Month: August 2015

Leading semiconductor solutions provider Broadcom Corporation BRCM recently announced a 10G Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) residential gateway reference design for Cable Multiple System Operators (MSOs) The new gateway platform combines Broadcom's BCM55030, a 10G/10G EPON Optical Network Unit (ONU) system-on-a-chip (SoC), which aims to address the high speed Internet connectivity requirement with the widely deployed BCM33843 DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway device. This would enable operators to provide subscribers with the most efficient means of gigabit Internet speed without expensive infrastructure upgrades. This technology is well suited for the demanding business as it offers the required bandwidth, scale and operability feature. […]

Dow Chemical DOW has completed the divestment of its post-harvest specialty chemical business – AgroFresh – to Boulevard Acquisition Corp. for more than $900 million. Boulevard is a public investment vehicle formed by investment firm Avenue Capital Group. […]

Zynga Inc. ZNGA is set to report second-quarter 2015 results on Aug 6. Last quarter, the company delivered positive earnings surprise of 28.57%. […]

On Aug 4, 2015, we issued an updated research report on First Horizon National Corporation FHN . Shares of this Tennessee-based bank gained around 20% year to date. We believe this growth story comes on the back of the company’s continued focus on loan growth, expense management and maintenance of a strong capital position […]

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited AXS lost all hopes of merging with PartnerRe Ltd PRE when the latter announced that has chosen EXOR S.p.A. as its partner. Pursuant to the termination of the amalgamation agreement, PartnerRe will pay a break-up fee of $315 million to AXIS Capital. […]

Business services provider Cintas Corporation CTAS recently modified its share repurchase program to enhance shareholder value. Under the new share repurchase program, the company has doubled its share authorization tally to enable the repurchase of an additional $500 million worth of stock over a period of time. The additional shares over its existing $500 million share repurchase authorization could be repurchased through a slew of open market transactions. […]

As part of its initiative to gradually offload the stake in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc RBS , the UK government raised £2.1 billion ($3.3 billion) on its first sale of 5.4% stake on Tuesday. The UK Financial Investments, which manages government holdings in banks, stated that the sale will now reduce the government’s holding from around 78.3% to around 72.9%. The Treasury sold the stake at 330 pence per share, much below the purchase price of 502 pence it paid when it bailed out the bank amid the 2008 financial crisis […]

Fewer litigation charges, effective cost-control measures and modest progress in core business lines helped the banking behemoths report better-than-expected results this earnings season. Gradually moving away from the endless post financial crisis regulatory issues, these major banks are now shifting their focus on loan growth by boosting mortgage originations. Following on the footsteps of banks such as Bank of America Corporation BAC and Wells Fargo & Company WFC , JPMorgan Chase & Co. […]

LendingClub Corporation LC was up nearly 6% following the release of second-quarter 2015 results on Aug 4, after the market closed. Adjusted earnings of 3 cents per share significantly outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 2 cents. Moreover, earnings came in substantially above the prior-year quarter figure of 1 cent […]

Discovery Communications Inc. DISCA reported second-quarter 2015 financial results wherein both the top and the bottom line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. […]

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.B is expected to report second-quarter 2015 results on Aug 7, after the market closes. […]

Teradata Corp. TDC is set to report second -quarter 2015 results on May 7. Last quarter, the company posted a 40.54% negative earnings surprise. […]

Netflix, Inc. NFLX hit a new 52-week high of $122.79, increasing 7.6% yesterday, following a target price increase by Guggenheim Securities. The research firm set a 12-month target price of $160 and provided a ‘Buy’ rating […]

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK reported adjusted second-quarter 2015 loss per share from continuing operations (excluding special items) of 11 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of loss of 12 cents. […]

AmTrust Financial Services Inc. AFSI posted second-quarter 2015 operating net earnings of $1.55 per share that surpassed both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the year-ago quarter result by 15.7%. The improvement was driven by a significant growth in the top line. […]

H&E Equipment Services Inc .’s HEES second-quarter 2015 earnings of 33 cents per share declined 27% year over year but beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. The company managed to beat estimates despite the slowdown in construction activity due to extreme rainfall and subsequent flooding in central United States in May. The share price of H&E Equipment Services went north, gaining 20% since reporting results on Jul 30 […]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND reported second-quarter 2015 earnings of $1.63 per share (including non-cash stock-based compensation expense), significantly higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.51 and the year-ago earnings of 10 cents. Ligand Pharma – Earnings Surprise | FindTheBest !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^https:/.test(d.location)?’https’:’http’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+”://cdn1.findthebest.com/rx/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”ftb-widgetjs”); Second-quarter earnings reflect the recognition of a $28.2 million gain on deconsolidation related to the equity milestone received upon the closing of Viking Therapeutics’ VKTX initial public offering (May 2015) […]

Newmont Mining Corporation NEM has closed the acquisition of Cripple Creek & Victor (CC&V) gold mine in Colorado from AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. for $820 million, and a 2.5% net smelter return royalty on potential future gold production from underground ore. […]

General Electric Company GE has made no secret of its ambitions to rule the Industrial Internet space, the industrial avatar of the famous “Internet of Things” (IoT). Challenging the leading player in the cloud computing market, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN , GE is launching its first hosted cloud service, Predix Cloud — a service crafted specifically to handle industrial data and applications […]