24/7 Wall St. » TTWO

Closing Bell for Tuesday on Wall Street: Markets Open Up, Finish Strong

Paul Ausick — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:07:17 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened slightly higher this morning an inline report from the U.S. Department of Labor on export and import prices. In Europe, eurozone industrial production rose 1%, above the expected gain of 0.4%. A survey on economic sentiment also came in higher than expected. In Asia, markets closed lower in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo following limited data releases. In the U.S., equities rose steadily in morning trading although prices leveled off in the afternoon.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.38% today, now at 83.5910. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.2% at 627.87. WTI crude oil closed down 1%, at $95.1794.21 a barrel following the release of the International Energy Agency’s mid-term outlook predicting that growing U.S. crude oil will set off a “supply shock” that will drive down the price of crude. Brent crude trades down 0.2% at $102.61 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.3% today at about $4.02 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.7% today at $1,424.50.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 123 points to 15,215.25 (0.82%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 24 points (0.69%) to 3,462.61, and the S&P 500 rose 1.01% or nearly 17 points to 1,650.34.

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

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James;
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) cut to ‘hold’ at Jefferies;
Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) raised to ‘buy’ at UBS;
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) maintained on ‘Conviction Buy’ list and price target raised to $30 at Goldman Sachs; and
AllScripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup.

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:

Copa Holdings SA (NYSE: CPA) is up 8.2% at $135.25 after posting a new 52-week high of $138.99 earlier today;
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) is up 0.2% at $3.00;
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is up 1.3% at $16.60 after posting a new 52-week high of $17.54;
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) is down 1.4% at $12.43; and
SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is down 12.2% at $31.50, and we’ve noted something to watch for that could help this company and probably many other alt energy players.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings from Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS), Primo Water Corp. (NASDAQ: PRMW), Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC), Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE: AG), and Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) is up 9.6% at $20.70, after posting a new 52-week high of $22.22 earlier today. The consumer electronics firm is being encouraged by activist investor Daniel Loeb to break into pieces, which may not be the best idea he’s ever had.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is down 5.5% at $3.63. The mobile phone maker introduced a new phone today. Investors apparently were not impressed.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is up 7.8% at $6.86. The daily deals company had no news today, but heavier than normal volume indicates demand was good for the stock.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Producer price index
8:30 a.m. – Empire State manufacturing survey
9:00 a.m. – Treasury International Capital (TIC) data
9:15 a.m. – Industrial production
10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
10:00 a.m. – E-commerce retail sales
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: A, AG, CPA, CREE, CSC, DDS, DE, FIO, GRPN, KBH, M, MDRX, NOK, PAAS, PRMW, RENN, SCTY, SNE, TTWO, YHOO

Take-Two Interactive Earnings Point to New Four-Year High

Paul Ausick — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:33:28 +0000

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) reported fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 results after markets closed today. For the quarter, the video game producer posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.38 on revenues of $330.1 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported an EPS loss of $0.60 on revenues of $148.1 million. Fourth-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.28 EPS and $280.36 million in revenues.

For the full year, Take-Two reported revenues of $1.22 billion and EPS of $0.36, compared with 2012 revenues of $825.8 million and an EPS loss of $0.71.

On a GAAP basis, the company reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $0.23, compared with an EPS loss of $0.78 in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue from digitally delivered content grew 148% year-over-year and 192% in the quarter when compared with the fourth quarter of 2012.

The company’s CEO said:

Take-Two delivered strong revenue growth and solid non-GAAP earnings for fiscal year 2013, driven by robust demand for our groundbreaking new releases, iconic catalog titles and expanding portfolio of digitally delivered offerings. … Looking ahead, we have an extensive pipeline of next-generation and emerging platform titles in development, including both new intellectual property and releases from our proven franchises. As a result, our current outlook is to be profitable on a non-GAAP basis in fiscal 2015 and for the foreseeable future.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, the company guided revenue to a range of $100 to $125 million and expects an adjusted EPS loss in the range of $0.55 to $0.70. For the full year, the company expects revenues of $1.75 to $1.85 billion. Full-year EPS is expected to fall into the range of $2.05 to $2.30.

