24/7 Wall St. » ODP

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — Tuesday: Markets Mixed at Open, Closes Slightly Higher

Paul Ausick — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:06:01 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning as investors weighed conflicting data from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In Europe, retail sales declined more than expected in Germany, Italy’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11.5%, and eurozone inflation moderated to 1.2%, below a forecast for inflation of 1.6%. In Asia, Japanese industrial production rose less than expected, retail unexpectedly fell, and unemployment came in below expectations. In the U.S., the S&P Case-Shiller housing price index rose more than expected (more coverage here), while the Chicago PMI came in well below expectations and chilled investors for a spell this morning (more coverage here). The latest U.S. consumer confidence index came in higher than expected, which put some heat back into the morning trading session (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.47% today, now at 81.762. The GSCI commodity index is up 1.2% at 629.99. WTI crude oil closed down 1.1%, at $93.46 a barrel, down 3.9% for the month of April. Brent crude trades down 1.6% at $102.19 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.4% today at about $4.15 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.3% today at $1,472.10 an ounce, but lost 7.8% for the month, the largest drop in 16 months.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 20 points to 14,839.18 (0.14%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 22 points (0.66%) to 3,328.79, and the S&P 500 rose 0.24% or nearly 4 points to 1,597.45.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) initiated as ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital Markets; Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) cut to ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank (more coverage here); PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) cut to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan; and SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) raised to ‘buy’ at Jefferies.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) is up 6.7% at $34.94; Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) is up 1.6% at $59.38; General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) is up 2.2% at $22.50 after posting a new 52-week high of $22.80 earlier today; Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) is up 2.7% at $39.78 (more coverage here); Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) is up 0.2% at $24.03 after posting a new 52-week high of $24.79 earlier today; Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) is down 5% at $32.27 after posting a new 52-week low of $31.33 earlier today; Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is up fractionally at $14.86; 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) is up 7.3% at $38.39; Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) is up 2.5% at $57.55 after posting a new 52-week high of $58.63 earlier today; Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD) is up 0.3% at $95.72; Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is up 4.5% at $23.23 after posting a new 52-week high of $24.30 earlier today; BP plc (NYSE: BP) is up 2.3% at $43.61 (more coverage here); Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR) is down 5.5% at $3.25; Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) is down 4.9% at $78.39; Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) is up 4.9% at $3.88; United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) is up 0.3% at $17.59; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is down 2.5% at $40.17 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX), Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPB), Trulia Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLA), Vanguard Health Systems Inc. (NYSE: VHS), ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC), Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), and Viacom Corp. (NASDAQ: VIAB).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is up 5.5% at $3.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $3.25 earlier today. The satellite radio company posted good numbers and made permanent the hire of interim CEO James Meyer.

Delcath Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: DCTH) is down 39.8% at $0.84. The pharmaceutical and medical device maker will have to repeat a clinical trial.

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) is down 16.6% at $13.52. The business equipment company had a 57% drop in profits and cut its dividend.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concludes a two-day meeting. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
8:58 a.m. – PMI manufacturing index
10:00 a.m. – ISM manufacturing index
10:00 a.m. – Construction spending
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
2:00 p.m. – FOMC meeting announcement

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ADT, AET, AFFX, AVP, BBY, BP, BUD, BWLD, CHK, CMCSA, DCTH, DDD, ESRX, GGP, HLF, HNR, HTZ, HUM, JRCC, LEAP, MA, MPC, NEM, ODP, P, PBI, PHM, RATE, RVBD, SINA, SIRI, SPB, TRLA, VHS, VIA-B, VLO, X

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — Monday: Markets Open Higher, S&P Closes on New High

