52-week high. The current 52-week range is $46.37 to $78.54. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $75.70 before today’s results were announced.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings, Housing Tagged: featured, HD

Closing Bell for Monday on Wall Street: Markets Open Lower, Bounce Once, Then Go Flat

Paul Ausick — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:06:15 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning but soon rose above the break-even line where it stayed until noon when share prices began to dip. That was quite a shift from Asian markets, where the three major indexes were all higher, with the Nikkei at a five-and-a-half year high. In Europe the only economic data of note came from Italy, where industrial new orders rose 1.6% in April and industrial sales declined 0.9%. In the U.S., there was no economic data of note released today. Gold and silver took a beating early, but came back to close higher. Remarks by Chicago Fed President William Evans, however, sent equities markets back into negative territory.

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.6% today, now at 83.7490. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.7% at 632.05. WTI crude oil closed up 0.7%, at $96.71 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.1% at $103.80 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.9% today at about $4.09 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 1.4% today at $1,384.10.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 19 points to 15,335.28 (-0.12%), the NASDAQ fell more than 2 points (-0.07%) to 3,496.43, and the S&P 500 fell -0.07% or about 1 point to 1,666.29.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including:

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) cut to ‘sell’ at Stifel Nicolaus;
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank;
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) raised to ‘buy’ at Maxim Group;
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) raised to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; and
Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) raised to ‘equal weight’ at Barclays.

Earnings reports released since markets closed last Friday have resulted in some price changes for reporting companies as of the last half hour of trading today:

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) is down 3.9% at $45.78 and
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: QIHU) is up 6.6% at $43.77 after posting a new 52-week high of $45.11 earlier today.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings from Kid Brands Inc. (NYSE: KID), TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY), Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS), The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX), and Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is down 34% at $1.58. The Greek bank’s shares gave back last week’s gains after announcing a 1-for-10 reverse split and an issuance of 2.27 billion new shares following the split..

Real Goods Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: RSOL) is up 68% at $6.77, after posting a new 52-week high of $7.17 earlier today. The solar PV installation company has mysteriously appeared on investors’ radar screens and shares have more than tripled in the last 2 trading days.

JA Solar Holding Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is up 69% at $9.46 after posting a new 52-week high of $9.53 earlier today. The solar PV panel maker reported earnings this morning, and they were better than expected..

Stay tuned for Tuesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and New York Fed President William Dudley are giving speeches. We have also noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auctions

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABT, BBY, CPB, DKS, HD, JASO, JCP, KID, KSU, LEAP, NBG, P, QIHU, RSOL, SKS, TIVO, TJX, VOD

Home Depot and Lowe’s: Cold Weather Against Hurricane Rebuilding

Paul Ausick — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:23:37 +0000

The country’s two largest home improvement chains, The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) report earnings tomorrow and Wednesday, respectively. The late season wintry weather is likely to weigh on results at both stores, even though both are also expected to get a little lift from rebuilding following Hurricane Sandy. The weight, though, appears to be too heavy for the lift.

Home Depot is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $0.77 on revenues of $18.69 billion. The consensus estimates for Lowe’s call for EPS of $0.51 on revenues of $13.45 billion. The EPS for Home Depot is unchanged in the last three months, while the estimated EPS for Lowe’s has dropped by a penny.

Many retailers ran into weather-related headwinds in the first quarter. Just last week, Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Stage Stores Inc. (NYSE: SSI), and Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) all cited colder weather as an anchor on traffic and sales.

For the home improvement stores, sales of remodeling and lawn and garden products were slower. The lower number of housing starts in April may also be a factor, but the big drop last month was almost entirely due to a slowdown in construction starts on apartment buildings.

Shares of Home Depot stock are down about 0.3% at $76.65 in a 52-week range of $46.37 to $78.54.

Lowe’s shares are down about 0.5% at $42.47 in a 52-week range of $24.76 to $43.55.

Filed under: Earnings, Housing Tagged: featured, HD, JWN, LOW, M, SSI

Poll: Should Jamie Dimon Lose CEO or Chairman Role?

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:55:02 +0000

Tuesday will mark the do or die date for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) shareholders and corporate governance issues. The effort to split the role of chairman and chief executive officer from Jamie Dimon has been front and center. Our effort is not just to show both sides of the coin, but we want to know what our readers think in an anonymous poll.

Jamie Dimon has floated the idea that he may consider leaving if his role is split. We noted that one analyst recently signaled a $20 billion or 10% risk that could come out of the stock if Dimon decided to leave the firm if his role is split. We have also warned of a coming activist investor bubble that seems to be forming as activist investors are attacking billions and billions worth of companies if you count the market caps.

Dimon has maintained that the issues behind the London Whale have been resolved. Unfortunately, many top lieutenants have left the firm in recent months. While this may be a sign that things were not as good as some analysts hope, this also has created a bit of a management vacuum and that leaves no heir apparent if Dimon chooses to just leave J.P. Morgan.

Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) has taken sides, saying Jamie Dimon is one of the greatest bank CEOs that exists. Ken Langone, a founder of Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), also has been in full support and said that he would sell J.P. Morgan shares if Dimon leaves. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) recently talked up its own split role position. The bank said that the split of a chairman and CEO role have worked well for it during the restructuring.

J.P. Morgan remains one of our top banks as one of the seven safest banks in America for 2013. Unfortunately, the London Whale issue and the loss of Jamie Dimon’s ability to speak against regulation and legislation has taken the bank’s leadership role away.