Shares are trading up 4% at $17.03 in after-hours trading today, in a 52-week range of $7.37 to $16.68. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $16.65 before today’s report.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings, Entertainment, Video Games Tagged: featured, TTWO

Closing Bell for Monday on Wall Street: Markets Open Lower, Fail to Gain Much Traction

Paul Ausick — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:04:56 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning following a report from China that the country’s industrial production rose 9.3% in April, a smaller rise than economists expected. China also reported retail sales up 12.8%, inline with expectations, and fixed asset investment up 20.6%, just under the expectation of 21%. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose more than 1% today as the yen fell to more than 102 against the U.S. dollar. There was no economic data of note in Europe. In the U.S., April retail sales posted a surprising 0.1% gain, even though sales at gasoline stations declined by 4.7% in the month.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.16% today, now at 83.2770. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.9% at 629.36. WTI crude oil closed down 0.9%, at $95.17 a barrel on more news of plentiful crude oil supplies. Brent crude trades down 1.1% at $102.80 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.4% today at about $3.93 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.2% today at $1,434.30.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 26 points to 15,091.91 (-0.18%), the NASDAQ rose about 2 points (0.06%) to 3,438.79, and the S&P 500 was flat at 1,633.77.

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

Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank;
Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) raised to ‘buy’ at Jefferies;
T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) raised to ‘buy’ at UBS;
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; and
Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) raised to ‘outperform’ at Keefe Bruyette Woods..

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

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) is down 3.4% at $23.50; and
Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) is up 2.8% at $85.76 as EPS topped estimates.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings from Copa Holdings SA (NYSE: CPA), Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN), Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS), and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS.PA).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is up 12.3% at $86.22, after posting a new all-time high of $87.29 earlier today. The all-electric automaker continues to bask in the glow of its first ever quarterly profit.

Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) is up 5.2% at $18.95. The generic drugs maker is confirmed to be in merger discussions with Actavis Inc. (NYSE: ACT), although no details have been revealed. The stock’s 52-week high is $22.11.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is down 1.7% at $7.22. The rare earths miner is giving back of some of its 30% gain last Friday, following a good report on earnings.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – National Federation of Independent Business optimism index
8:30 a.m. – Import and export prices
11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: APO, AZO, CPA, ESRX, GLW, MCP, PAAS, RENN, SLW, SSYS, TMUS, TSLA, TTWO, WCRX

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ABAX, ATVI, AFFY, AKAM, AIG, ETN, GILD, HNZ, IP, OXY, OMG, OC, PAAS, SWY, TTWO, TEVA, TPH, VMW)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:30:55 +0000

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

Abaxis Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAX) cut to Underperform from Neutral.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) reiterated Buy with $18 target at Argus.

Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) was downgraded across the board by Piper Jaffray, Baird, Stifel Nicolaus and others after its deadly dialysis injection recall was announced over the weekend.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) raised to Outperform at Macquarie.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) reiterated Buy and raised price target by $5 to $45 at Argus.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) started as Outperform with $72 target price at Credit Suisse.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was maintained Buy but it was added to the key US 1 List at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) raised to Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) raised to Outperform at Raymond James.

OM Group Inc. (NYSE: OMG) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) raised to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) named Bull of the Day after hitting the reset button at Zacks.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) cut to Hold at Argus.

TRI Pointe Homes Inc. (NYSE: TPH) started as Outperform at FBR and started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ABAX, AFFY, AIG, AKAM, ATVI, ETN, GILD, HNZ, IP, OC, OMG, OXY, PAAS, SWY, TEVA, TPH, TTWO, VMW

Twenty Sinful Companies to Give Up for Lent

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:39:05 +0000

As Fat Tuesday quickly turns into Ash Wednesday, Lent will take place from Wednesday, February 13 to Saturday, March 30 in 2013. It may not seem like much on the surface, but this puts companies that sell sinful or excessive consumer products in the position where all the sacrificed joys given up during Lent will take place all in the first quarter of 2013. The list of the seven deadly sins includes gluttony, anger, greed, sloth, envy, pride and lust.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to come up with a list of companies that might fall victim to a portion of the public observing Lent by giving up something precious for more than 40 days all contained in the same quarter. We certainly are not trying to say that these products are all bad, because many are too well anchored in our culture to be eliminated for very long. Many of them are even too fun or too precious to give up.