Paul Ausick — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:07:42 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning after the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that personal income and spending both rose by 0.2%, which was slightly higher than expected for spending and slightly lower than expectations for income (more coverage here). We also noted the sharp drop in spending on energy and the impact that could have on oil and gasoline prices for the rest of this year (more coverage here). In Europe, new data was limited to Italian business confidence (down), Spanish retail sales (also down, but not as much as expected), and eurozone business and consumer survey (more coverage here). Italian government borrowing costs posted a two-year low (more coverage here). In Asia, both Japanese and Chinese markets were closed for a holiday. U.S. pending home sales rose in March, reversing a drop in February sales (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.42% today, now at 82.159. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.5% at 622.29. WTI crude oil closed up 1.6%, at $94.50 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $103.72 a barrel. Natural gas is up 4% today at about $4.39 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 1% today at $1,467.40 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 106 points to 14,818.83 (0.72%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 28 points (0.85%) to 3,307.02, and the S&P 500 rose 0.72% or more than 11 points to 1,593.59, a new high.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) raised to ‘buy’ at UBS; Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR), aka Petrobras, raised to ‘buy’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Union Pacific Co. (NYSE: UNP) cut to ‘hold’ at TD Securities; Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) cut to ‘neutral’ at HSBC; and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) raised to ‘outperform’ at Macquarie.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) is up 3.6% at $60.76; Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) is up 0.4% at $44.63 (more coverage here); Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) is down 1.4% at $28.18; and Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is down 0.2% at $50.66.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ), Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX), General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ), Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM), Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD), 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD), Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP), BP plc (NYSE: BP), Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR), Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC), Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X), and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) is up 6.6% at $19.23. Petrobras, as it’s known, reported lousy earnings, but it forecast growth going forward, added to a possible restart of drilling by Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) in the Frade field following a year of inactivity due to a spill.

Conceptus Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTS) is up 19.5% at $30.95. The medical device maker is being acquired by Germany’s Bayer AG $1.1 billion.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is down 3.6% at $3.23. The social games maker had no news today, but is giving back some of Friday’s gains, which followed losses earlier last week on a weak earnings report.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins a two-day meeting. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Employment cost index
9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller house price index
9:45 a.m. – Chicago purchasing manager’s index
10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer confidence index
11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week bill auctions
3:00 p.m. – Farm prices

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AET, ANF, AVP, BP, BUD, CPTS, CVX, DDD, DIS, ERJ, ESRX, ETN, GFI, GGP, HLF, HNR, HTZ, L, MPC, NEM, ODP, PBR, RVBD, SIRI, SNH, SOHU, UNP, VLO, X, ZNGA

Media Digest (4/10/2013) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:39:32 +0000

The FBI begins review of the relationship between a KPMG partner and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF). (Reuters)

Problems with lithium ion batteries hurt the growth of companies that make them. (Reuters)

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) press EU regulators over the role of Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android in phone business. (Reuters)

Big Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) shareholder Southeastern Asset Management says the board’s evaluation of the Michael Dell buyout bid was biased. (Reuters)

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have conversations about greater partnerships involving their services. (WSJ)

Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) tries to line up more partners for its Dell bid. (WSJ)

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) increases its use of data to target ads. (WSJ)

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) tests Facebook’s advertising services again. (WSJ)

Fitch downgrades its rating of local currency-based long-term debt, citing worries about the effects of rapid growth. (WSJ)

Blackstone and Carlyle may make an $11 billion offer for Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: LIFE). (WSJ)

Several investors approach Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) about buying Frontier Airlines. (WSJ)

The Potential Gas Committee increases its estimates of natural gas supplies, which raises the issue of whether the U.S. should export the energy source. (WSJ)

The boards of OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) and Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) set a plan to look for a CEO. (WSJ)

Treasury chief Jacob J. Lew wants EU nations to move from austerity to stimulus and is turned down by his counterparts in the region. (NYT)

Analysts question whether China’s trade data are accurate after a close analysis. (FT)

The number of women on boards at U.K. companies continues to be well short of targets. (Bloomberg)

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Press Digest Tagged: AAPL, BX, DELL, FB, GM, GOOG, HLF, LIFE, MSFT, NOK, ODP, OMX, RJET, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMD, ACI, BBY, BCC, CNP, CRL, BREW, GNRC, HPQ, ISRG, KMB, OMX, ODP, ONNN, ORLY, BTU, RGLD, SI, STAN, SYMC, UTX, VZ)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:25:43 +0000

Investors and traders are always looking for good research-driven ideas for stocks to buy and stocks to sell. Some of these come from independent research and some come from sell-side firms on Wall St. Some research calls are value stocks and some are based on momentum. These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall St. research calls.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) raised to Outperform at Macquarie.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) raised to Neutral from Reduce at Nomura.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) raised to Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC) started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo, started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch and started as Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) started as Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Craft Brew Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: BREW) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) and Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) were both raised to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN) raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) named Bull of the Day by Zacks.

Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) raised to Neutral from Reduce at Nomura.

Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) started as Buy at BB&T.

Siemens A.G. (NYSE: SI) raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Standard Parking (NASDAQ: STAN) named Bear of the Day with struggling earnings growth by Zacks.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) reiterated Outperform with $27.50 target at Credit Suisse.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Here is a list of small cap stocks to buy now by Deutsche Bank.

J.P. Morgan offers a list of 15 stocks to buy based on current market conditions.