So, tell us what you think in our anonymous poll below.

Filed under: Activist Investor, Banking & Finance, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Polls Tagged: BRK-A, C, featured, HD, JPM

Media Digest (5/20/2013) Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, Bloomberg

Douglas A. McIntyre — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:44:48 +0000

The drop in the budget deficit puts less pressure on a compromise by the White House and Congress over the federal deficit. (Reuters)

Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) board approves a $1.1 billion cash deal for Tumblr. (Reuters)

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) appoints an executive from competitor Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) to be its new CEO. (Reuters)

The European Union says that Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei have violated trade practices. (Reuters)

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner has a number of problems beyond its batteries. (WSJ)

Increases in credit availability help China’s real estate prices rise. (WSJ)

The new Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox will have features to help it compete with smartphones in the game industry. (WSJ)

Storm Sandy should help the earnings of Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW). (WSJ)

“Star Trek into Darkness” grosses $70.8 million in North America over the weekend. (WSJ)

The Chinese military once again engineers hacks of U.S. companies. (NYT)

SAC Advisors chief Steve Cohan receives a subpoena to testify in an insider trading probe, but he may plead the Fifth Amendment. (NYT)

The European Union probably will set plans to catch tax evaders as a means to bring in money for struggling governments. (Bloomberg)

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Press Digest Tagged: APC, BA, CHK, HD, LOW, MSFT, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades and Stocks to Buy: Home Depot, Lululemon, Myriad Genetics and More

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:30:16 +0000

Investors and traders are always on the lookout for fresh Wall Street research ideas of stocks to buy, value stocks and dividend stocks. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We have broken out the positive analyst calls as far as stocks to buy and positive research calls and these are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) was reiterated Buy and the price target was raised by $7 to $68 at Argus.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) was initiated as Outperform at Bernstein.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was reiterated Buy and its price target was raised $10 to $85 at Argus.

IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG) was raised to Buy from Hold but the price target was lowered to $7.45 from $8.25 at Canaccord Genuity.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Buy from Neutral at ISI Group.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Buy from Neutral with $90 price target at Stern Agee.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) was reiterated Buy on the Focus List at Credit Suisse, but the firm raised its earnings estimates.

Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was started as Outperform at Raymond James.

U.S. Auto Parts Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Roth Capital.

We have two great large research summaries this Wednesday. UBS issued a dividend investor alert calling it time to buy these multifamily REIT stocks. We also have the best stocks to buy from Raymond James in their value and dividend strategies.

Read also: Top Analyst Downgrades and Cautious Calls

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: ED, ETN, HD, IAG, LOW, LULU, MRO, MYGN, ORCL, PRTS, TRV

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 12, 2013: Markets Start, Stay Negative (V, HD, APO, AMZN, KORS, CRMB, JPM, WFC, C, RALY, EVTC, RAD, ABX)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:06:22 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning and failed to generate any positive traction all day long. Economic data from Europe was mixed, and the European Central Bank said that 19 banks are set to repay some €10.8 billion in long-term refinancing obligations (LTRO) funds next week. Cyprus extended its capital controls for another seven days although some limits were lifted. In Asia, Singapore’s GDP contracted by 0.6% in the first quarter, far worse than the expected increase of 0.5%. In the U.S., retail sales were reported down and wholesale inflation was cooler than expected (more coverage here). The real anchor today was a collapse in the consumer sentiment index (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.06% today, now at 82.291. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.7% at 631.61. WTI crude oil closed down 2.4% today, at $91.29 a barrel, and closed the week down 1.5% (more oil coverage here). Brent crude trades down 1.2% at $103.05 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.3% today at about $4.21 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 4.1% today at $1,501.40 an ounce, the yellow metal’s lowest level in nearly two years and down 4.7% for the week.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA flat at 14,864.91, the NASDAQ fell about 5 points (-0.16%) to 3,294.95, and the S&P 500 fell -0.28% or nearly 5 points to 1,588.85.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) cut to ‘neutral’ at Sterne Agee; Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) raised to ‘buy’ at Jefferies; Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) started as ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with a price target of $334 at Credit Suisse; and Michael Kors Holding Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) started as ‘underperform’ at CSLA.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is down 1% at $37.15 (more coverage here); JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is down 0.6% at $49.04 (more coverage here); and Crumbs Bake Shop Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMB) is down 34.5% at $1.97.

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Rally Software Development Corp. (NYSE: RALY) is up 27.3% at $17.82. The cloud-based software development firm held its IPO today, as did Latin American transaction processing firm Evertec Inc. (NYSE: EVTC), which is also up 2.4% at $20.48. More coverage here.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) is up 8.9% at $2.31 after posting a new 52-week high of $2.33 earlier today. The drug store chain continues to attract investors after its solid earnings report earlier this week.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is down 8.5% at $22.64 after posting a new 52-week low of $22.60 earlier today. The gold miner is reacting to today’s sharp drop in the price of gold. Earlier in the week operations were halted by a court order at a Chilean mine. The drop in gold prices very likely has no relationship to Bitcoin.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Empire State manufacturing survey
9:00 a.m. – Treasury international capital (TIC) data
10:00 a.m. – National Association of Home Builders housing market index
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auctions

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABX, AMZN, APO, C, CRMB, EVTC, HD, JPM, KORS, RAD, RALY, V, WFC