It has been nearly two years since we gave our own list of the 10 things that Americans waste the most money on. You may guess many of them: certain apparel items, tobacco, entertainment, alcohol, TV and media, gifts, food outside of the home and more. We also want to stress that if you live your life to avoid all of those things, chances are high that you are considered the most boring person alive by your friends and neighbors.

All things being equal, many in America and the rest of the world actually do give up something during Lent. Some sacrifices are physical things that cost money. Other sacrifices are simple (or difficult) personal efforts that have nothing to do with wasting money or being bad for your health. We have picked the largest companies that we feel have large direct exposure to changes of public behavior, particularly that fit into the sin or waste category.

Not all of these companies would fit directly within the category of being “sin stocks.” We are not trying to identify companies as being sinful. We are showing many companies that could be adversely impacted if Joe Public takes Lent very seriously this year. As a reminder, we already had one quarter of negative gross domestic product growth, and consumer spending is up to 70% of that figure.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Austerity, Compensation, Consumer Goods, Consumer Product, Corporate Governance, Economy, Food, Personal Finance, Retail, Tobacco, Water Tagged: AMZN, BBY, BEAM, BUD, CBS, DPZ, FB, featured, GS, IPG, KO, MCD, MO, OMC, PEP, RAI, RGR, RICK, SBUX, SWHC, TTWO, VIA-B, YUM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 6, 2013: Markets Waver With Little New Data to Chew On (FSLR, JCP, WFC, ACI, ITRI, CMG, EXPE, GNW, TTWO, DIS, ZNGA, CVS, MRO, NUS, RL, SYT, TWX, FMC, GMCR, IACI, TSO, V, YELP, ALU, BG, CI, MWW, NYT, PM, S, TEVA, BCC, GDP, VOCS)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:04:54 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning before bouncing into positive territory briefly and then turning south again. As happened yesterday, the focus was on Europe, where Italy’s oldest bank was expected to reveal the extent of its derivatives losses, estimated by some to be as high as €1 billion. German factory orders came in slightly below estimates. In Asia, the early resignation of one governor from the Bank of Japan sent the Nikkei up nearly 4%. There was little data out in the U.S. today. Mortgage applications rose 3.4% from last week (more coverage here) and crude oil inventories also rose. But today has mostly been spent waiting for news from Italy. In the event, shares came close to a flat finish.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.3% today, now at 79.721. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.4% at 676.70, with commodities prices lower today. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $96.62 a barrel following today’s report on inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 0.2% at $116.80 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.8% today at about $3.43 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.3% today at $1,678.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up less than 7 points to 13,985.98 (0.05%), the NASDAQ fell about 3 points (-0.10%) to 3,168.48, and the S&P 500 rose 0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,512.06.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) started as ‘buy’ at Citi; J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) started as ‘sell’ at Maxim Group; Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) started as ‘buy’ at Nomura; Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) cut to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan; and Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $52 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is up 5.8% at $322.83; Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is down 2.7% at $65.65; Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is down 3.1% at $8.89; Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is up 14.9% at $14.54; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is up 0.4% at $54.53 after posting a new 52-week high of $55.50 earlier today (more coverage here); Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up 8.4% at $2.97 (more coverage here); CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is down 1.3% at $51.06 (more coverage here); Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) is down 1.4% at $34.23; Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) is down 3.3% at $41.56; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 5.8% at $174.43; Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT) is down 2.3% at $85.10; and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is up 4.1% at $52.01 after posting a new 52-week high of $55.23 earlier today (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), IAC/InterActivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU), Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI), Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW), New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC) is up 25.9% at $26.43. The wood products maker held its IPO today, and priced above the expected range. More coverage here.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: GDP) is up 18.6% at $12.60. The oil & gas E&P firm announced rising production at one of its wells.

Vocus Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) is down 15.5% at $15.00. The cloud software company after guiding current quarter earnings and revenues lower.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Fed Governor Jeremy Stein are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
8:30 a.m. – Productivity and costs
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACI, ALU, BCC, BG, CI, CMG, CVS, DIS, EXPE, featured, FMC, FSLR, GDP, GMCR, GNW, IACI, ITRI, JCP, MRO, MWW, NUS, NYT, PM, RL, S, SYT, TEVA, TSO, TTWO, TWX, V, VOCS, WFC, Yelp, ZNGA

Today’s Market Winners and Losers

Samuel Weigley — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:53:06 +0000

The stock market is down Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.26%, the Nasdaq down 0.35% and the S&P 500 down 0.22%. Today’s winners include a paper company that rose in its initial public offering, a photo-sharing website that reported better-than-expected sales and a videogame maker that reported better-than-expected profits. Today’s sole loser was a videogame seller that could be hurt due to a change with XBox.