Credit Suisse gave a list of MLPs that will thrive and continue high distributions even under the risk of rising interest rates.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: ACI, AMD, BBY, BCC, BREW, BTU, CNP, CRL, GNRC, HPQ, ISRG, KMB, ODP, OMX, ONNN, ORLY, RGLD, SI, STAN, SYMC, UTX, VZ

Staples’ Dividend Hike Cannot Hide the Problems

Paul Ausick — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:40:32 +0000

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results before markets opened this morning.

For the quarter, the office supplies retailer posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.46 and $6.57 billion in revenues. In the same period a year ago, Staples reported EPS of $0.41 on revenue of $6.37 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.45 and $6.72 billion in revenue.

For the full year, Staples reported adjusted EPS of $1.39 on revenues of $24.38 billion, compared with EPS of $1.37 and revenues of $24.67 billion in fiscal year 2011. The consensus estimates called for EPS of $1.38 on revenues of $24.68 billion.

On a GAAP basis, Staples posted quarterly EPS of $0.14, compared with last year’s EPS of $0.41. The excluded items included European store closures and restructuring, early extinguishment of debt, the termination of a joint venture in India and pretax income from the quarter’s extra week. One-time charges totaled $181 million..

In a separate announcement, Staples said it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 9%, from $0.11 to $0.12 per share. That is something of a consolation prize for an indifferent performance for the year.

Staples guided 2013 sales up in the low single-digits, based on the 52-week total for 2012 of $23.9 billion. Full-year diluted EPS are forecast at $1.30 to $1.35. Analysts had estimated EPS for 2013 of $1.43 on sales of $24.3 billion.

The pending merger between Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) and OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) is likely to have only a marginal effect on Staples’ business. The bricks-and-mortar part of the business saw same-store sales drop 5%, and sales in the online store rose only 7%. This does not look good for competing with Staples’ real rival: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Shares are down about 5.2% in premarket trading to $12.60, in a 52-week range of $10.57 to $16.93. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $14.10 before today’s results were announced.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Dividend, Earnings, Retail, Services Tagged: AMZN, ODP, OMX, SPLS

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BCS, BHP, GME, GOOG, GRPN, HD, LOW, MA, V, NKE, OPEN, TLM, TSLA, UNH, PAY, OMX, ODP)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:40:16 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) maintained Outperform with $29 target at Credit Suisse, but firm gave cautious commentary on new console benefits.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) raised target to $1,000 from $820 by Bernstein, but we would count this as a late Wednesday call.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) raised to Overweight from Neutral and price target raised to $8.00 from $5.50 by Piper Jaffray.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) were both downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) were both upgraded to Neutral from Sell by UBS.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

OpenTable Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

Talisman Energy Inc. (NYSE: TLM) raised to Outperform and $16 target price by Credit Suisse.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) cut to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) cut to Neutral at J.P. Morgan, cut to Outperform at Raymond James, cut to Neutral at Citigroup, cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray and cut to Neutral at SunTrust.

Analysts differ sharply on the proposed OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) and Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) merger. Janney downgraded both stocks to Neutral from Buy. Credit Suisse opines:

Both ODP and OMX were down significantly on the heels of their merger announcement, which we believe reflects the lack of a clear vision to a combined company, the absence of any discussion of retail synergies, concerns over the extended timing to both close and obtain the synergies, and profit taking after a healthy run-up year-to-date in anticipation of this announcement. We believe that there is value in the combined company and in this note we detail first why management did not provide the vision but also why we believe the math works.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: BCS, BHP, GME, GOOG, GRPN, HD, LOW, MA, NKE, ODP, OMX, OPEN, PAY, TLM, TSLA, UNH, V