These are Wednesday’s market winners and loser.

Biggest Winners

Shares of Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC) are up 25% to $26.25 on trading volume of 7.7 million shares. The company priced about 11.8 million shares at $21 in an initial public offering, with shares beginning to trade on Wednesday.

Shares of Shutterfuly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) are up 18.34% to $39.75 on trading volume of 4.1 million shares. The online photo-sharing service reported fourth-quarter sales of $351.8 million, significantly better than the $309.7 million Wall St. analysts were predicting. Before Wednesday, the 52-week high was $35.00.

Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) are up 11.06% to $14.06 on trading volume of 2.8 million shares. The company reported a third-quarter profit of $0.67 a share, better than the $0.54 a share Wall St. analysts had expected. The 52-week high is $16.35.

Biggest Loser

Shares of Gamestop Corp. (NYSE: GME) are down 8.39% to $24.52 on trading volume of 4.8 million shares. Shares fell after reports that the next generation of XBox game consoles will not allow users to install used games. The 52-week low was $15.32.

Follow Samuel on Twitter: SWeigley

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: BCC, GME, SFLY, TTWO

Unusual After-Hours Movers on Earnings (CMG, CSGS, EXPE, GLUU, HAIN, HPQ, PIKE, SFLY, TTWO, ZNGA)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:52:34 +0000

Many stocks are on the move, and almost of the key movers have been on corporate earnings report except for one. We have blown through some of the news in rapid-fire fashion to get more summaries and more movers to you. We have shown the price changes and added color if applicable.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) investors had grown used to the stock selling off but by beating revenue and meeting earnings estimates the consensus is that it was good enough. Shares were up almost 3% at $313.74 on over 200,000 shares since the closing bell.

CSG Systems International Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS) is trading higher after beating earnings and raising guidance. Shares are up a sharp 12% at $21.00 but volume is less than 10,000 shares in the after-hours session so far.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) must just be considered good enough as revenue beat expectations but its earnings were soft at $0.63 EPS. Shares are up almost 4% at $70.01 in the after-hours trading session.

Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) may have missed the mark as it is warning about first quarter sales even though it beat fourth quarter expectations. Shares are down about 5% at $2.01 in the after-hours session on 30,000 shares.

The Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) continues to struggle with valuation on mixed guidance and earnings estimates this year of $2.40 to $2.47 EPS. Shares are down 4% at $57.09 on more than 60,000 shares since the close.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is trading higher on more rumors that the company is reconsidering a break-up. We would caution that Meg Whitman decided it would be too costly to do this break-up that Leo Apotheker wanted to do. Shares of the DJIA component are up almost 5% at $17.35 in the after-hours trading session.

Pike Electric Corp. (NYSE: PIKE) reported that revenue rose 59% and shares were already up almost 6% on their own ahead of the report. Now shares are up 9% at $12.00 in the after-hours.

Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) is trading up after beating earnings and raising guidance. Shares are up 16% at $38.50 and that will mark a 52-week high.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was halted for earnings. The video game outfit beat expectations on sales and earnings, but it appears as though guidance may be a tad light. Shares are currently up over 10% at $14.00 but trading is on thin volume.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up 6% at $2.91 after earnings and that is after shares rose 7% after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch raised its rating on valuation this morning. FULL ZYNGA COVERAGE