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 20, 2013: Markets Open Low, Slide Further on Fed Minutes (WIN, LOW, BIDU, BCS, GMCR, ADI, CF, DELL, HLF, AVA, CLH, DISH, LEAP, MGM, SODA, TOL, CROX, ETP, PAAS, TSLA, WLT, AUY, CG, CHK, CDE, ESV, SWY, WMT, OMX, ODP, NTSP, TSS, HNR)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:04:40 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened flat to lower this morning as it waited for data on U.S. housing starts and producer price inflation. In Europe, markets got some downward signals from a higher-than-expected reading on German PPI, a sharper-than-expected drop in Italian industrial production, a slightly higher unemployment rate in the U.K., and strikes in Greece (more coverage here). In Asia, the only data point of note came from China, where foreign direct investment declined by 7.3%. In the U.S., housing starts came in lower than expected, mainly the result of a sharp drop in multifamily building (more coverage here). The U.S. producer price index rose to its highest level since September. In the afternoon, the FOMC minutes were released, which pushed markets down even more (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.75% today, now at 81.065. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.5% at 675.63, with commodities prices higher today. WTI March crude oil closed down 2.2% today, at $94.46 a barrel. The April contract closed down 1.9% at 95.22 and will be the source of the WTI quote for the next month. Brent crude trades down at 1.7% at $115.52 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.4% today at about $3.28 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 1.6% today at $1,578.00 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 109 points to 13,926.47 (-0.78%), the NASDAQ fell about 49 points (-1.53%) to 3,164.41, and the S&P 500 fell -1.24% or about 19 points to 1,511.90.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Windstream Corp. (NASDAQ: WIN) cut to ‘sell’ at UBS; Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $44 at Argus; Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) cut to ‘underperform’ at CLSA; Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $54 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) is down 2.2% at $45.98; CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) is down 5.3% at $206.88; Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is up 0.25% at $XX (more coverage here); Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) is down 5% at $37.77 (more coverage here); Avista Corp. (NYSE: AVA) is down 0.2% at $26.15; Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) is up 6.1% at $53.37; Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) is down 0.25% at $36.00; Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) is down 8.3% at $5.61; MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is down 1.5% at $12.55; Sodastream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) is down 6.8% at $48.90 (more coverage here); and Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is down 8.7% at $33.71 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX), Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP), Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS), Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Walter Energy Inc. (NYSE: WLT), Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY), Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ: CG), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) (more coverage here), Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE), Ensco PLC (NYSE: ESV), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) is down 11.8% at $11.47 after posting a new 52-week high of $14.92 earlier today. The office supply retailer and Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) finally pulled the trigger on their merger after one false start this morning. Office Depot shares are down 22.1% at $3.91. More coverage here.

Netspend Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSP) is up 28.6% at $15.80 after posting a new 52-week high of $15.96 earlier today. The pre-paid credit card provider has agreed to be acquired by Total System Services Inc. (NYSE: TSS) for about $1.4 billion in cash ($16 a share).

Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR) is down 40% at $5.50. The oil & gas junior said today that a planned sale to Indonesia’s Pertamina has been cancelled. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Thursday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, San Francisco Fed President John Williams, and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on Tuesday’s schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Consumer price index
8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
8:58 a.m. – Flash PMI manufacturing index
10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed survey
10:00 a.m. – Leading indicators
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
11:00 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected securities (TIPS) auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ADI, AUY, AVA, BCS, BIDU, CDE, CF, CG, CHK, CLH, CROX, DELL, DISH, ESV, ETP, GMCR, HLF, HNR, LEAP, LOW, MGM, NTSP, ODP, OMX, PAAS, SODA, SWY, TOL, TSLA, TSS, WIN, WLT, WMT

It’s Official: Office Depot, OfficeMax Merger Announced

Paul Ausick — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:20:03 +0000

Following an inadvertent announcement earlier this morning of a merger between office supply retailers Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) and OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX), the two companies have now made it official. As the withdrawn press release indicated, OfficeMax shareholders will receive 2.69 shares of Office Depot stock in exchange for each share of OfficeMax. The deal values OfficeMax at about $1.2 billion.

The merger of equals is expected to close by the end of this calendar year. Following the closing, the combined company will choose a name, brands and location for the new company’s headquarters. The combined company will create a new board of directors with equal representation from each company and will initiate a search for a permanent chief executive. Until a new CEO is appointed, the current CEOs of both companies will continue in their current positions.

This all sounds a bit like a shotgun marriage. Shouldn’t the two companies have ironed out some of these details before asking shareholders to vote on the merger? It sounds like the two sides have not agreed on very much except that they cannot survive separately, so they will try getting married to see how that works out. What a great way to start to a new relationship.

Shares of OfficeMax are up 5% at $13.65, after posting a new 52-week high of $14.92 earlier. The prior range was $4.10 to $14.08. Office Depot shares are down about 5% at $4.76, in a 52-week range of $1.51 to $6.10. Perhaps OfficeMax shareholders are hoping that Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) will renew its 1997 attempt to merge the two companies. Hope springs eternal.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mergers and Buy Outs, Retail, Services Tagged: ODP, OMX, SPLS

UPDATE: Last-Chance Office Supply Merger Announcement Withdrawn (ODP, OMX, SPLS)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:55:48 +0000

UPDATE: According to a report at The New York Times Dealbook blog, the announcement of a merger between Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) and OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) was released prematurely and has been withdrawn.