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Active Trader, After-Hours Activity, Earnings, Earnings Warning Tagged: CMG, CSGS, EXPE, GLUU, HAIN, HPQ, PIKE, SFLY, TTWO, ZNGA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 5, 2013: Markets Recover from Yesterday’s Slump (CLWR, M, SWC, DRI, UNH, CYOU, GCI, HUM, GOLD, RCL, SPG, CLX, APC, BIDU, EW, YUM, AGCO, AGN, ACI, ADM, ARMH, BP, ETN, EL, SIRI, K, CMG, EXPE, GNW, TTWO, DIS, ZNGA, CVS, MRO, NUS, RL, SYT, TWX, DELL, OPXA, MHP)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:04:01 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning and maintained their upward momentum for essentially the whole day. Lacking any really bad news from Asia or Europe, U.S. markets shrugged off a weaker than expected ISM non-manufacturing PMI number (more coverage here) and focussed instead on a generally upbeat day in European markets. In Asia, China’s PMI came in better than expected and Australia’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged. In Europe, eurozone non-manufacturing PMI came in slightly better than expected. After yesterday’s worst session of the year so far, today’s trading seems positively sprightly.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.02% today, now at 79.536. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.8% at 673.87, with commodities prices mixed again today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.5% today, at $96.64 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.8% at $116.54 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.7% today at about $3.40 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.2% today at $1,673.50 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 98 points to 13,978.53 (0.71%), the NASDAQ rose more than 40 points (1.29%) to 3,171.59, and the S&P 500 rose 1.04% or nearly 16 points to 1,511.26.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) cut to ‘underperform’ at D.A. Davidson; Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup; Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) raised to ‘overweight’ at J.P. Morgan (more platinum coverage here); D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DRI) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Anadarko Petroleum Co. (NYSE: APC) is up 3.3% at $83.15; Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is down 10.4% at $96.06; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) is down 6.7% at $86.79; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) is down 2.8% at $62.15 (more coverage here); AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) is up 2.1% at $53.62; Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) is up 1.6% at $106.75; Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) is up 3.4% at $29.42 (more coverage here); ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) is up 4.3% at $43.76 after posting a new 52-week high of $44.00 earlier today (more coverage here); BP plc (NYSE: BP) is up 1.5% at $44.26 (more coverage here); Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) is up 5.1% at $59.45 after posting a new 52-week high of $60.45 earlier today; Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) is up 6.1% at $64.79; Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is down 0.5% at $3.15; and Kellogg Inc. (NYSE: K) is up 0.8% at $58.55 after posting a new 52-week high of $59.30 earlier today.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW), Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS), Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO), Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS), Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT), and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is up 1.3% at $13.45. The PC maker has agreed to be taken private in a deal worth more than $24 billion. More coverage here.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is down 12.4% at $6.07. The coal miner badly missed estimates this morning and the outlook for the first half of this year is not encouraging. More coverage here.

Opexa Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OPXA) is up 162.8% at $3.18. The biopharma company has struck a deal with Germany’s Merck related to Opexa’s treatment for multiple sclerosis. More coverage here.

The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is down 11.5% at $44.52. The financial information firm continued to get battered today as the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against its S&P ratings agency for failure properly to let investors know the value of subprime mortgage bonds back in 2008.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
3:00 p.m. – Treasury STRIPS

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACI, ADM, AGCO, AGN, APC, ARMH, BIDU, BP, CLWR, CLX, CMG, CVS, CYOU, DELL, DIS, DRI, EL, ETN, EW, EXPE, featured, GCI, GNW, gold, HUM, K, M, MHP, MRO, NUS, OPXA, RCL, RL, SIRI, SPG, SWC, SYT, TTWO, TWX, UNH, YUM, ZNGA

Grand Theft Auto Delay Likely to Bring Analyst Downgrades and Lower Estimates

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:38:40 +0000

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) has stubbed its toe yet again. Late in 2012 the video game publisher announced that its release of the Grand Theft Auto 5 would come in early 2013. It even allowed vouchers to be sold for Christmas as the Grand Theft Auto franchise has been a major hit for Take-Two’s Rockstar Games label.

Those vouchers are now not going to be as favorable. Take-Two has now said that the release date is not scheduled until September. The company said that it was proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto V is expected to launch worldwide for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation3 computer entertainment system on September 17, 2013. Proud? I think they meant “ashamed.”

Take-Two said, “The September release date moves the launch back from its original projected release window of spring 2013 in order to allow additional development time.” With the four titles before this having sold more than 125 million units in the first four games, Take-Two needs to understand that it cannot be proud about this delay.

Take-Two shares are down 6.2% at $12.24, against a 52-week range of $7.37 to $16.99. While the market cap is still more than $1.1 billion, this is going to greatly lower the sales expectations for the next two or three quarters from Wall St. analysts. Unfortunately that will be bad for development costs and bad for sales and earnings in the first, second and third quarters of this year.

Before the impact of this effort, Thomson Reuters had a consensus price target of $14.88 from 14 brokerage firms.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Media, Video Games Tagged: TTWO