A press release was posted briefly at the Office Depot website, but it has since disappeared. Dealbook cites sources who said the announcement that was incorrectly released was a draft. But assuming that the broad strokes are reasonably settled, this is what the deal looks like.

Office Depot is going to print up a nice new batch of shares in the ratio of 2.69 of the newly issued stock for every share of OfficeMax stock. That works out to about $1.2 billion, or $13.50 a share, a premium to last night’s closing price on OfficeMax stock of 3.8%.

Office Depot has 1,675 stores worldwide; OfficeMax has about 900 stores in the United States and Mexico. Even combined, the resulting market cap will not equal a third of competitor Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS). And Staples has problems of its own.

Investors should see this as a last-ditch effort to survive. But survive for what? To die at a later date? Sales are stagnant or falling at all the big-box office supply stores. Closing stores, which is what the newly merged company will have to do, will not result in more revenue, but less. How does this make sense?

Even after the withdrawal of the announcement, shares of Office Depot are up 7.2% in premarket trading this morning, at $5.36 in a 52-week range of $1.51 to $6.10. OfficeMax shares are up 6.8%, at $13.88 in a 52-week range of $4.10 to $14.08.

Is anyone really expecting a bidding war? In the immortal words of John McEnroe, “Are you serious?”

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Mergers & Acquisitions, Retail, Services Tagged: ODP, OMX, SPLS

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 19, 2013: Markets Keep Upward Momentum (GFI, APA, CSTR, WFC, BRK-A, CRMT, ESRX, NI, WIN, ADI, CF, DELL, HLF, AVI, CLH, DISH, LEAP, MGM, SODA, TOL, ODP, OMX, SPLS, NVGN, SPWR)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:04:08 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened slightly higher this morning and managed to get within striking distance of five-year highs. There was little economic data released anywhere today, but what there was came out mixed. In Europe, the ZEW economic sentiment index rose more than expected in the eurozone. In Asia, no economic data was forthcoming at all today, the first trading day following a week-long closure of the Shanghai exchange in observance of the lunar new year holiday. In the U.S., the housing price index from the National Association of Home Builders ticked a bit lower, putting pressure on homebuilders’ stocks (more coverage here). Health insurance stocks fell on a proposal to lower 2014 Medicare and Medicaid co-payments (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.18% today, now at 80.476. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.5% at 675.90, with commodities prices mixed again today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.8% today, at $96.66 a barrel. Brent crude trades down fractionally at $117.38 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.7% today at about $3.27 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.3% today at $1,604.20 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 54 points to 14,035.75 (0.39%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 22 points (0.68%) to 3,213.59, and the S&P 500 rose 0.73% or about 11 points to 1,530.91.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) cut to ‘neutral’ at Macquarie; Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) cut to ‘underweight’ at J.P. Morgan; Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) raised to ‘outperform’ at KBW; and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) raised to ‘outperform’ at KBW.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in several price moves today, including these: America’s Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT) is up 10.3% at $45.82; Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) is up 2% at $56.70 (more coverage here); NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) is up 1% at $27.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $27.40 earlier today; and Windstream Corp. (NASDAQ: WIN) is up 0.9% at $9.01.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI), CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), Avista Corp. (NYSE: AVA), Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), Sodastream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA), and Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) is up 9.8% at $5.04 after posting a new 52-week high of $6.09 earlier today. The office supply retailer is said to be in merger talks with competitor OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX), which itself is up 19.6% at $12.86 after posting its own new high of $14.08. Even larger competitor Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is up 12.9% at $14.62 on the news. More coverage here.

Novogen Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVGN) is up 227.3% at $6.84 after posting a new 52-week high of $7.60 earlier today. The Australia-based biotech company revealed highly positive results in a test of it ovarian cancer treatment.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) is up 16.8% at $13.37 after posting a new 52-week high of $13.66 earlier today. The solar panel maker is leading solar stocks higher as investors respond to some generally positive news in the sector.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have noted the following events on Tuesday’s schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
8:30 a.m. – Producer price index
11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
2:00 p.m. – FOMC minutes released

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ADI, APA, AVI, BRK-A, CF, CLH, CRMT, CSTR, DELL, DISH, ESRX, GFI, HLF, LEAP, MGM, NI, NVGN, ODP, OMX, SODA, SPLS, SPWR, TOL, WFC, WIN